Companies can obviously only hire employees with the legal right to work in the jurisdiction of the company. Depending on the country, there is a process for the company to sponsor the visa of foreign workers. Some companies do this, some do not. Sponsoring a visa is expensive, and if they do not already have a policy of doing so, you would need to be an exceptional candidate for them to undertake the effort required to sponsor your visa.

Companies that do sponsor visas will usually mention this in the job posting. Look for the words “visa sponsorship.” If they aren’t there, but you really want to work for the company, I suggest contacting a hiring manager or even the CEO via LinkedIn and explaining your situation. Since they aren’t sponsoring visas it’s probably a small company and you can easily find a decision maker. Ask them about sponsorship options and give them a soft sell on yourself.

Definitely don’t lie, because you’re just wasting your own time that way. Eventually you will need the cooperation of your employer to submit the paperwork, and depending on the country they might need to pay real costs to file it. That’s not something you want to surprise them with.