Job Discussion Forums

[Blebling]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help me. I have seen some similar questions on here, but no definitive answers.
I am currently working in a language school and my contract ends at the end of June, along with my visa. I haven't had the best time here, so I am hoping to hand in my notice, leave the job at the end of May, and travel Russia until my visa expires.
My question is, if I voluntarily end my contract early, can/will my employer cancel my work visa? If so, how would they do this? Could they inform the authorities electronically so that I am stopped when I try to leave the country later, or is my visa sound as long as it's in my passport?

Any help would be appreciated. I'd hate to take a chance on my visa and then have serious issues when I try to leave at the end of june.

Thanks in advance!

[coledavis]

Tricky and I do not think that there is a definitive answer. As I think you realise, the issuing of the visa is predicated upon your employment contract. So I suppose if they were sore enough, they just might say that you aren't working any more and should not be in the country. However, whether or not a school would want to bring attention to itself is uncertain.

Is there any chance of a relatively amicable agreement to part company? I suspect not if they are expecting you to teach until the end of June. If I knew that you were leaving me struggling at the end of term and knew that that same period was being used a holiday, I would be pretty annoyed.

[Sashadroogie]

Whatever about the ethical concerns about leaving a school, please be assured that your company cannot have your visa terminated. I advise confirming this with a lawyer, for peace of mind, but as has been posted here many times by me and others, so long as you do not hand over your passport to the school, there is nothing they can do. You are right in your assumption about this. The school would have to prove you were not working there, and provide all contract details to the immigration authorities etc etc.

For the sake of four weeks, no school would take the chance of any unpleasantness with the tax authorities, who may be involved if a legal dispute escalated.

We cannot tell you what to do, but it might be an idea to inform your boss of your intentions, including your travel plans, and see how that goes. But NEVER part with your passport, no matter what, until you are ready to depart the country.


In any case, I would be shocked if you had any problems leaving the country.

[RoscoeTX]

Cole is absolutely right, there may be no definitive answer. I think it may vary from case to case. As Cole mentioned, it may depend on how you part with your employer and whether they choose to be vindictive.

Take it with a grain of salt, but I imagine if you have only 1 month left remaining on your contract when you quit. I would go out on a limb and say they would not go through the necessary channels to cancel your visa. Whatever those channels might be.

I've heard hearsay about schools/companies not being able to cancel your visa as long as you do not hand over your passport with your visa stamp. So if this stands to be true, as long as you don't hand over your passport and keep possession of it, you should be alright.

Also, personally, I went through a similar situation....parted with my old company in a torrent of threats about canceling my visa and back and forth bickering and pleads from them. I quit and my work visa was not canceled and I traveled in and out of Russia on that visa.

I guess it's kinda a crap shoot and would be great to know the exact laws on this and how an official canceling of a visa is done...

best of luck!

[Sashadroogie]

I'm not a lawyer, so can not give a 100% answer with regards to this issue. So a 99.9% answer will have to do. Keep your passport safe, and unless you are astronomically unlucky, you'll be fine.

Look at it this way. School wants a visa cancelled. They go to the immigration boys and say "We want to cancel this teacher's visa." The immigration people will say, "Sure, where is it?" Whereupon, with no passport to present, the whole process stops.

Your visa is valid, so long as there is no big stamp plastered across it stating otherwise. This is more than hearsay.

Unfair dismissal cases get even more difficult for the school. They would have to prove that they had the right to fire a teacher, in a court of arbitration, win their case, and then still have to have the passport sent to the immigration office for visa cancellation. The whole legal procedure would take longer than the validity period of the visa anyway, so no school bothers with this.

Any school that threatens visa cancellation is merely trying to intimidate teachers.

But, as in all legal matters, contact a real lawyer to verify all the above : )

Best of luck!

[Foma87]

Happens all the time. Not to worry. Your visa is valid until its expiration date. As long as you are in possession of your passport, there's no way the school can cancel your visa, regardless of what they tell you. Sasha's correct.
Upon termination of your contract, the school is obligated to inform Migration, but this has no bearing on the validity of your visa.
Contact this agency and as for Vadim (he speaks English), if you're still worried: http://www.rusvisa.org

[Blebling]

Thank you all for your help.
I'm still very wary. The school says that when the contract ends, teachers have 72 hours to leave the country. I don't know that trouble with the tax authorities would be a big enough deterrent for them not to cancel my visa, as they seem pretty legit in that respect. If they tell migration that I don't work for them, won't this void my visa, as they are the inviting organisation, even if they don't have my passport with them?

I plan to give them notice of my leaving but I haven't decided whether to tell them I will stay in the country. Stupidly, I'm a little scared that if I tell them they might cancel it vindictively, where they might have not even thought of doing so before.

Thank you again.