help with visa for english training

[melimee]

i've just been interviewed by AAC Global and offered work as an English trainer, but neither the interviewer nor i know what i need to do to go about getting the work permit. it probably would help to know that i'm a US citizen, but that i've been living in the UK for the last year on a student visa.

any ideas on what i need to do from here? will i have to leave the country to get the visa?


help, please?

cheers,
mel

[daryl]

i've just been interviewed by AAC Global and offered work as an English trainer, but neither the interviewer nor i know what i need to do to go about getting the work permit. it probably would help to know that i'm a US citizen, but that i've been living in the UK for the last year on a student visa.

any ideas on what i need to do from here? will i have to leave the country to get the visa?


help, please?

cheers,
mel

You will need a residence permit, not a visa. The question of whether you can secure it on application here or abroad depends on the precise details of your situation.

Key question: Were you in touch with the employer before you came to Finland, or did you first contact this employer only after arriving in Finland?

Second question: Why Finland and not, e.g. Italy or Spain?

Third question: Are you a qualified EFL/TESOL teacher? Is there any other special reason why your employer needs you in particular (e.g. some special expertise that is useful to their clients)?

Please note that PAM-Lingua is your union http://www.pam-lingua.tk.

daryl

[melimee]

I contacted the employer after arriving.

I'm in Finland because my partner is living in Finland (but there's no civil partnership, nor will there be one).

I've got a degree in English, three months of intensive Peace Corps TEFL training and about seven years of TEFL experience (including in-company language training at places like Samsung, LG and Daewoo) in three different countries (South Korea, Estonia and USA) and have an IT background as well (several years working at an IT company.) Additionally, I speak German, Korean and Estonian (not sure if these qualify as special skills in this case....)

what else?

cheers,
mel

[Murithi]

Information can be found on http://www.mol.fi/finnwork

Citizens of countries outside the EEA

The citizens of countries outside the EEA need a worker’s residence permit for work in Finland. The permit is either temporary or continuous. The permit includes the partial decision of the employment office and the residence permit decision of the Directorate of Immigration or the city police department of the population register district.

The application for the worker’s residence permit can be made by either the worker or by the employer. The application can be submitted either to the Finnish mission, the employment office or the city police department of the population register district.

When the first application for the worker’s residence permit is submitted to the employment office, one should enclose a payment receipt showing that the treatment charge of 175 euro has been paid to the account Nordea 166030-101447 (TM).

The Aliens Act defines more specifically the tasks, branches and positions related to the right to do work without a worker’s residence permit.

If the person concerned has some other permit than a worker’s residence permit, e.g. on the basis of family ties or for humanitarian reasons, it often includes an unlimited or limited right to work. Additional information is available on the pages of the Directorate of Immigration.

[Hank W.]

Read the "stupid UVI decision" thread through. Theres a few points brought up there that may be of interest to you.

I'm just wondering, if you're residing on a student visa in the UK, supposedly its then the embassy in London that you'd have to make your application through. London isn't that far by plane.

[daryl]

I contacted the employer after arriving.

I'm in Finland because my partner is living in Finland (but there's no civil partnership, nor will there be one).

I've got a degree in English, three months of intensive Peace Corps TEFL training and about seven years of TEFL experience (including in-company language training at places like Samsung, LG and Daewoo) in three different countries (South Korea, Estonia and USA) and have an IT background as well (several years working at an IT company.) Additionally, I speak German, Korean and Estonian (not sure if these qualify as special skills in this case....)

what else?

cheers,
mel

This is complicated.

In principle as a migrant worker you should secure your first residence permit from abroad. It is clear that you did not enter Finland even with the intention of completing an ongoing job application process in any sense. Instead the process began after arriving in Finland, so the exception detailed in point 3 of paragraph 1 of section 49 of the Aliens Act does not apply.

Your training and experience should satisfy the labour market niche criteria, so I would expect the employment office to approve that side of the application. However, such a residence permit would not be issued on application after arriving in Finland.

The question then turns to whether your relationship to a "partner living in Finland" is relevant. It is not necessary for this relationship (which may also be a same-sex relationship) to be registered in any way, but it must be a real and substantial family tie. The only concrete technical impediment is the assumption of monogamy. In other words, you will not be able to rely on the relationship for immigration purposes if you or your partner are already officially linked in a comparable way to some third party.

This area of immigration law is fairly complex, and I do not intend to write a thesis on it here. Very briefly:

If your partner is a citizen of Finland or of an EU/EEA Member State, then this is also partly a question of Community Law. The basic rule is that Union citizens are entitled to enter and reside in any EU/EEA country with their family members. The special conditions governing the exercise of this entitlement are set out in section 50 of the Aliens Act for partners of Finnish citizens and section 161 of the Aliens Act for partners of other EU/EEA citizens. The application (or registration) process may take place in Finland after arrival.

If your partner is a citizen of a third country living in Finland, then other special provisions of the Finnish Aliens Act apply. It is also possible for the residence permit to be issued after arrival in such cases, subject to the special conditions stipulated in point 2 of paragraph 1 of section 49 of the Aliens Act.

So if you want to proceed with this discussion, then I should know whether your partner is an EU/EEA citizen and some simple public details of your relationship (how long has it lasted, where have you lived together, how have you stayed in contact and so on).

A couple of purely practical points:

1) Unless you can make out a slam-dunk case for your residence permit application, or unless your right to register as a family member of an EU/EEA citizen is clear, then the process is likely to take quite a while (think in terms of ten to thirty weeks just to get a first-line decision). If your employer needs you in a hurry, then it may be wiser to file your application abroad, simply to avoid a time-consuming processing stage, but...

2) If you are eligible to register as a family member of an EU/EEA citizen, then this is something that you should do in Finland, and not from abroad. It is therefore worth examining this aspect, as you don't want to leave Finland and apply for a residence permit, only to be told that you should return to Finland and register as a family member.

And remember, PAM-lingua is your union http://www.pam-lingua.tk.

daryl

[katertomater]

hi, i can't help much with the visa issue, but i work for AAC as a trainer and i really like it! so if you can, it's a nice place to work for!

good luck!

[Hank W.]

If you decide to go with #1 Mel, its quite straightforward. Get your employer to fill in the appropriate paperwork (dig the right papers up) read the small print... TM054 and UVI101, and have the employer start getting the MOL opinion... funny, in their profession I would have thought they'd know.

Oh well, y'all out in town Wednesday? Pop to the pub quiz with Ru, if you're totally bored, and drag S with as well if hes in town.