July 8, 2026
Visa drama meets interview theater
Answering "why do you want to relocate?" during interviews
Job seekers told to stop saying “I just want out” — and the comments got brutally real
TLDR: The advice is clear: when asked why you want to move abroad for a job, don’t make it sound like the company is just your ticket out. Commenters were split between calling that smart common sense and mocking it as proof that hiring often rewards polished self-censorship over blunt honesty.
A career advice post about a very human interview question — “Why do you want to relocate?” — somehow turned into a mini morality play about jobs, honesty, and whether modern hiring is just emotional theater. The article’s big warning is simple: if your whole answer is basically “please get me out of here”, recruiters may hear “I only want the visa, not the job.” In plain English, companies want to feel chosen, not used as an escape hatch.
That message landed hard, but the comment section immediately split into camps. Some readers called it plain old solid advice. As pavel_lishin basically put it, this is just Interviewing 101: show real interest in the employer, not just the country, paycheck, or dream train ride through Europe. Another commenter, atoav, even offered a polished script about discovering a company first and then getting curious about the place — a neat little “it was you, not the passport” line.
But then came the spicy backlash. One of the biggest hot takes blasted the whole thing as a depressing lesson in becoming a “human resource” with no desires of your own. Ouch. That comment turned the thread from practical advice into a bigger argument about whether job interviews reward sincerity or just the best performance. Others pushed back with a reality check: if relocation is your only goal, you might end up moving for a job you secretly hate. Even the jokes had bite — one dry reply simply dropped “Sutton’s Law,” aka: go where the real reason is. And apparently, the real reason is not supposed to be “I need a visa, bestie.”
Key Points
- •The article argues that candidates seeking jobs abroad should not present relocation as their only reason for wanting the position.
- •keyPointsCandidates often make the mistake of focusing their interview answers on moving abroad rather than on the employer’s work, team, and product.
- •The article says recruiters already assume international applicants want relocation, so stating that motivation alone does not add value.
- •It identifies three risks in relocation-centered answers: appearing focused on visa sponsorship, seeming likely to leave after settling, and signaling low loyalty to the employer.
- •The article recommends that candidates answer motivation questions by emphasizing interest in the role and the work itself.