Job Discussion Forums

[spiral78]

From the Prague Post, March or April? 2009:

Since the Czech Republic entered the Schengen zone in January 2008, regulations and laws concerning long-term visas for non-EU citizens have tightened, eliminating the option of crossing the border every three months to renew tourist visas within the Czech Republic, a formerly common practice among local expats.

"Since this March, we've intensified Foreigners' Police controls," said Mark�ta Pokorn�, head of the Immigration Unit of the Interior Ministry.

Now, stays in the Schengen zone are limited to a total of three months within a six-month period for non-EU citizens.


Kristin and the four other teachers may have been denied work permits because they breached Schengen law. Once a non-EU citizen has been on Schengen territory for two or three months, his or her application can be denied if they have overstayed the tourist visa

[spiral78]

If you go there, file for legal papers. Then- no problems.

[ITTP]

[spiral78]

However, and I am not encouraging people to teach illegally, if you are never officially within the system then you can become 'lost' and some people still do teach illegally and stay past their 3 month limit - sometimes making trips in and out of the country too to non-schengen states.

Border runs no longer work to keep one legal in any of the Schengen zone countries. You have to STAY OUT OF THE ZONE FOR 90 DAYS. Don't imply that a stamp can re-charge the 90 days as it used to - it doesn't, as of January 2009.


BUT I NEVER RECOMMEND TEACHING ILLEGALLY unless it is absolutely essential.

In what way could teaching illegally be 'absolutely essential?' If you can't get legal papers, obviously you should go somewhere else, I think.

[ITTP]

[Mike_2007]

[spiral78]

Yeah, I'll concede that to bridge a long-term legal situation, it may sometimes be convenient to work illegally short term in a few situations. I'm aware that the laws vary and change and are enforced patchily as well.

The situation is different for people contemplating teaching in countries where they will not be able to get legal work permits.

I think there's a real distinction between the situation that Mike_2007 describes and, for example, a US citizen contemplating staying illegally in France or Spain or Italy for a year.

[Mike_2007]

I'm always surprised that more people don't set up their own company. I can only speak for Romania of course, but it's reasonably simple to do here (especially if you pay a specialist company to do it for you). Takes a couple of week and costs a few hundred euro. Then you are entitled to reside here and you can work for anyone you like and invoice them if required.

[naturegirl321]

Is it really htat cheap and easy to set up a company in Romania? Wuldn't you then have to hire a certain percent of ROmanians, pay yourself a fixed salary?

And who actually sponsors you for your visa, do you sponsor yourself since you are your own boss?

I imagine that if you do it yourself it'd be pretty cheap , but don't companies that specialise in that charge an arm and a leg?

[Mike_2007]

There are various different kinds of companies with varying rules. A friend of mine who also teaches has set up a 'micro-company'. This means he pays less tax, but he does have to employ one Romania (he has his wife on the books at minimum wage - he doesn't pay her as she has a job already but just pays her taxes and contributions). He doesn't have a salary but he is allowed to pay himself dividends on a regular basis.

Loads of people also set up companies to allow them to buy land here as under Romanian legislation, only Romanians (and technically EU citizens resident in Romania) can buy land. The cost to set up such a company is, I think, about 2-400 Euro. A company will charge you about 800 Euro all in (some charge more, but there are a few good firms around offering the better-value service). It's probably worth paying the extra because it does involve a lot of taking documents to be stamped, standing in queues, paying various fees and the usual red tape. You can do it yourself, but if you don't know Romanian and can't be bothered with it, it's well worth getting a pro onto it.

[naturegirl321]

Hm, sounds like a great loophole, if we could just sell our house and jeep, we'd have enough cash to do it.

If we did, then we'd pay someone. I've done the running around enough in Peru to last me a lifetime.