Job Discussion Forums

[reddevil79]

As someone responsible for coordinating hiring at the regional university where I work, I’ve started to see a worrying trend develop where larger or more established universities are encouraging candidates take a job at institutes who’ll sponsor a work visa, and then tell them to resign and join them once all their paperwork is sorted.

I know this has happened with one candidate we hired as they were very honest when weighing up their options and told me that a ‘reputable’ university in Puebla had recommended they take this course of action. This also happened with another teacher who was already working at our university, and the other institute looking to hire backed off when I sent a strongly worded email about their unethical behaviour.

Anyone who has been hiring teachers under the new(ish) immigration rules will know that it’s a long, laborious, costly and, at times, frustrating experience for all concerned (at least in Oaxaca) and it’s extremely annoying to lose teachers in this manner to wealthier, more established institutes who don’t want to go through the process of arranging work visas.

Legally, employees are doing nothing wrong by resigning and then taking up employment within 30 days at another institute, but it really sticks in your throat and I find the whole situation stinks. Has anyone else had experience of this, either as a recruiter or when looking for a job?

[Guy Courchesne]

Have seen it lots, and in fact we use it to our advantage. Our company can sponsor first-time RT applicants who then go off to work at other schools (clients of ours) that aren't able to process the papers the first time. Seems to be a common workaround.

I haven't seen it used in exactly the same way you are talking about, though I imagine it happens elsewhere too. Not nice at all. Can you not enforce contracts to squash the behaviour...something like a no-compete clause perhaps? I'm only guessing here...

[Gringo Greg]

How has the process for work visas become more complicated? I'm just curious. Personally, I'm a parent of a Mexican so I'm going to the RP route sometime in the near future.

[Guy Courchesne]

Well, it's not a new thing...in late 2012 they made it so that you need to visit a Mexican consulate outside Mexico as a critical part of the process of getting a residente visa for most types of activities. It's not particularly complicated.