Not a terribly exciting day today I'm afraid. I spent the morning fighting with my computer trying to upload pictures from my phone, and met with Irina and Sasha in the evening. Nothing terribly exciting happened, but Sasha was really excited because he was in a bookstore several days ago and was asked if he spoke English, and he was so happy to have been given the chance to speak English and help someone. He thanked me for the lessons and said they'd helped a lot. It's awesome for me because it's the first time someone has thanked me for helping them with English, and I was grateful to hear it because you constantly wonder if what you're doing is actually helping people, especially with older, more intelligent students that catch on quickly.
That being said, I have chosen to do what I can to stay in Russia. The reasons are my own, but suffice it to say I love it here. I decided some months back that I was interested in pursuing a CELTA certification (Cambridge certification for teaching English as a foreign language) and there is a school in Moscow that offers the courses. Unfortunately, the courses are booked through the remainder of the year. So, I have limited options if I want to stay here right now. I can either try to find a job that will hire me despite my limited knowledge of Russian by merit of my speaking native English, or I can get a try to get a business visa.
The details surrounding business visas are a bit fuzzy, and I know already that working in Russia on a business visa would be illegal.... who exactly decided that making conducting business on a business visa illegal is beyond my ability to comprehend, and I'm slightly baffled at what exactly the purpose of the visa is if it's not for business, but whatever. It does seem like it's the easiest to get by far, but they typically last for only 90 days. The problem here is of course that every 3 months you have to leave Russia, and then return, and you're not technically supposed to do them back to back.
Although many do, and no one seems to really care as long as you don't overstay the duration of your visa, it's still incredibly complicated, not to mention expensive. It cost me nearly $1,300 for my trip here form the US last time (round trip) and trying to pay that every 3 months is ... well, quite honestly, impossible. Here's the part where knowing expats has been incredibly useful (for those unfamiliar with the term, it's expatriate, which is someone who has chosen to live outside of their country of origin), because they've all encountered the same issues, and they've discovered some tricks. First, for a US citizen to travel to Europe requires no visa if you're staying less than 3 months. Awesomely convenient.
So the process involved is pretty simple really. To file for a visa in a country that is not your country of origin, filing takes an additional 10 days, but it is possible. So many expats file several weeks in advance to allow time for visa processing and then just make a weekend trip to Vilnius (Lithuania), Prague (Czech Republic), or Berlin. As long as you leave the country every 3 months, they apparently don't care where you go. Luckily, since travel to countries in Europe is of course considerably cheaper than to the US. Still, it doesn't solve the problem of work though, because I need a visa that allows me to make income, meaning that all of this is kind of a moot point until I find work... which is difficult without the CELTA certification... which I can't get until next year.
I have been talking with other expats about these difficulties and their suggestions have included filing for temporary residence, but that can take up to a year since there are a limited number of these available and you have to wait in line for them, and getting married to a Russian citizen, which makes you immune to the waiting list, but you still have to have a proof of income, so again, I have to have a job first. So I suppose my best option is to try to find work ... not necessarily a good job, but any job that will hire me that can give me a work visa, and do that until the spring when I can apply for the CELTA courses again.
Exciting stuff, eh? But really of course, I have debts, bills to pay. So all that being said, my top priority has to be making money. Nothing has really changed there. As is true everywhere else in the world, it's all about the Benjamins... or I guess in Russia it's the Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky ... s (the man depicted on the 5 000 RUB banknote, from what I've seen the largest commonly seen bill in normal circulation, roughly equivalent to about $166).
All that being said, looks like it's back to job hunting for me! Hope everyone had an awesome day! Take care!
That being said, I have chosen to do what I can to stay in Russia. The reasons are my own, but suffice it to say I love it here. I decided some months back that I was interested in pursuing a CELTA certification (Cambridge certification for teaching English as a foreign language) and there is a school in Moscow that offers the courses. Unfortunately, the courses are booked through the remainder of the year. So, I have limited options if I want to stay here right now. I can either try to find a job that will hire me despite my limited knowledge of Russian by merit of my speaking native English, or I can get a try to get a business visa.
The details surrounding business visas are a bit fuzzy, and I know already that working in Russia on a business visa would be illegal.... who exactly decided that making conducting business on a business visa illegal is beyond my ability to comprehend, and I'm slightly baffled at what exactly the purpose of the visa is if it's not for business, but whatever. It does seem like it's the easiest to get by far, but they typically last for only 90 days. The problem here is of course that every 3 months you have to leave Russia, and then return, and you're not technically supposed to do them back to back.
Although many do, and no one seems to really care as long as you don't overstay the duration of your visa, it's still incredibly complicated, not to mention expensive. It cost me nearly $1,300 for my trip here form the US last time (round trip) and trying to pay that every 3 months is ... well, quite honestly, impossible. Here's the part where knowing expats has been incredibly useful (for those unfamiliar with the term, it's expatriate, which is someone who has chosen to live outside of their country of origin), because they've all encountered the same issues, and they've discovered some tricks. First, for a US citizen to travel to Europe requires no visa if you're staying less than 3 months. Awesomely convenient.
So the process involved is pretty simple really. To file for a visa in a country that is not your country of origin, filing takes an additional 10 days, but it is possible. So many expats file several weeks in advance to allow time for visa processing and then just make a weekend trip to Vilnius (Lithuania), Prague (Czech Republic), or Berlin. As long as you leave the country every 3 months, they apparently don't care where you go. Luckily, since travel to countries in Europe is of course considerably cheaper than to the US. Still, it doesn't solve the problem of work though, because I need a visa that allows me to make income, meaning that all of this is kind of a moot point until I find work... which is difficult without the CELTA certification... which I can't get until next year.
I have been talking with other expats about these difficulties and their suggestions have included filing for temporary residence, but that can take up to a year since there are a limited number of these available and you have to wait in line for them, and getting married to a Russian citizen, which makes you immune to the waiting list, but you still have to have a proof of income, so again, I have to have a job first. So I suppose my best option is to try to find work ... not necessarily a good job, but any job that will hire me that can give me a work visa, and do that until the spring when I can apply for the CELTA courses again.
Exciting stuff, eh? But really of course, I have debts, bills to pay. So all that being said, my top priority has to be making money. Nothing has really changed there. As is true everywhere else in the world, it's all about the Benjamins... or I guess in Russia it's the Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky ... s (the man depicted on the 5 000 RUB banknote, from what I've seen the largest commonly seen bill in normal circulation, roughly equivalent to about $166).
All that being said, looks like it's back to job hunting for me! Hope everyone had an awesome day! Take care!
No comments:
Post a Comment