You moved abroad for freedom. Why are you holding on to a job that could let you go tomorrow?

You didn’t move countries for a pension plan.

You moved for something bigger: a new start, a better life, a bit more freedom than the path that was laid out for you back home. You traded the familiar for the unknown, and you made it work.

And yet, years later, here you are. Checking Slack on Sunday evening. Watching another “organisational update” land in your inbox. Telling yourself the job is the safe option.

I want to question that word, safe.

The numbers behind “safe”

Layoffs aren’t a one-off anymore. They’re a business strategy.

• By 10 September 2026, the tracker Layoffs.fyi had counted 128,536 tech employees laid off this year, already more than its total of 122,606 for the whole of 2025. (source)
• It isn’t only tech. In April 2026, Nestlé announced 16,000 job cuts over two years, 12,000 of them desk jobs. (source)
• Here in Denmark, Novo Nordisk announced 9,000 job cuts in September 2025, around 5,000 of them in Denmark, mostly in staff functions such as IT. Its share price rose after the announcement. (source)
• AI is now a routine reason. According to Crunchbase News, citing Layoffs.fyi, AI was named in about a third of tech layoff events in 2026, up from 1% in 2024. (source)

None of these decisions were about the people who lost their jobs. They were about a spreadsheet.

Why it hits expats harder

When you live in your own country, losing a job is painful. When you live abroad, it can shake everything at once.

For many internationals, the job is the reason they’re in the country at all. Your network, your routine, sometimes your residence permit are tied to one employer. And the professional network that would help you land on your feet? You left most of it behind when you moved.

So the job feels like the one stable thing. That’s exactly why it’s so hard to question.

The fake safety

Staying feels safe because it’s familiar. But familiar and safe are not the same thing.

A salary from one employer is one source of income that someone else can switch off. Real safety looks different: being able to earn from what you know, directly, without needing one company’s permission.

You already have the hardest part. Ten years or more of experience, built across companies and countries. People already ask to “pick your brain”. The market noticed your expertise before you did.

I’m not telling you to quit tomorrow

Most of the people I work with start while they’re still employed. That’s not a weakness. It’s the smartest way to do it: you test with a salary still coming in.

Three things you can do this quarter:

1. Write down what people already ask you for. Not what you could offer, but what colleagues, friends and ex-clients keep coming to you with.
2. Turn one of those into one offer, with a price. Who it’s for, what problem it solves, what result they get, what it costs.
3. Put it in front of five real people. Not a survey. Real conversations with people who could buy it, and a clear question at the end.

You’ll learn more from five conversations than from another year of thinking about it.

You moved abroad once because you refused to let someone else decide your life for you. You can make that choice again, one step at a time.

Thinking about building something of your own alongside your job? Book a free 30-minute strategy call. It’s private and confidential. Book a free strategy call

Or join the next cohort of Spark Your Expat Business, starting 18 January 2027. See the group programme