Job Discussion Forums

[melissadawn]

Hello! Still some questions about Russian hiring and visa procedures. I was offered a job at a school in Moscow where I am right now. The DOS said there were two types of contracts. One would be full-time starting in Sept or Oct at 50,000, no apartment included, and the school gets you a year-long work visa. The other option was to work on a more freelance-type contract which would contract me to the school at 750 per hour which would wind up being more money, and the visa would cost me an extra 15,000 R. DOS didn't mention anything about what I thought I'd need, like an apostilled certificate- just an application and HIV test! This sounds a bit strange.

Second question, if anyone is out there- is there hope of getting a real job later in the year, like January or Feb, rather than from Sept? I am leaving for at least several months but don't want to miss the entire hiring cycle. Thanks.

[Sashadroogie]

Dear Melissadawn

Might be helpful if we knew which school made this offer. But to give a quick answer to your questions:

1. The visa they are offering may or may not be a work visa which designates you as a teacher. You may be a 'consultant' of some sort, and this may affect the docs that are needed. They may even be planning to invite you on a business or tourist visa, and then convert that after your arrival. You would need to get some concrete info from them. In any event, I'd have all your quals apostilled and/or notarized just in case.

2. There really isn't much of a hiring cycle. Besides, some teachers leave over the New Year period, so vacancies crop up then. Just depends on what you consider a real job to be.

Not sure that helps you much. Good luck.

[gondwana66]

Melissadawn. I would be a little careful about the freelance option. While they say it would be more money there's obviously no guarantee how much work you would get. You would want to consider extra freelance work if going that route.

Gondwana66
http://pangaea901.wordpress.com/

[jpvanderwerf2001]

Hi melissadawn,

Ditto what sasha wrote.

Also, be wary of working as a "freelancer", as that technically means you won't be an employee of the company; also, depending on the visa you do get, you might not even be legal to work in Russia. The only sure-fire way to guarantee you have rights as an employee is via the work visa option with a contract.

The freelanceer option might potentially be more money, but it also might end up being a headache (depends on the employer and its ethics, of course).

If I were you, I'd take the work visa option. You can probably find private students on the side if you think the salary won't be enough for you.

Good luck!