Job Discussion Forums

[cleverusernamehuh]

Will I really be offered less money?

[scot47]

Yes - and if you are a male you will have to do military service !

[tekben]

What scot47 says is true.

However, I think there is some sort of bureaucratic nightmare you can undertake to make yourself somehow more of an American citizen so you can get paid as such (though good luck convincing some employers of this). I have a friend who is British/Turkish (born in Turkey), and he did something through offical channels to get paid as a foreigner. It worked, and I wish I knew what he did.

Assuming you've lived in the US most of your life (and you're male), your military service would be really short and easy, like 30 days sitting around with the other foreign Turkish citizens. There's also a bribe-like fee that has to be paid to do this, pretty steep I've heard-- like $10,000.

[cleverusernamehuh]

military service? I was given an extension 'till 35 or so to complete it. Eh, I guess it doesn't matter. I won't teach if I'll be paid less.

[Ebenezer]

just be smart and you won't be paid less... that's what they try to do if the person is silly enough to accept it "oh, I'm a Turkish citizen, that's why I'm supposed to get less money, this is a divine law that cannot be broken". No way, they're desperate for native speakers and being a Turkish citizen you'll save them a lot of money and paper work (you still have to go through paper work, but I believe it doesn't even cost them anything), so yes, walk away if they try that one on you and they'll come back begging or go to the school next door.

[shk]

If your mother tongue is English and you have American citizenship/ passport, then you should be paid as a 'native speaker' whether or not you also have Turkish citizenship.
Bureaucratically, you may run into trouble at primary/ highschool/ universities if your teaching qualifications are from abroad but you are not applying for a residence/work permit on the basis of being a Turkish citizen. At language schools it is easier although they may not want to accept you as a 'native speaker' if your teaching qualifications are from a Turkish institution...
The whole native speakers getting paid more thing is kind of unfair for those Turkish nationals that are highly competent (more so than some of our 'native speaker' colleagues), but I guess the laws of supply and demand apply...