Job Discussion Forums

[nberke]

Hi all,

My girlfriend and I are both freelance journalists, and we'll be moving to Lima in September or October to launch our career as foreign correspondents/travel writers. We currently live in New York City; her parents are Peruvian and came here several years before she was born.

Our plan is to move to Lima and find some part-time work - teaching English, ideally - in order to supplement our writing income until we get more established, as well as gain proficiency in the language.

At the moment we're wrestling with the decision of whether to bother getting certified for teaching if we're just looking for part-time work. We're also not quite sure about what to do regarding a visa. Will a part time employer help us with that? We're planning to stay at least a year, and then assess the situation. Should we just go with the tourist visa and then leave and reenter the country after 6 months? If so, how do we get a tourist visa if we have a one-way ticket?

Any advice would help. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

NB

[naturegirl321]

Basically, there's stiff competition, you'll need experience under your belt. Try writing first for free for places like Boots N All or Transitions Abroad.

Certs don't matter as much as degrees do. She could get citizenmship because her parents are Peruvian. You could just work on a tourist visa.

Language schools won't get you visas, schools will, but it's a full time committment and you need experience.

YUOu can't get a tourist visa on a one way ticket, you have to buy a round trip. OR buy a return one in the airport and refund it when you get here.

[keepwalking]

The visa situation is tricky. You almost certainly won't get a work visa from a part-time employer. The expense for them just isn't worth it. Also the time it takes, particularly for American citizens, means you need to stay for a couple of years to make it worth their while: it currently takes about 5 months from the start to finish.

If you think you might apply for the work visa at some point then you need to get your degree certificates authenticated by your college and by the Peruvian consulate in the state where you attended college. You can't even start the application process until you have that done. Do it before you leave, just in case you decide to apply when you are here.

You CAN get a tourist visa on a one-way ticket - I did. You have to check with oyur airline though. Peruvian customs/immigration are used to backpackers entering Peru and leaving overland so they don't ask about return trips. However, some airlines do. Check in advance. The problem is that Peuvian immigration can technically deny you entry on a one way ticket (but I've never known it happen) and if they did then the carrier would be liable to get you back to the US. That is why many carriers apply the rules more strictly than the immigration offices themselves.

A tourist visa for Peru only lasts 90 days at the most. You can then go each month to immigration and get another 30 days, maximum of 2 extensions. (You can get 3 if you smile nicely.... but don't rely on it) Alternatively you'd have to cross the border and then return after 48 hours. This is not strictly adhered to on the Peru/Ecuador border - people go across the border, have lunch and come back. I've heard though that the Peru/Chile border is more tightly monitored as is Peru/Bolivia.

Although you can get work without a TEFL certificate, I would suggest you get one. From your perspective, it will make the work search easier and open up better paying positions. From your prospective students' perspective they will have a qualified teacher standing in front of them. It is important to remember that people who are learning English in a developing country are making a significant financial investment in their learning and they deserve a teacher who can explain the different uses of the present perfect tense or when the gerund is used and when its the infinitive.

How do you plan to get writing work here? It would be worth checking out the Living in Peru webpage to get some idea of what life is like here and what publications you could send work to.

Good luck

[naturegirl321]

[keepwalking]

It varies from Airline to airline - Continental are a pain, KLM couldn't care less! LAN don't even know what the rules are. It's worth checking with the airline you get the ticket from. All of our staff - up till January this year - enter on tourist visas with a one way ticket, no problems. Maybe that is because they are British and so just naturally more reliable. Trustworthy faces and all that. (sorry, had to get that in before Independence Day!)

[travelviice]

Just make your own return ticket up -- no need to buy it.

http://travelvice.com/archive/2006/03/faux-onward-tickets.php

I've done this many, many times -- from embassies to airlines -- it always works.

[naturegirl321]

First time I've heard about that.