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Contract and tutoring questions

 
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mybu84



Joined: 02 Jun 2010
Posts: 7
Location: Daqing, China

PostPosted: Thu May 02, 2013 8:24 am    Post subject: Contract and tutoring questions Reply with quote

Hi everyone!

I was recently offered a contract in St Petersburg and wanted to ask a few questions.

My fiancee is Russian, so I am fully aware of how Russians are paid 'under the table' to avoid tax. However, is this a common practice with foreigners?

The school contract says you must pay 30% for the first 180 days and then 13% from there on in. However, when we spoke to the director of the school, he quoted a sum that was more like 10% to begin with, dropping down to about 5%. Obviously this will make a huge difference to my salary!

Having worked in China for 4 years, I am sick of verbal 'promises', which come back to bite you in the bum. Every time I refer to these with my current employer, he always says, "Well, it's not in the contract". Is this a common occurrence in Russia? If I sign the contract, will they just deduct 30% and tell me it's tough luck!?

Next, we plan to get married in the summer of 2014, at which point I will apply for a TRP (Temporary Resident Permit). Once I have the TRP, I intend to quit whatever school I am working for and just teach privately. I am led to believe that this is much more lucrative. I was wondering if anyone has experience of teaching privately in SPB? If I have already lived in SPB for 18 months, do you think it is realistic to think I would at least have a base of private 1 on 1 students? If you freelance through a school what kind of wage can you earn per hour? How about going directly to businesses? What about 1 on 1 tuition fees?

I've read varied reports on different forums. Some people say you can get 100,000 - 200,000 Rubles a month. What is your opinion?

Thanks for your help!

Philip
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coledavis



Joined: 21 Jun 2003
Posts: 1838

PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2013 12:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I detest people, non-Russians as well as Russians, who spend their time delineating what is 'in the contract' and what isn't. It generally means that they are shysters. No, not all Russian employers are like this. It may be worth your while to get in communication with a few more employers: St Petersburg is a fairly big market for TEFL I am given to understand.

By the way: avoiding tax is illegal, in Russia as elsewhere.
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mybu84



Joined: 02 Jun 2010
Posts: 7
Location: Daqing, China

PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2013 1:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for your reply Cole, much appreciated Smile

If I sign the contract, and it states that I am paying tax (even if the school actually is swindling the tax), surely I can't get in trouble over this, right? I'm still worried they could cheat me though, even though the school seems to have a fairly good reputation.

One huge problem with the EFL market in SPB, is most of them want you to go to Russia first, have an interview and trial lessons and then offer you a job. I can't be bothered with working illegally, or going in the hope of a job offer. Only 2 schools have made what I would term a concrete offer, with (more or less) no strings and visa support.

To be honest, it started to make me think that I would not even bother working for a language school. I have no financial requirement to work in the short term, so was considering just travelling with the fiancee for a year before getting married, then the TRP will only take 6 months. After this I can work for who I want, when I want. The last thing I want to do is work for a crooked school, or work my ass off for next to nothing. This is where the question about freelancing and private tutoring comes into play. Is it really possible to make a good living this way?! Do you have any experience with this?

Thanks again for your advice!
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coledavis



Joined: 21 Jun 2003
Posts: 1838

PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2013 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When you get round to private tutoring after you get your permit, this is also illegal unless you go and sort out tax (and I do not know how easy or difficult this is, or even if it is possible). To answer your question: no I don't have experience of this, as I don't like one-to-one work and I like evading tax even less. Have you considered another possibility? As a native speaker you may be able to get a contract with a company, either training their employees or proof-reading or both.

I still think you should make contact with a few more schools. The problem with seeing schools in the flesh is that you'll come over on one visa and would probably need to return to your home country for a different visa. Use Eslbase and its schools page, also use search engines, both using English and in Russian (PROMT or Rustran provide free online translations if you are not a Russian speaker).
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