Job Discussion Forums

Ernie Cuba · Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Posts: 24 Location: Amsterdam

I'm thinking of going to find some work in Tehran. I'm a British national and I'm aware of the potential problems this may raise as regards to visas. I'm told I could get a tourist visa from the more Iranian friendly countries such as Turkey.
Has anyone worked out there? I've searched the whole site and there's not any sign of a thread on the country.

Thanks. E.C

Cleopatra · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 5:54 pm Post subject:

Actually, as a British citizen you should be able to get a tourist visa for Iran in your home country. For reasons which should be obvious, it's harder for Brits to get such a visa than it is for most European nationalities, but even so most applicants do manage to obtain a visa.

Working in Iran would obviously be more complicated. I'm sure you know that the pay would be negligible by British standards, and presumably you'd be thinking more in terms of a 'cultural experience'. When I was in Iran I met a few Europeans who were teaching English (and in one case French) in Iran but they told me the paperwork was a nightmare. Unless you have connections, Iran right now is probably a place best experienced through travel rather than work.

007 · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:40 pm Post subject: Re: Iran

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

---"Why do you want to work in Tehran?"----

Pretty nice place, people who've been there tell me.

johnslat · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 9:43 pm Post subject:

I was there quite a while back (1979), but it IS a nice place. Isfahan and Shiraz are even nicer, though, in my opinion.

Cleopatra · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:14 am Post subject:

Tehran a 'nice place'???? Hmmm, not sure about that one.

Tehran is certainly a very interesting place, offering a fascinating social mix and an insight into the complexities of Iranian society which no other city can provide. But nice??? I would say for the most part Tehran is a chaotic, unplanned urban sprawl with creaking infrastructure and by far the most appalling traffic I have ever encountered in my entire life. Other Iranian cities such as Yazd, Shiraz and especially Isfahan are much 'nicer' than Tehran in the conventional sense, but of course they lack the buzz, amenities and social variety of the much larger capital.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

I would expect that it was significantly different 30 years ago Cleo as is true of most places. I worked with quite a few teachers who were there in the 70's and had to flee during the revolution. They all loved it. Although none of them declared it a beautiful city, they considered it a nice place to live and work. But 'nice' is a relative term...

VS

Cleopatra · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:34 am Post subject:

I don't deny that Tehran might be a great place to work - provided you can live with the diabolical traffic and the other inconveniences associated with life in an overcrowded and under-resourced city of 14 million people.

I just question the use of the term 'nice' to describe what is, to use a generous description, a physically unprepossesing city. Nor do I think Tehran would have been any 'nicer' (though very possibly much easier to llive in) 30 years ago. Theran, unlike many Iranian cities, does not have any great historic or cultural pedigree.