Also, my partner is American and has family here. I keep trying to convince her to give foreign living a try, and she's traveled with me a bunch now, but it's still a lot to ask of someone who's only ever lived in their home country. Me, I've spent a lot of time traveling to different countries and have a pretty broad perspective to draw from. It's harder for someone who's never really done that. Still, I hope to coax her into it over time!
The Netherlands has DAFT, which take ~$5k and a business bank account (I think you also need to run a business, but freelancing web dev would count from what I've read) to get a visa, and after 5 years in country you can apply for citizenship
If you move to any Mediterranean country, you will feel wonderful at first because our culture is so different, but for some people it gets tiresome and unbearable after some years.
Here you will find some more commentary about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiVV5udK_NM
They even have a specific page on that site for software engineers. It seems like as long as you get a job offer over a certain salary threshold and meet background check requirements, you can live there. I've heard a lot of jobs there operate in English, also.
For example, Brexit made it harder for EU citizens to move to the UK, but it made it significantly easier for everyone else. To get a "skilled worker visa" you need 70 "points" in the new system, which you can achieve by speaking English (10 points) and getting an offer from a visa-sponsoring company (20 points) for a "skilled" job (20 points) that pays £25600 (~$31k) or more a year (20 points):
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-points-based-i...
£25k/year isn't high; pretty much any tech or tech-adjacent job in the UK will pay more than that. And if you know how to do web dev then you're probably considered "high skilled", e.g. I see "Internet developer" and "Web designer" on the official list of eligible occupations:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skilled-worker-vi...
(Incidentally, this is why it's completely deranged and insane that the current British government is constantly accused of being "anti-immigration". Has no-one looked at the actual data? Immigration to the UK has never been easier, nor have rates of immigration ever been higher than under the current government. But that's another topic entirely.)
And the UK's not the only option. My wife and I looked into this a few years ago; iirc we could meet the points requirements to move to Canada or Australia pretty easily, and we're not exceptionally "high-skilled" (we're comfortably middle class but have very normal tech/corporate jobs.)
Moving countries doesn't have to be a permanent decision either. I lived abroad for many years, then I came home, and I don't regret either move.
Anyway, I don't know you and I'm not going to tell you to up-end your life and start again in a completely new country. Obviously it's a huge decision and everyone's personal circumstances are different. All I'm saying is that it might be easier than you realise.
I don't know that I'd want to live in the UK, but this makes me more hopeful about the possibility of moving elsewhere. Thank you.
Depending on where you go to (and what type of institution) a bachelor's alone is sufficient. The more exclusive places might require a teaching certificate, but those are easy to get and, in any case, such requirements tend to be quickly relaxed when talking about harder to fill positions, like calculus teachers. You might find you enjoy this. If you don't, it can give you the foundation to find something else you might enjoy. Many companies are also constantly looking for skilled native workers. I've friends working in everything from web design to rehab counciling.
I'm not very happy with the current state of the US to say the least, but being born American and simply natively speaking this language is just an unbelievably valuable gift that one should never take for granted. It's really a gateway to the world, even if it's one hell of a scary gateway to step through the first time.
(Edit: Wait, is there an actual pathway to permanent residency/citizenship this way, or is it only a temporary work visa?)
Until that point you'll usually have to do something like check in with immigration once a year, dependent upon what visa (work, education, tourist, etc) that you end up on. But like another poster said, you don't really need to worry about most of this to begin with, as at most places you'll be granted a visa on arrival that'll be good for more than enough time to find a job. The most you might want to do is drop by the embassy of wherever you plant to go to. They can give you more information, and also set you up with a visa that will generally last much longer than the visa-on-arrival if desired.
But the main thing I'd say to anyone considering moving countries is that most countries aren't highly desired immigration destinations like the US or Western Europe, and thus most countries don't have strict and tightly-controlled immigration systems like Western countries do. If you want to go spend a few years in Thailand as a Westerner, it's laughably easy - just buy a flight and you'll probably figure it out once you're there, as your Western dollars/pounds/euros will go a looooong way.
(I apologize to any Thai people reading this; I know that digital nomads and other wealthy foreigners aren't universally appreciated in the countries they park up in. Am just sharing my own experience.)
I wouldn't want to live in that part of the world for the rest of my life, but the time I did spend travelling was the best thing I ever did and I have no regrets. I wrote about it here if anyone's interested:
The TN visa works in both directions - you can go work/live in Canada or Mexico. A BS is plenty; I'm not sure that "web dev" is a valid category, but you can probably find a job in either country that does qualify. And if it doesn't work out, you're just a quick plane ride home.
Unless you get married, how exactly would you propose an average American emigrate to Germany or Japan, for example?
There's a ton stopping someone. It's not impossible, but it can take years of work, require a change of careers, and you have to say goodbye to a lot of family and friends.
What's stopping you?