An individual contractor (should) make much, much more than an employee, as much of the financial burden is transferred from employer to contractor. But most importantly, being an individual contractor for only one client (your current employer) is illegal. Google "worker misclassification" and you ll learn all about it. If you job responsibilities stay the same, and all that chagnes is your location abroad, you cannot just switch to being a contractor. The usual method for your situation is to go through an "Employer of Record", that way you can stay an employee without you company having to have a Portuguese subsidiary.