Job Discussion Forums

[Endless_Highway]

Has anyone worked in Granada recently? I'm thinking about going to Spain and working in that town would be my dream come true. Anywhere down in Andalucia would probably do, but that's where I have my heart set on. I have a year of experience in Korea, one in the States, and a TEFL cert. Does any of that matter if you don't have an EU passport?

I've seen people post that Sevilla or Malaga are better options for a job seeker, but I thought I might as well ask and see what you have to say. Thanks for the input!

[spiral78]

99% you won't be able to get a legal work permit for Spain as a non-EU member citizen.

In the past lots and lots of North Americans have been working under the table. But I am wondering whether that is a viable option anymore, with the new Schengen zone laws. These began January 08 and mandate that non-EU citizens can be inside the zone for 90 days max, then have to leave for 90 days before re-entering.

I think this is probably cutting down significantly on illegal English teachers in Spain, since you're highly likely to be caught overstaying when you fly out of the zone, meaning that you'll get a big bad stamp in your passport, essentially banning you from re-entering Europe for some long period of time.

Any input on this question from the Spain 'oldies?'

[sheikh radlinrol]

[jonniboy]

God bless you Spiral you must have the patience of a saint to answer this question over and over again for people who can't be bothered to use the search function.

About leaving Spain, the experiences of my Russian and American friends was that Spanish immigration authorities didn't really care when people were flying out. However those experiences were two years ago so the situation may have changed since.

[spiral78]

New laws as of Jan 1, 2008 make the situation entirely different than in the past. That's why I'm curious whether the illegal teaching scene is really drying up - the potential penalties are far more likely and serious.

However, probably no definitive answer to this question until October or so...all proper Europeans being busy preparing to take August off just now

[Endless_Highway]

I think it's made pretty clear on the site that Americans can't work legally, but has that stopped them? Believe it or not, I actually did do a search on the topic. I didn't know anything about the new Schengen laws and I'm curious about the penalties for overstaying your visa. Since lots of people do it, it couldn't have been too bad, right? I guess it sounds like that is all about to change, though. I like Europe too much to get banned from it for any number of years, so maybe this isn't an option.

There is a guy in Valencia that says he's willing to hire Americans, but I don't know that it's worth it to get caught. Maybe I ought to look into the South American forum.

[spiral78]

One more time: the new laws went into effect January this year, so the ease of working illegally in the past is now a moot point. Yes, it was easy before. Now, not.

So far as I know, the penalty for overstaying is a red stamp in your passport, which means that you can't re-enter the Eurozone for some time in the future. I've heard up to 5 years, but I can't confirm that!! This is why I wonder whether any of the Spain pros can comment on the issue.

[travellingscot]

Perhaps an American residing in Spain could ask their embassy for information as to the likelihood of a passport being stamped. It may sound odd to some of you, but I was in that situation a few years ago in Eastern Europe and a nice person in the British Embassy told me that whilst they did not approve of anyone overstaying, the local immigration could not stamp my passport, merely fling me out and put a note on the computer system in case I returned. None of that happened and things have changed so I am now in an EU country, but surely the American Embassy should be able to give open and honest information to one of it's citizens .