Job Discussion Forums

[jabrda]

A little background: I got my TEFL certification a year ago in Prague, and have been working in Prague since then. However, due to some complications with Czech bureaucracy and some misinformation by my school, my Shengen visa expired. So, I now either have to leave the Shengen Zone for 90 days (which will put me back here looking for a job in early November... bad time ) or try to work in the black. I've decided I'm done with Prague.

I had originally intended to work legally in Spain around this time of year, but that doesn't seem feasible right now. How feasible is it to work off the grid? Do many schools care? Are privates that easy to find? Would it be easier in a big city, like Madrid, or some smaller city, like Granada? I speak maybe B1 level spanish, btw.

I've done some research on this site and others, and found very little information on this, and its mostly either dated or contradictory. Any help would be greatly appreciated

[Sashadroogie]

Schengen visa? May I ask what nationality you are? In any case, I'd be very, very careful about overstaying in the Schengen zone. The penalties upon being found out can be quite severe.

Other posters on the ground in Spain can give you more concrete info about work there, but your legal difficulties will still be fairly scary.

Best of luck in any case.

[Grimace420]

Okay, so you want to work in Spain illegally. That's great.

Here's a little rundown on what happens to (mostly South American, African or Asian) illegal immigrants in Spain. Well, in Madrid anyway.

They'll be going on their merry way to their illegal jobs one day when suddenly several members of the police force who were hidden and watching out for unsuspecting prey approach them. "Buenos d�as. Su identificaci�n por favor."

If they provide details about their nationality and identity, they'll probably be released within a few hours but now with a "orden de expulsi�n" against them in the works. That means they're liable to be kicked out at any moment.

If they keep quiet, they get a free stay in this lovely hotel until they either give their details or the police obtain them from a third party.

By staying in Spain for more than 90 days and working, you are in the exact same illegal situation. You are basically a third class citizen. That means you can't go to the doctor for free, something most Spaniards take for granted. Any insurance policy you had could likely refuse to cover you on the grounds that you're not in a place legally. A landlord could rip you off in many different ways. Anyone willing to risk astronomical fines by employing you could very easily rip you off, either by paying you very little or simply not paying you at the end of the year for example. Forget travelling to other countries while you're here, especially those outside the Schengen zone. I've been threatened with arrest by the border control before when I was crossing from Spain to Morocco for carrying an expired ID card and I was here legally, so don't think it couldn't happen to you. If you move around Madrid or other cities, you will see the immigration controls I described above and you are as liable as anyone else to be asked for your "papeles."

Yeah, you can live and work here illegally. Subsisting is what I'd call it. Have fun.

[pr455]

Grimace,

Great post and I agree 100%. I can tell you my story.

I was here from 2003 - 2006 without papers and I survived, but I was never stopped. I stayed away from metro stops where I knew police would do random checks. The academy where I worked would send us to places where we could just walk in and there was no security checks. Even they knew how to work the system.

Times are changing friends. Now that we are in a "crisis" here in Spain, a lot more checks are going on everywhere, especially in Lavapi�s which has a lot of immigrants, as well as at metro stops on Line 6 down south where there is a heavy immigrant population. I have another example. I saw at the metro stop Puerta del �ngel (line 6 - in the south) that the police were stopping people. I took out my studet visa, ready for them to check it, and I was told that I was fine because they were looking only for Latin American women, not men that night.

I am reading more and more about police stopping immigrants and checking for papers. My student visa has expired, but I have a "resguardo" which shows that it is in the process of being renewed and I have to carry that copy with me always in case they do stop me.

Do I regret being here without papers for 3 and a half years? NO. But I do realize that times were different then and those years helped me to get the contacts that I have now.

There is an academy that is able to get you a student visa, but you would probably have to go back to where you are from to start the process. You can work legally on a student visa in some situations, so it's worth gving it a look into. The academy is called "TtMadrid" and they also sign you up for Spanish courses and that's how they are able to give their graduates of their TEFFL course work and a student visa.

You sould be able to get privates without any problem, but don't think that you will be able to survive off of privates because many of them cancel and you will be without that money, unless you make them pay up front for the entire moth or institute a cancellation policy.

We certainly can't tell you what to do and it's up to you to take the decision, but at the end of the day, please consider what you are walking into and don't go in blindly. We are not trying to deter you, but rather give you food for thought.

Suerte,

Shawn

[spiral78]

[pr455]

[spiral78]

Shawn, you're right - I should have qualified my response to recognize the student visa option. Will keep it in mind for future

[pr455]

Spiral,

No problem. I got that one covered, hehe.

Your response was great and sheds a lot of light on the issue as well.

Cheers,

Shawn

[Grimace420]

I know what you mean, Shawn. It's an uncomfortable situation with the selective controls for immigration that many Spanish people and human rights groups are against. It's true that the police are fully within their rights to ask people for their IDs, but there's no question that in practice they are also discriminatory.

During the building boom of around 02-07, I think illegal immigration was tolerated a lot more. Suddenly, with the economic crisis the government decided to crack down on illegals and it came to light in 2009 that there were bonuses being offered to police officers who met quotas for detentions of illegal immigrants and punishments for those who either refused or didn't catch enough. There was also a campaign for repatriation where the government was offering to pay for flights back home for those who volunteered to leave the country.

I have been waiting at bus stops in predominantly immigrant neighbourhoods in Madrid when all of a sudden a police car has pulled up, the cops have stepped out and asked for everyone's ID but mine. It's kind of an uncomfortable situation.

So yeah, my recommendation to jabrda is to find a legal way to come to Spain. There are plenty for North Americans on student visas, but it probably won't be this year is all. You'll be here under much better conditions.

[pr455]

Grimace,

Here is a surprising fact about the Language Assistant Program in Spain.

[jabrda]

Thanks for the advice guys, you really answered my questions. I'll head elsewhere for the time being!

[pr455]

Glad that we could answer your questions. That's why we are here. Don't be a stranger.

Wishing you the best of luck,

Shawn