Getting foreign work visas?

DaftChris

Something crossed my mind earlier today that I'm quite interested in.

I'm going to earn my Bachelors in Conmunications in roughly a year and a half. I wish to travel the world, for both my own pleasures and perhaps to help others. I plan on moving to another country later in life. I'm also trying to learn German and Swedish.

Why not apply for a Swedish or German work visa after college?

If there are people on this site living in a country other than their country of origin, how difficult is it in general to get a work visa? Do you have any advice on the matter?

ThePensum

Depends on the country. The US for example is pretty tough. You basically need a company to sponsor you. I think most other countries are similar.

But there are always various strata of visas. If you're under 30 a lot of countries offer working holiday visas for a year (the US, Australia, UK for instance do I believe). You can also get student visas, or extended tourist visas.

karasti

A friend of mine got a work visa (teacher) in the Netherlands, later on she married someone from there. If you want, I can ask her what the process was and get back to you? She has now been living there 3 or 4 years.

DaftChris

@karasti

That would be great!

Dakini

My niece took off for Germany after college, and managed to find a job. It's not legal, but employers can bend the rules if they want. Soon she'll complete 3 years of living there, so she'll be eligible for permanent residency. Once she gets that, she can apply for any job, she'll be a legal worker. If you don't have a work visa, you have to take what jobs you can get, and renew your tourist visa twice a year, I think that's how it works.

RebeccaS

I'm going through immigration right now. It's actually a nightmare. But if you're in Europe (including UK) then going within Europe shouldn't be such a big deal. Australia is also really good for work visas depending on your age. In most countries you can't work on a tourist visa, but some, like Australia, have a working tourist visa. It depends a lot on where you're going.

DaftChris

@RebeccaS

I've looked into the work and holiday visa that Australia offers and I might do that first before anything else. It will give me the work experience and skills I need when I apply for future visas. :)

zither

You could get a monk visa for thailand

DaftChris

I looked up inclusive, working holiday visas offered to young travelers (particularly Americans) and have found out that the following countries have said visas: Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Korea.

Slight change in topic: has anyone been to any of these countries? Which one would you personally go to/recommend?

karasti

I sent a message to my friend, she is currently traveling in the US and I'm sure she'll answer as soon as she sees my message. Just didn't want you to think I forgot about you!

I have been to Canada many times. I guess for me it would depend on a lot of factors, especially cost of living and ease of finding housing/work etc.

RebeccaS

Canada rules! I love Canada. Haven't been to NZ or Korea, but NZ has too many bugs for me and the whole South Korea/North Korea thing scares me so I'd rather not go :p

Invincible_summer

I looked up inclusive, working holiday visas offered to young travelers (particularly Americans) and have found out that the following countries have said visas: Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Korea.

Slight change in topic: has anyone been to any of these countries? Which one would you personally go to/recommend?

I live in Vancouver, Canada. It's great! Very moderate climate (summer is at most 25*C, very rarely does it go higher; winter is around 0*C or barely below, but it's very icy as it's quite wet here) but it rains a lot (showers not pouring rain). Lots of nature, pretty multi-cultural. There's also a good variety of Buddhist temples and groups here. It's a bit expensive to live here though...

Toronto (eastern Canada) is cool too - a big (by Canadian standards... only about 4-5 million people) city with lots of buildings. It's like the "Canadian New York."

Montreal is my favourite city in Canada though. It's in the French-speaking province of Quebec, but it's got more Anglophones than the rest of the province. Quite a vibrant art/music scene, culturally rich, and overall a beautiful city. But if you don't speak French I don't think it's easy to get a job.

Anywhere outside of Vancouver has more "continental" temperatures - hot (~30*C) summers and cold (-15*C and lower) winters.

Travelling between cities is pretty much only done by airplane though, as the country is so large.



I have friends in S. Korea and from what I understand, most jobs for foreigners appear in the form of ESL teaching. The DPRK/ROK situation is nothing to worry about though - my S Korean friends don't even think about it day-to-day. Koreans are pretty friendly and hospitable and eager to share their culture with you so it seems like a good place to go for a working holiday. But if you don't like teaching ESL (mainly to little kids), then you may have a hard time. The EPIK program (http://www.epik.go.kr/) is a very popular way of getting an ESL job in Korea, but you have to commit for a year. The pay is pretty good though, as it's a gov't program. Otherwise, you teach at private after-school centres (hagwons) that are run like businesses and can be pretty dodgy.



I met some Kiwis while travelling and they told me that NZ has hardly any dangerous insects or animals... the "Kiwi Advantage" over Australia as they put it! :p