Job Discussion Forums

[Clark Montange]

EU Passport and Visa Woes:

I have been viewing Dave's site's posts for many months. His has a great web site!! I did not see a need to post until now, however. I stumbled upon one speaking about Ukraine school visa problems by "Garvin," (don't remember exactly where, but somewhere here in the Job Discussion Forums) and felt it was an ethical obligation to join. I want to be as brief as possible, yet accurate.

Many opportunities that I may easily qualify for now, require an EU passport (this was not the case a few years back). It has been really hard. Does anyone have advice on how to deal with this? I tried to get "close" Europe wise, and do Ukraine first, boy what a mistake that was.

A consulate in a bordering country to Ukraine completely rejected Ukraine school, American English Center (AEC) visa documents - - all of them, the ones necessary to secure legal employment with AEC in Ukraine. The consulate cited, among other reasons, that AEC's documents did not comply with standard Ukraine consulate requirements.

How can one get a foot in the door in Europe at all? Ideas?

The visa application documents, I was told by the consulate representative, did not clearly address exactly what my job was to be, what the job title was, what I was being hired do to, the purpose of my employment with AEC, etc. I was also told the school's official "license verification," was inadequate, and third, that the consulate never accepts electronic copies (only originals), and that Ameican English Center should have known this.

These documents were written in Russian, so I had no way of knowing what they said. I flew thousands of miles from the U.S., because there was not a Ukraine embassy near where I live. AEC advised me to go to a particular embassy bordering the Ukraine.

If you have visa concerns, pause and perhaps ask: Why would a legitimate school not be eager to call the consulate and sort out the mess (I had a current phone number, with a "real" person to talk to - - a person who was helpful to me)?

Why would a legitimate school also, not from the very start, provide original documents, knowing this is the requirement? I was informed that one cannot legally work in Ukraine on a tourist visa. This was the remaining option. Has anyone been in this sort of jam?

I am not a negative person, nor "trouble maker" type. I want to help prevent someone from the nightmare I was caused. Put your energies into constructive avenues. Europe may not be the way to go presently, unless you already have an "in." It is tough, because for many, our time is precious, and the present job market is shrinking by the day out there.

Take care my Internet colleagues.

[artemisia]

The original question in this thread concerned work in Europe but other posters developed it into the (non) worthiness of teaching ESOL as a job. It�s a bit old now but this point seems ever relevant and I�ve been thinking about some of the comments posted. The question I always come back to is this: is teaching a language in itself an intrinsically unworthwhile job or is it just ESOL? If you have this attitude (and many do) towards this line of work, do you equally apply it to teachers of other languages (French, German etc..) regardless of whether they work for an institution like the Goethe Institute, university, language or high school? If you do � end of story. If you don�t � why not? Is it because so many can travel and get ESOL work without qualifications (though this situation has been drastically diminished)? Or it the nature of ESOL itself? Yeah, it�s true that low level entry requirements and the �entertainment� industry make for some very unhappy working situations. People can get away with offering *!@^# money& conditions because there�ll always be some sucker (or desperate person) who�ll take that job.

I�ve had people imply or say directly to my face that ESOL teaching is not �real� work. This has a lot to do with academic status. Whereas a German teacher (lecturer) in a university would most likely be teaching language and translation and possibly publishing academic works, ESOL teachers are generally attached to a more �language school� like department in a university. However, my feeling is that this derogatory attitude is generally not attributed to teachers of other languages whether they work for a university or not. I suspect it has something to do with supply and demand � whenever there�s a shortage of something (one) - people seem to value this more. That just isn�t the case with ESOL teaching � �oversupply�!

[Captain_Fil]

Working in Europe would be a dream. Imagine weekends in Paris or Amsterdam.

But I guess not. (At least, not at this time.)

I've heard that Europe is closed to ESL teachers who are US citizens. The visa process is a nightmare.

Sigh.

Asia, here I come!

[artemisia]

Yeah, sorry. It's not especially easy for those who do have EU passports, never mind those who don't.

Hmm, that was the thing I loved most about being based in Europe (on the continent) - travelling easily to different countries - sometimes just for daytrips. Even if I didn't go anywhere, I loved seeing trains with "Paris" as the destination or knowing I could so easily go to numerous concerts/ museums/ pubs and see magnificent architecture. I miss it so much!

Good luck in Asia, which has it own attractions.