One way to make the most of your country of residence is to exploit the timezone difference as a positive. Look for companies that have 24/7 operations and need to have someone available for troubleshooting when their main team are asleep.
Two things that worked for me are firstly having a technical blog, which shows off not only the skill set you have, but also that you can communicate well. It also shows that you have the enthusiasm and curiosity to go beyond the day-to-day work of cranking out code.
Then secondly, go through agencies to find your initial contracts. Many companies in big cities will accept remote employees if they can find good ones, but it's hard to find those companies if you are not local. The agency essentially does that for you in exchange for a cut of your day rate. Also, they usually (in London at least) pay weekly so you don't have the big financial dry spell before your first invoice is paid. Once you have a bit of cash built up, you can go direct to companies as an independent.
All the "agencies" I know of in London are just the contracts arm of a traditional recruiting business. They are agencies in terms of how they operate (charging the customer on your behalf and taking a cut), but in terms of the kind of jobs they'll find you it's all onsite 6 months+ gigs that are often also available as a permanent positions.
If there are any agencies specialising in actual consulting gigs (meaning either short term / part time / remote and project-based, like a cloud migration), I'd be interested if someone could give a few pointers.
Two things that worked for me are firstly having a technical blog, which shows off not only the skill set you have, but also that you can communicate well. It also shows that you have the enthusiasm and curiosity to go beyond the day-to-day work of cranking out code.
Then secondly, go through agencies to find your initial contracts. Many companies in big cities will accept remote employees if they can find good ones, but it's hard to find those companies if you are not local. The agency essentially does that for you in exchange for a cut of your day rate. Also, they usually (in London at least) pay weekly so you don't have the big financial dry spell before your first invoice is paid. Once you have a bit of cash built up, you can go direct to companies as an independent.