Job Discussion Forums

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

According to the link below, the foreign police are (unevenly) cracking down on SOME non-EU visa applicants who have overstayed their 90 days in the Schengen zone.

My read on the situation is that it's vitally important for non-EU citizens coming to the Czech Rep to teach to file for legal papers asap.

Your school should help with this process - anything less is quite possibly shady practice and could (with a bit of bad luck) get you into trouble.

www.praguepost.com

http://www.praguepost.com/news/989-visa-laws-plague-teachers.html

ITTP · Joined: 23 Sep 2006 Posts: 343 Location: Prague/Worldwide

johnnyappleseed · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:22 am Post subject:

We hire all our non-EU teachers over the Internet. We have to as we live in a smaller town and there are no teachers pounding the pavements for work around here. For the last two years(school years) we have had the teachers do almost everything from their home country while we handle things here, etc. It's a massive pain.

We got busted in Spring 2008 for someone who had applied for a visa, but was working while it was in process and we are not going through that again. Beware.

ITTP · Joined: 23 Sep 2006 Posts: 343 Location: Prague/Worldwide

Sorry to hear about that johnnyappleseed.

Do you think it is representative of just Vsetin or smaller towns/cities in general?

Feel free to email me btw as we often have grads who show an interest in teaching outside of Prague:
[email protected]
[email protected]

Neville Smile

ITTP Prague
Jungmannova 32
Prague 1

johnnyappleseed · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:14 pm Post subject:

Not sure, to be honest. I guess they were just cracking down, it was at that same time that the two AmericanRoma in Prostejov(or wherever) got deported.

However, they did 'raid' us in September again this year, but since the first incident we do everything by the book--inconvenient though it be.

Thank you very much indeed for the e-mail addresses! I will save those addresses and we may indeed be in contact in the future, though I think we are sorted for next year.

ITTP · Joined: 23 Sep 2006 Posts: 343 Location: Prague/Worldwide

freesolo · Joined: 02 Nov 2004 Posts: 25

i didn�t quite understand what you were saying about doing the paperwork outside of czech being a pain? i would have thought it was simpler for the teacher to sort it out before arriving.

i want to send you a pm but cannot yet because i haven�t posted enough here??

also, do you have any vacancies for the upcoming sept school year?

cheers.

johnnyappleseed · Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 8:46 am Post subject:

No, because the applicant must have various documents(including proof of residence and a signed, notarized note from the landlord--in fact, just about everything must have Czech notarization) obtainable only in the Czech Republic.

Now, our school obtains these things for teachers who are applying abroad, but one of the things that we need to do it is power of attorney. It's a pain, and obviously takes even longer and involves posting things by registered mail and so on.

We hired(actually, re-hired) a teacher in March and we hope that she will be good to go by September. Last year, we hired a teacher in May and he didn't get his visa until December after everything was worked out. Now, that was because we made a mistake with his accommodation contract and it does not always take so long, but I hope you all get the drift.

It's getting to the point where the hassle is almost not worth it, unless absolutely necessary...which it is this year.

I know some people will say this is overly gloomy, and I don't want to be overly gloomy and I could be wrong, but the rules do seem to have changed since two years ago, say. They may change again; or new information could come to light. But hiring a non-EU'er(unless they are married to a EU'er) really is getting more difficult, even if the wait at the foreign police in Prague has got shorter.

There have been posts on expats.cz from angry teachers who had been promised a job at certain school(Caledonian) then got deported or had their visa denied. I agree that some responsibility does lie on the school, but the school was probably operating under the rules as they had been and I can see where they could make mistakes n this.

Non-EU teachers need to be very very very careful coming to the Czech Republic. It's possible but it is a juggling act. Though Spiral has often said that the norm is to find a job 'on the ground' I believe that is changing for North Americans, unless they have a lot of money at their disposal(enough to come and go and come and go...)

Sadebugo · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 524

Sorry to hijack this thread but I have a related question. Assuming one were not teaching, what kind of visa options would there be for staying longterm? When I retire, I would like to spend considerable time in the Czech Republic since I speak the language and have lived there before. Would I be able to get some kind of residency visa without working and if so, what would be the requirements for this? Thanks for your assistance.

Sadebugo
http://travldawrld.blogspot.com/

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Non-EU teachers need to be very very very careful coming to the Czech Republic. It's possible but it is a juggling act. Though Spiral has often said that the norm is to find a job 'on the ground' I believe that is changing for North Americans, unless they have a lot of money at their disposal(enough to come and go and come and go...)

Yeah, I see what you mean. If you've got to apply for a visa from your home country, that complicates matters considerably. I wonder how many schools are really going to take the risk of hiring someone sight unseen...this may change the market radically.

We'll see.

Sadebugo, I don't know of any way (assuming you're not an EU citizen) to get long-term residency without some kind of business commitment...maybe someone else has more info on this, but I think you'll have to probably get a zivno, meaning that you've got some kind of work in the country - or get married to a Czech Smile

johnnyappleseed · Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 6:02 pm Post subject:

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Honestly, maybe an improvement overall.

But this may impact the teacher training scene in Prague negatively - it's a horse of a different colour if a trainee can't move immediately into a job - or if fewer of them can. That may hurt some course providers - among whom I have friends - and not-friends too Sad

Great Teacher Umikun · Joined: 28 Mar 2004 Posts: 63 Location: Back in Japan

johnnyappleseed

I can't PM due to me being a noob. ^_^ Could you PM me your school's contact info? I'm thinking of sending my resume.

johnnyappleseed · Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 5:57 pm Post subject:

Sorry, I've just seen this now. Done.

cks · Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 144

Sade, if you own property in the Czech Republic, perhaps you could get a zivno and run a bed and breakfast if you are interested. My boyfriend's Moravian family are retired and always have their placed booked. Many bed and breakfasts outside of Prague are owned by retirees who can't speak English, you could have an edge over them.