Job Discussion Forums

[run-jp]

For those with no plans for Easter, something to occupy you a bit.

Not long ago on this forum, I read for about the 3rd time, that foreigners must return to their home country in order to obtain a working visa from the Pol. Embassy. While I imagine this is the legal way to do it, I have to wonder if some "variation" is allowed. For example, that is also the law in Japan, HOWEVER, you are basically allowed to pick up the visa from any
countrys Japanese Embassy, so most people opt for Thai or S Korea after they pass the hiring process. For UKians going home is no huge expense, but hwat if you are Kiwi, Aus.,or N. American... flights can be pricey (don't think BA will offer $300 NY-Lon in Aug like in May),and I imagine the average school doesn't pay for this.
So, do people interview in home country job fairs? by phone? or just bite the bullet on these costs? and throw in an icon I can not fathom at all for good measure.
If I turned green would I smile like that?

Thanks again, Oh most erudite ones!

[bnix]

Poland is not Japan,obviously...and I really doubt if there is any"easy'(and cheap) way to prevent a trip back to one's home country to get the visa renewed ...it is generally agreed by a lot of people who have taught in Poland that the "Poles are shooting themselves in the foot" over this one.I taught in Poland in 1998-1999. liked it very much,wanted to stay another year,but was told I would have to return to the US(at my own expense) to get the visa renewed.I packed my bags and left Poland.

Most schools are not going to pay for your trip.They can't afford it.Occasionally posts on Dave's have cropped up from people claiming that they somehow circumvented the trip and the expense.Maybe.But if so,they are definitely very rare exceptions.

[Alex Shulgin]

[bnix]

So,maybe now you are the self-appointed Guru of Poland and have awrded youself "expert status". Get a life,Alex.

[Alex Shulgin]

I just rejoice that you don't know the truth about Poland and that your ignorance is the the thing that made it easy to get rid of you. Do I know more about Poland than you? Most probably, you were here for nine or ten months 5 years ago. I've been here for 8 years and am here now. Hopefully you'll no longer feel the need to post your out of date (or sometimes just plain wrong) 'information' here.

[bnix]

Hopefully you will not chide other posters for being "self appointed gurus" or "experts' when the original poster claimed no such thing.So you have been in Poland for eight years.That does not necessarily make YOU an expert either.I never claimed to be an expert.of course,I will continue posting as long as i want to...I have just as much a right to do that as you.

[Alex Shulgin]

By all means post here. Just don't dress up your ignorance as accurate information. You didn't know what was going on in Poland even when you were here, you certainly don't know about the place 4 years after you left!

[bnix]

Let's get a couple of things straight ,Alex.
1.I do not need your gracious permission to post on this board.
2.If you want to set yourself up as Expert on Poland,Guru or whatever.That is fine with me.To show you there are no hard feelings,if there was such an election,I would vote for you today.If you were running for Grand Buffoon,I would cast my vote for you there,too.
In my original post,an innocent little post about Poland (nowhere did I claim to be an "expert" or "guru"),I stated explicitly that I could very well be wrong on some of the details.Does that sound like "dressing up "my post to make it sound like i am an expert?I hardly thinkso.
It was an innocent little post...but for some reason you seem to think I was setting myself up as an "expert"No way.I do not claim to be an expert.However,i hardly need YOUR permission to post on this board,and I will continue to say whatever I wish (like everyone else) as long as it does not violate any guidelines.

And hey,I am serious when I said I would cast my vote for YOU...as either EXPERT or grand Buffoon.

[khmerhit]

I've never been to Poland, but i have worked for a newspaper and lived with a journalist or two, so i know a nasty hack when i see one. Worse, i bet youve been downgraded to flack and thats why youve got time on your hands to dish it out. Go back to your novel, you know, the one about the unhappy hack in Warsaw.

[Alex Shulgin]

Thanks for that kermerhit. Sadly for you my career is going only up right now, more writing work available whenever I want it! That could well be because I rip the piss out of the sad bohemians working on their first novel.



Coming back to the original poster for a moment: there are two ways to solve your problem, one is cast iron and the other is dodgy. The legal way is to apply for the visa in the country where you are legally resident. I know a few Kiwis and Aussies who have a parent with a British passport and so have the right to reside in the UK. They go to the British embassy and get the permit for the UK sorted out and then can go to the consulate in London to get their visa. That is completely legal. The dodgy way is to go to Berlin and then DHL your passport home and send somebody else to apply for the visa. Some consuls will let applications be made not in person but others ask to meet the person applying. Bit of a crap shoot really.

[Chris]

Ok Alex,

I arrived in Poland in October, 1997 and indeed you could get the visas without going to your home country. However, in December of that same year, you could no longer go across the border (in my case Ostrava) to get your visa in your passport... You MUST get your initial visa in your home country at your home Polish consulate.

You could at that point get your visa renewed as long as your company got all the paperwork set in a timely manner. Unfortunately, my schools didn't, so I had to go home to get them renewed.

Then, in 2001, the law changed again, and the initial visa was for only 3 months, and you were then required to get a temp res card.. That is good for up to 2 years, and can be renewed. I am currently in the process of getting it renewed.

In short, Bnix is absolutely correct.

Chris
Milwaukee/Sosnowiec, 1997-2003 and beyond....

[Alex Shulgin]

He is not absolutely correct. He said it was not possible to have a visa renewed in Poland. It is possible now, it was possible when he was here, it was possible before he was here. He also says how it is agreed by teachers here that Poles are shooting themselves in the foot. This is an opinion that I have never heard before, it most certainly is not generally agreed! That statement shows the depth of bnix's ignorance, Poland changed its residency permit regulations so that they fit the EU model (which they must in order to join the EU) not because they wanted to change the rules. But bnix doesn't know that so he just blames it on the 'stupid Poles'.
I've just noticed his claim that schools "never" pay for trips home to get the visa. The one I work at does, so does the one my girlfriend works at, so do the ones my friends work at, so do the ones I used to work at. I guess that those schools need to read bnix's post and stop paying for things that they can't afford!

[mike10]

[tbiehl2000]

Ok. I plan on taking the Celta in Krakow next November. I am American. After I complete the course sometime in December, will I not be able to work in Poland unless I return to the States to secure a visa? If that's the case, I'm now depressed. Terry.

[Alex Shulgin]

You won't be able to work unless you get a visa stamped into your passport in the USA. Sorry.

On the bright side you will be able to interview with schools after you finish your CELTA, sign a contract and then go home for Christmas.