Job Discussion Forums

[dkcaudill]

In another forum I heard someone mention that Europe is a closed door for those who do not have an EU passport. is this tough to get as an american citizen? anyone have any links explaining this, or any knowledge about it that they could share?

[andrew murphy]

As to nonEU citizens/passport holders working in the EU the rule is NO PASSPORT = NO RIGHT OF WORK.

I'm not sure how this operates within the framework of the 1999 Schengen Agreement on mobility of residency and work rights between EU member states, but Italy does have a miserly quota of work permits for "extracommunitari" = nonEU citizens, but this either relates to highly specialized positions of "importance to the national economy" (which an EFL teacher is not!) or to seasonal (=fruit picking) work.

However many people from outside of the EU through parents who were born in the EU have the right to obtain a passport/citizenship and therefore work in the EU. This is the case with many wannabe EFL teachers from Canada, New Zealand, South Africa & Australia, many of whom boast British or Irish ancestory.

To see your rights, or lack thereof, have a look at this from the Italian Polizia di Stato, which unfortunately is only in Italian and in beauracratic-speak at that: http://www.poliziadistato.it/pds/cittadino/stranieri/stranier.htm

So in a way it's not that you would be refused right of work in the EU because you are an American but because you are not a citizen also of an EU country. I am unsure of American law on the holding of dual citizenship. In order to hold American citizenship does one need to renounce all other allegiances/citizenships? There has always been the possibility for dual citizenship in Australia and it has recently become even easier to obtain, especially with the liberalisation of other countries' citizenship laws.

[Roger]

This question crops up once in a short while, and since most people seem to be labouring under some illusion or other, let us put the relevant facts before the audience.
Citizenship is a secondary consideration although to many, it seems to be of overriding importance. It is not - although the intention of European laws governing migration and employment is to make jobs available to suitably qualified citizens of any member state of the EU.
Thus, if you are a trained teacher from Germany, you can teach in Spain or the UK, and vice versa.
Teacher training in European countries does take a long time. Teaching English for instance requires of a German citizen to be proficient in German, French and English. A German English teacher majors in English at university, and when he gets a job he has the choice of becoming a civil servant with a lifetime employment prospect.
I lived in France, and my then French wife had studied Norwegian and German at university. After graduating, she was hired by a lycee as a German teacher, and has kept her job for over twenty years (by now).
In European countries, foreign languages are taught more in-depth with a heavy focus on interpretation (not translation), literature and writing.
You can't say their students lack proficiency after graduating from college!
Most native English teachers work in private training centres. There are options for non-EU citizens though clearly, preference is given to UK citizens who are citizens of the EU.
It appears that in non-EU countries, it is a little freer. ALso, Greece, Italy and Spain - Europe's more conservative south - often bend rules. BUt it also is true that their jobs pay comparatively less, and job security is low.
One of the best options seems to be the former DDR as well as Czech, Hungary, and to a lesser degree, Poland.

[andrew murphy]

Its seems true that employers in Greece, Italy and Spain often bend the rules in employing people without the right paperwork. But the comparative low pay and lack of job security is not a tradeoff for this, these conditions are the normal lot of EFL teachers in these countries. The situation is even more precarious for those without the right paperwork.