Job Discussion Forums

[Guy Courchesne]

[Prof.Gringo]

My current job started off teaching part-time in a prepa. Now I am full-time after another teach just quit. My pay is about $20,000 pesos per month, plus those vales minus taxes on my salary. I think that is about the top end of the pay scale here in Mexico. I was just in the right place, at the right time. That is what it's all about here. I feel that I am making good pay here in DF.

[Samantha]

Do they pay for your FM3 or do you have to do that on your own?

[TheLongWayHome]

[MELEE]

[Samantha]

Melee, to some it does matter what the bottom line looks like especially if they are carrying debt back home. Do you not agree that it's important for the newbies on the forum to understand how this is handled by various schools? It's all part of knowing where teachers will stand financially and legally while working in Mexico. For all we know, the school could not be bothered with FM3's at all, never mind who pays. There are plenty of 'upstanding', well-paying schools who do not follow through with the FM3 process for foreign teachers. And that's not the fault of the teacher. However, some teachers, no matter what they make, prefer to work legally. Others don't care.

[thecrit840]

I understand what MELEE meant, considering that the salary mentioned is so extraordinarily high by Mexican standards. However, I agree with the emphasis of the former post because navigating through the whole process of getting employment in Mexico can be so daunting/perplexing if you've never gone through it--and even if you have.

[MELEE]

Sam, I'm not obsessed with teachers who are illegal in Mexico.
With that salary I'd be much more interested in knowing how much they pay for aguinaldo, a quincena, a month, two months? As we are talking a significant amount of money. 2000 pesos for an FM3 is hardly the bottom line, but the amount he gets in vales, aguinaldo, and the particulars of the fondo de ahorro DO have a be effect on the bottom line. They could easily push him over 300,000 a year.
If 2000 pesos is going to break someone "who is carrying debt back home" but making 20,000 pesos a month in Mexico, then in my opinion they have no business being in Mexico with that big of a debt payment.
I personally don't have experience with any schools that DO NOT follow through on the FM3 process, I've heard from you that there are a lot of teachers working illegally in Mexico. But I haven't met them. There are at least two teachers on this forum who got independant FM3s in Mexico City. For 20,000 pesos a month I think anyone could afford to make the effort to do the same.

[Samantha]

Well, Melee, this turned into kind of hijack from a simple question I asked, didn't it? ....But anyway, let's let that slide and run with it... Let's also be clear that we both read and post on this forum, but certainly NOT for the same purpose. That's quite obvious.

[ls650]

I got your point, MELEE.

[Oreen Scott]

What is aguialdo? What does the acronym D.F. stand for? I'm assuming it's a city. Where is this city?

[Guy Courchesne]

[TheLongWayHome]

[PlayadelSoul]

I have some competitors who are using teachers without FM3's. They actually use the "all extranjero native speakers" pitch when they try to undercut our business. I have been tempted, more than once, to turn them in but haven't because I hate to see people deported. Having said that, I still think it is a despicable practice and any teacher who knowingly works illegally shouldn't be surprised when they get their walking papers.

A full time teacher (6 or 7 hours a day plus Sabatinos) at my school makes about 18,000 or more a month, before taxes, plus the normal benefits. That wage places them firmly in the middle class with the cost of living, here.

[Prof.Gringo]