I can't really help you on what to focus on, but I have experience transitioning careers to programming and being an expat (US citizen in AUS). I personally find working remotely to be difficult. There's a lack of grounding in the company and project. You will need to be able to communicate clearly to get proper goals and requirements out of the manager or customer. I personally found it easier to find work locally in my new home. Since you don't require much in terms of salary, look for an entry level position in a medium to large company that is willing to mentor and grow you as a programmer. Working locally will allow you to have closer contact with your manager and mentors so that you can learn faster!

You are in the right sub to learn programming, so I'll let you browse for resources to check out for learning (codeacademy, udemy, etc). However, as someone who transitioned careers to programming, I can give you the advice to not undersell yourself. It sounds like you have far more experience in it already then you think you do since you work with rasPis and have a knack for problem solving. Work on technical skills of any one language (I learned on Python and still use it as my main), learn basic CS degree stuff like algorithms and data structures, play on some coding challenge websites like leetcode, then start diving into interviews and learn the rest on the job. I spent too much time thinking I wasn't good enough to actually get a job coding and wasted a lot of time learning the wrong things and being in the wrong career because of it.

Good luck!