Job Discussion Forums

[natasnowden]

Well truth be told, I was actually born in Moldova and have a wonderfully insignificant Moldovan citizenship to complement my US citizenship. I suppose that passport doesn't do much other than allowing me to stay within Russia with less questions. However, I'm still applying and planning to work as a US citizen.

Regardless, thanks all for the input!!

Another quick question - if I were to sign a contract with a different school after my current one ends, does the new school take care of making sure I can stay in the country between contracts, or is THIS where busting out that Moldovan passport and being able to stay in Russia for 90 days is going to come in handy??

[Foma87]

Wow the whole "I am Russian, immigrated 14 years ago to the states" sure fooled me. Sorry for jumping to conclusions, though I wasn't the only one! If I'm not mistaken it is easier to get a work permit for CIS citizens. You'd have to look into the exact rules yourself, though, which you can on the FMS website. Either way, still cool you have two passports!

Pretty sure you'd have to leave the country to get a work visa through another company, regardless of your Moldovan passport. I don't know how being able to stay in Russia 30 days without a visa on your Moldovan passport would change this fact. Maybe you could elaborate.

You could presumably get the new work visa in a third country with your American passport (like one of the Baltics), though. So you wouldn't have to fly all the way back to the States upon switching to another company.

[Deats]

It depends on what companies you work for but technically you should be able to transfer your visa - although it will be basically impossible time wise if you finish your first contract. In December I quit my job but my school agreed to leave my visa open for the remainder of my time in SPB - a further 9 months. At first I thought of taking another job, but as we had a baby on the way I decided against this. However, my school told me that my visa could be transferred to another school. I think the process takes 2 weeks (don't quote me on this, it may be longer, but that's what I recall the headmaster saying). You will need to be lucky in the sense that your school will need to play ball. What may be difficult is that your school would not want to finish/sign over your visa before your contract expires and usually this won't give you enough time to get your documents transferred. First they'd need to transfer your old visa THEN apply for a new one as the old one would be running out. This will be 6 weeks at best for the 2 processes combined and I doubt your new school would want the hassle or the cost. (doubt they'd have time more importantly)

What is an utter headache is most embassies will insist you return to your country of passport to obtain a new working visa. Last summer I had these issues. I rang the embassies in neighbouring countries and they all refused to help - I couldn't renew in Russia as I was on 2 month summer vacation in Europe at the time my visa technically expired. In the end I needed to go back to England. I've heard of people doing visa runs to neighbouring countries, but these aren't for working visas.

Having a Moldovan passport won't help you if you enter on an American passport. There will be no entry stamp in your Moldovan passport, so how could you explain leaving the country on a passport with no entry stamp? If you show your US passport to exit, then you will have overstayed and be in trouble. So when your visa expires in your US passport, you will have to leave. Your stay is up. You can't just use another passport to extend the stay. You could visit another country and re-enter visa free for 90 days on your Moldovan passport, but I'm not sure how this will help. Presumably you will still have to return to the US for a new working visa to be processed.

Maybe some other people have more advice on transferring schools when your visa is due to expire???

[Foma87]

If I'm not mistaken you can still get a work visa in Lithuania, but you'd have to go through a travel agency, not directly to the embassy. They usually charge a hefty fee, but you only have to wait a day and you don't have to fly back home. This may not be the case for British citizens, but it has worked for me, an American.

[Deats]

I'm only guessing at this but it could be for three reasons:

a) Our nationalities are different
b) I called the embassy rather than a travel agency
c) They sometimes process, they sometimes don't

In 2006 I got a travel visa for Russia in Tallinn. The woman in the embassy told me they wouldn't accept my documents as my invitation was printed and not the original. After some discussion she said she would go and ask the consul (or whoever it was issuing the visas). She assured me the answer would be no but would ask just to get rid of me. She came back a few minutes later with a shocked/puzzled look on her face. She told me he must be in an incredibly good mood because he was willing to accept the printed document. She said she'd never seen this before. Sometimes you just get lucky.

I would say it is worth trying to make sure that you can get the visa before setting off to a neighbouring country, as it is quite a way to travel to get turned away and could affect your employment (at the very least your salary) if you then find you need to go back to your home country anyway. This was my biggest fear - how much it would cost to book last minute tickets back to England/hotel costs/loss of salary etc.

[Phillip Schofield]

My words of wisdom would be, "Perfect your 'game face'".

I'm proud of my 'game face'.

I can go from having a face like sour milk to a beaming smile in less than a second. "Hi! How are you? Please tell me all about your week and I will convincingly pretend that I actually care about your problems."

Rapport is important. Even if you despise the student, you should make them think that their existence brightens up your day. Although I find it hard to directly lie; so when a student says, "It's great to see you, I've missed our lessons", I can't really return the compliment. I must admit that my facade does falter at that point.

[Gamajorba]

[Sashadroogie]

I dunno. I like most of my students. Even the ones in school classes, where I have little control over admissions. Most of them just want to get on with learning. The characters whom I don't really like are usually not popular with the group either, and so eventually remove themselves.

With private students I have only rarely had students I genuinely disliked. Obnoxious world views etc. I usually stopped working with those few. But most of the time any irritation I had with the others was of my own making.

So, while rapport is crucial, I am not sure it has to be an act. I have taught some genuinely lovely people, some of whom I still have social contact with after the lessons came to an end.

[Gamajorba]

Yes, but Sasha, the big difference between Saudis and Russians is that Russians, in general, WANT to learn...!

Sweeping statement and there are exceptions I know, but you get the idea.

[Sashadroogie]

I get what you are saying, but when did Saudi Arabia become part of the thread? Why wasn't I notified?! The Party needs to be kept informed, grrr!

[GotoRussia]

Droggy must be a full fledged Commie by now, the "Party" needs to be informed ? bahahaaha... dude's living' in the stone ages

[Sashadroogie]

And you're joining a party too late to get what is going on, and one where nobody really wants you. But troll on...

[GotoRussia]

joining what party, you expouse Communist views? Figures. you drunk again dude...you troll so much you make Gollum look like a prince

[Sashadroogie]

Trying very hard to parse that last offering... No - doesn't work...

[GotoRussia]

dang that fugly huh...sorry to hear that...cheer up mate the good times are coming. just hit the vodka fellow Comrade