Job Discussion Forums

[dav06012]

I've got my BA (yeah, that stands for bad-a) in Elementary Ed as well as my TESOL certificate, and I was a volunteer English teacher in Russia for 6 months (best experience ever!). But on the Russia boards, all I've heard are horror stories. I know how Russian people are, and I know how visas go there. As volunteers, we had serious issues. We realized that we had no rights, and there were tons of clerical-type errors from our local administration that could have screwed us. It is somewhat nightmareish. However, we had great support from the office in the US. Anyways. Turkey seems pretty fascinating to me, pretty high up there on places to visit, and the people on the Turkey boards seem less hardened than the Russian boards. My question is, is Turkey better? Is obtaining and maintaining a visa as difficult? What are your experiences?

[canaduck]

Visa's are easy, just hop to the border every three or so months (depends on your nationality). You could also get a residence permit and avoid all that.
Securing a work permit is a little tricker. You will have to have your workplace begin the process and in some cases you need to be in your home country.
I worked with a woman who worked in Russia and she agrees that Turkey's system is much more user-friendly.