Job Discussion Forums

carolcroach · Joined: 31 Mar 2010 Posts: 5 Location: Antalya, Turkey

I am in an interview process for an English language teaching job, and I woulId prefer to work part time. The potential employers say I can work as little as 10 hours a week, but the part-time job won't come with a work permit. (They do get work permits for fulltime teachers.)

I have just jumped through the hoops to get a one-year residency permit. I don't want to work illegally for fear that I might jeopardize it.

Is it illegal to work 10 hours a week without a work permit?

THANKS!

aggeliki · Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 11

If you will, take a look at my posts in the following forum. I tried to be as thorough as possible .

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=82847
For an employer to obtain a work permit it�s the same fee for part time or full time. I would imagine they would not for only 10 hours a week. If the school owner is wealthy, then perhaps it�s possible.

In reference to working without a permit, DO NOT in any manner unless you�re going to work for a foreign country where they pay you foreign currency through a foreign bank. If you are caught you can either be deported and /or fined at least 650TL. The police don�t often pursue seeking out non permitted teachers however last year there was more emphasis on the current law. This is partly due to the high unemployment for Turkish citizens. When a non permitted teacher is caught the owner of the school is fined heavily as are the teachers. Many take the chance and many are lucky for years, even decades, but it�s a gamble.

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 11:04 am Post subject:

It is illegal to work without a work permit!

tasha522 · Joined: 24 Sep 2009 Posts: 6

In Turkey there is no work permit. It is called a work visa. It takes 8 months to get a work visa in Turkey and school do not want to pay taxes on teachers so they dont offer you one, they just lie to get you there. Even though the tax on teacher salaries is cheaper they chose to hire illegally througha language school. I worked in Turkey for 10 months without one. Schools and universities get a fine of over two million dollars if caught with illegal workers.
The second or third party that holds your contract will take advantage of you if you let them, they pay late as it is usually Turkish custom. My first 3 pay dates was on time and late after that. Visa runs will be at your expense, usually 400-600 lira a run. Be aware if you are a person of color doing boarder runs cause some European countries may personally attack you on the streets and boarder control will most likely give you a hard time if you have a US passport. If you get a school to pay you for some of the visa run they will take the money out of your salary and you will still be at a loss.
I know of over 100 teachers who was hired to work all over Turkiye last year and in May there was less than 20 of us, all with the same experiences. Watch out of private schools of rich kids, these schools have no disipline over their bad kids at all. I wish you all the best.