My story is on how a NZ company collapsed my life... I have some skills on Symfony Framework. I worked with it for 6 months and good with that tool. That company (http://vianet.travel) offered me a job. First I made some interviews on Skype. Technical team accepted that I know things well and redirected me to human resources team. HR team offered me a good salary. I accepted their offer, well seeing NZ would be a bonus. They sent me the copy of the job agreement via e-mail, it's with me. They said they'll send the hard-copy via mail, so that I can get visas shortly. There were good job opportunities. One of them was Turkey's best advertisement company. I rejected them because of job ethic. You shouldn't lie to someone and stop working 1 month later saying "Goodbye I go NZ!" I left my house in Istanbul, and got back to Izmir (where my parents' house is) to wait for documents. I waited for 20 days. After those 20 days, when I asked, they said they never sent documents, because they changed their business plans!...How horrible is: If I didn't ask, they'd never warn me. They are so irresponsible! Financially I'm crashed. My bank credits are waiting like a bomb. There were some good opportunities from AU (Perth) and NZ (Auckland) on MVC/Symfony. They also offered good. But sadly they didn't offer relocation expenses so I'm still fixed here in Izmir. Starting things again in Istanbul is not easy. Sadly. I'm so sad and angry. I even don't know if I can sue them for damaging my commercial life. Please don't do this to anyone. They collapsed my life.
It is sad to hear your story. From what I see they sending a copy of the job agreement would be considered as an invitation to treat. When they send a hard copy with signature then it should be considered as an offer. Once you sign up and post to them. The posting date and the action of posting constitute acceptance of the agreement. I may be wrong in this but this is how I figure it out, but laws may differ from country to country. Suing would involve a huge cost which I think you an ill afford at present. Just let it pass and concentrate on rebuilding your career. One wrong move doesn't meant anything, you learn from your mistakes. From you being able to be accepted by Skype etc shows your capabilities and skills. I am sure you will be able to find a gainful employment and start life afresh. There are ups and downs in life, do not let this affect you.
I'm sorry to hear this, but it really depends on where the country would hold court, wouldn't it? Something like an international agreement, hard copy or not, wouldn't hold much, would it?
It depends on whether both countries involved had signed the New York Convention, if they are, it would be easier, if not the process is extremely tedious.
I don't think there's anything you can do about it. That's just one of the hazards of working internationally. Sucks but hopefully you'll recover from it.