A simple guest lecture is easy if you are good at your work. Seminar/ guest visits will become possible with seniority, good networks and a good international reputation. More than that is very difficult. You'll have to plan a very good PhD and publication path and hope for the best. Some countries are easier than others.

As somebody who has lived abroad for about four years now, here's what I think the writer of that 'life abroad is tough' comment means:

1. She has to do her own cooking, cleaning, dishwashing and laundry for herself.

2. She has to clean her backsides with toilet paper - genuinely, my sympathies for that, BTW, it is disgusting and hard to adjust to on a visseral level.

3. She has to work her butts off and continually prove herself, because other countries' academic setups have accountability systems with consequences, unlike our own. Also, there are caveats to the thinking that people won't have to struggle with as much admin as in India. You do have to struggle with silly uni admin, and, if you are living in the UK, lots more besides (UK folks will know what I mean).

4. She has to deal with the prospects of changing visa policies and immigration rules, because these are constantly kept under review by the host country's government. She went in hot, thinking there was no need to be adaptable and ever think about the fact that the host country, even if it was welcoming initially, may not remain welcoming. Essentially, she felt she'd get red carpet treatment and never feel the need to argue for why she is not indispensable.

5. Again, she came in hot, not anticipating some of the natural factors abroad. For example, cold. That does make your life hard.

6. She is trying to speak to the genuine reality that job markets - even overseas - are tough now. As an example, constant hawkishness by the UK government over immigration in recent times has meant declining international student enrolment. The consequence that this has had for people in the UK - including pre-existing international students and university graduates (recent postdocs, for example) - is that universities are making layoffs to compensate for the loss in international student tuition fees and yet balance the books.

7. All the above has to be managed with a high cost of living, the price for all the good things the west gives you.

Why is the tone of my response a mixture of contemptuousness and politeness? Contempt because the way this has been worded is extraordinarily irresponsible. This seems like a discouragement to look abroad for opportunities, when a more thoughtful way of writing that would have been that your expectations need to be realistic, especially remember that there are always tradeoffs in life. Polite because life abroad can be hard, and there's no use denying that - so it's a good point, as far as it goes, but not very far. It is the non-elaboration that angers me most, because it seems to have been designed to discourage.

I made the life-changing decision to go abroad, with the hope that I might be able to live and settle abroad in the long-term. Did I have an expectation that it has to work out? Not necessarily, because that ain't how life works. But my experience of studying, working and living abroad has, overall, been a great one. Even if it doesn't result in long-term living there, that's okay. I would obviously be sad, but I wouldn't change a thing about it.

If you don't have a PhD yet, and your undergrad and Masters degree are both from India, then the first step would be to apply for a fully funded PhD fellowship in the country where you wish to teach eventually. While working on your PhD, your Fellowship will allow you to take the occasional class, help senior faculty do research and also focus on publications. Focus on quality rather than quantity. At your level, even 3 quality international publications would be good. Try to focus on learning dissemination of research, creating impact of your study and how to draft effective project funding proposals. These are skills valued in academics abroad, but barely taught in India otherwise. On finishing your PhD, you would get access to lecturer positions (UK, Germany, Canada, Scandinavian countries), especially if you manage to obtain decent recos from your supervisor. In the USA, it's difficult, people struggle a lot to get entry level teaching positions on a contract, let alone become tenure track. Contacts would play a large role.

If you have already got your PhD from here, then you should start by applying for the various post-doc fellowships abroad. If you have got regulatory experiences (SEBI, CCI, TRAI etc.), scholarships and fellowships are easier to get. Also start participating in international conferences for both exposure and networking purposes. Several foreign law journals issue open calls for guest editors, visiting editors etc. Try applying for those too. It's an incremental process.

Be careful. A lot of countries, especially Germany and the Netherlands, will hire foreigners at the junior level to work on senior people's projects but will not let you progress. Your PhD may not always be marketable in other countries so if you choose a small country with limited options for you, it is a dead end. Law is not like science. Law schools everywhere are very conservative in how they hire faculty and what PhDs they recognise. Canada is still okay because it is large but you'll need to learn french fluently for many universities there.

UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Singapore. Don't consider U.S. unless you specifically know you don't wanna work there and unless you are sure that you are ready to take a second LLM, because that's what they'll want.

Other than that, Germany, Switzerland may also not be all that bad.