Job Discussion Forums

[Canadian-86]

Greetings and salutations, I am a recently certified ESL teacher from Canada and it is my very strong ambition to teach English in Venezuela by the end of the fall. But my situation has become a little confused.

I was able to find a job with a school known as CEVAZ (Centro Venezolano Americano del Zulia) in Maracaibo, however I do not know exactly how much I will be making or what is involved in getting a visa. Originally CEVAZ wanted me to go with a teacher's company called, Aiesec (anyone heard of them? Thoughts and comments are welcome) which would have obtained my visa, found me a place to live and established a "social network" for me. The only problem is their rate is $500, a bit steep.

So I explained to my prospective employer that I could not afford this and they were fine with me going around Aiesec. Now I have to obtain a visa myself, I contacted the Venezuelan embassy in Ottawa and enquired about this a few days ago. They told me in order to get a work visa, my employer (CEVAZ) would have to apply with the Venezuelan government and than if approved it would go to them.

That sounds sticky (like it would take a long time), some people have suggested to me that maybe I could go to Venezuela and teach for 6-8 months on a different type of visa. I have yet to enquire about this.

What can anyone here tell me about applying for a visa in Venezuela, the cost of living in general, CEVAZ and Aiesec?

I greatly appreciate any help,
Saludos.

[windowlicker]

I was supposed to teach at Centro Venezolano Americano in Caracas starting in August. My experience trying to obtain the visa on my own was a nightmare, but i'm not sure how typical my experience was. CVA told me i had to get a student visa. I applied for the visa about a month to a month and a half in advance of when I expected to leave, and to apply for the visa the Venezuelan consulate required that I already have travel reservations. After a month or so of me calling or visiting the consulate in person at least once a week, I still did not have the visa and the consulate kept telling me to keep waiting and to be patient. The visa was denied less than a week before I was supposed to leave. Needless to say, my plane ticket was nonrefundable (ended up getting it changed to go to Colombia...just arrived here yesterday, actually).

Again, I'm not sure if my experience was typical and $500 certainly is a lot of money, but if you really want to go to Venezuela and this Aiesec organization seems reputable, I'd go for it. Ask CVA to email or fax you a copy of the teaching contract so you know you'll be making enough for the $500 up front to be worth it. You'll probably need the contract anyways in order to apply for the visa.

PM me if you have any other questions.

[kingkristopher]

Hi,

Getting a work visa in Venezuela is an EXTREMELY daunting prospect. Getting one on your own will be impossible, unless you have numerous contacts within the Venezuelan government, which I suspect you don't.

You can't get a work visa without company sponsorship. Most companies are reluctant to do this since it is very expensive and time-consuming for them, they will have to abide by Venezuela's very friendly pro-labour laws and the fact that turnover in this particular field is very high. It makes very little sense for a language school to invest so heavily in a prospective ESL teacher who may or may not stick around for the completeion of his contract.

That being said, the truly reputable schools will sponsor you. Those that don't aren't necessarily a scam, but they' re certainly not elite schools either.

If you can't get a school to sponsor you then you will have to work in Venezuela illegally, which is very easy and is what most teachers do anyway. Be forewarned, without legal working status in Venezuela (or any other country) you are at the mercy of your employer. Also, run-ins with the police and national guard will be very unpleasant. Think very carefully about this.

I went to CCS on a student visa and stayed two years. Thankfully I didn't have any concerns with my employers, they actually bent over backwards to help me. I cannot say the same of my experiences with the authorities however. I was extorted by Police on a very regular basis. Now that may have happened even if I had a legitimate work visa, but why give them the chance?

[torrentstorm]

[Looking for my place]

Just curious. If you think Venezuela is so awful, what kept you returning for 20 years?