hattie

My college age daughter is interested in working in Europe for next summer. How does she go about getting working papers/card and what does she need to know? And who hires non-nationals for jobs?

contact the consulate

I suggest your first port of call you be to contact the UK Consulate in your respective country to so out visa etc. What sort of work is she looking to do. I have many friends who have come from Oz and Nz this year who have found it hard to get temporary jobs. It all depends on what sort of work she is looking for - Bar, office, shop? it all depends!!!

John

They have a lot of jobs in \Europe on the US military bases abroad Germany Italy , England , and some with the Us embassy .You can go to the USA jobs web site and link over to jobs overseas or thru some national chains like Hilton , Marriott.ect also thru the College

mh

My little sister did the summer semester abroad two years ago. She was in London, having a great time on her student visa. She decided to stay a little longer and moved in with some mates she had made. She was working in a hospital as a temp thru an agency. Someone in the dept where she worked turned her in the to immigration folks. She was told she had 24 hours to leave the country at her own expense. I ended up buying her a plane ticket to Germany, until I could afford to buy her a ticket back to the states. My mother was terminally ill at the time and wasn't financially able to help with the cost, and having the state department call repeatedly, just made her sicker. My sister has a formal invitation to never enter the UK again, until 2010. The point of the story is do this legally or face the consequenes which can be very harsh, upsetting and expensive. The UK has a high unemployment rate, and many of the locals are not receptive to foreigners coming over and taking the few jobs that are available for folks with out special or unique skills. I wasn't exactly happy about shelling out over a grand for last minute plane tickets. She is also now faced with the possiblity of telling future employers why she can not make that business trip to the UK....bad situation all around. On the positive side, she had a ball and spent every pound she made at Harrods annual summer sale.<BR>mh

xxx

I work on a military installation and with security what it is after 9/11 and ordinary US citizen will not be allowed access to the base. With no access one cannot apply for the crappy low paying jobs that are available. These jobs pay minimum wage or a little higher and with the euro being much stronger than the dollar, it will not cover the cost of living in europe. So that option is not feasible. Best bet would be to see what the college your daughter is attending has to offer for semester abroad programs.

jacqui

Just a note to MH. U.K. immigration has nothing on US immigration. Have you read U.S. immigration notice/declaration forms given to non U.S residents visiting your country? Like I was going to declare I am a Nazi?<BR>Also a friend of mine(U.K.national) lived in Boston for 2 years with her husband (also U.K. national)- who was on secondment with his company. She was totally supported by him. She was not allowed to do any form of work (she was even told volunteer work with the homeless could take a position off an American)and had to jump through huge beauracratic hoops to visit home and return to the U.S. during the period they were there. She couldn't wait to come home through sheeer boredom.

SJM

Hmmmm, some of my employees are british nationals here on work visas. Two of them are married to brits, and they also work in the USA. All 10 of them are desperately trying to permanently stay in the New York/New Jersey area. Frankly, I must know at least 50 brits who have no intentions of going back to England. They cannot fathom ever giving up the wonderful lifestyle they presently have.

mh

I had no idea about the customs stuff as I currently live and work in Germany, with no immediate plans to return to the states.I have only been back once and that was for my mothers funeral, I stayed for 48 hours paid my respects and flew right back. I have lived in Germany for the last four years and have no plans to relocate back to the states for a variety of reasons, the main one being tax exemption. Hey when you make 24,000 annually there isn't alot of money there to pay taxes with anyway. Plus the job market is in the toilet and at least I have a job with some mobility to move upward into management. I routinely meet folks who like to visit the states but would never want to live there mainly because of the violence and crime. Yes, they have crime in Germany but it isn't normally violent and is nothing like what goes on in the states. Children being abducted from their homes, car jackings, rampant gun violence, NO thanks!! life is good right where I am....

tony

I'd agree wholeheartedly with the warnings about illegally working in Europe, but let's get the facts right. "...the UK has a high unemployment rate..." Not so - current UK unemployment is just over 3 per cent, the lowest since the mid 1970's.

mh

That was one of the many excuses they gave me and my sister. I was trying to get the state department to get the british folks to let her stay a day or two longer. I was despretely trying to find a way to get her to my house,preventing my mom from having a heart attack (she was very worried) all this being done while I was in the middle of finals for my graduate degree, and still at my crappy job. It was a very stressful time, next time I have the embassy folks or the state department on the phone I will be sure and ask for a statistical anaylsis of the facts they are telling me.Does it feel good to be so right???smug asshole!!!

Suzy

I felt sorry for MH and her sister's harsh treatment until she revealed her ugly american credentials in her last post. Foreign nationals living in another country do so as a privilege not a god-given right. If you break the laws, you risk getting thrown out. Is that simple enough a concept for you to grasp?

mh

I didn't feel sorry for my sister at all, she got what she deserved. She blatently stayed beyond her visa. I was only illustrating a point that if you attempt to live in the EU illegally and get deported, then be ready to deal with the consequences. My sister now owes me a thousand dollars plus interest. She is an adult and has to take responsiblity for her actions. I was making a remark to a specific poster who stated that the UK doesn't have a high unemployment rate. In the midst of all that was going on I didn't think it was necessary to aks them for statistical verification of their current employment figures. Since I don't live or work in the UK and have no ambitions to, I really don't care what their rates are. As for being the ugly american, that is your opinion and as we all know opinions are like assholes every one has one Have a nice day

xxx

mh: You're charging your sister interest? That really IS assholic!

mh

I took that money out of one of my kids savings account and it was her idea not mine. When she graduates grad school and gets a job, she will repay me. I have no plans on taking the interest but it wasn't my money to begin with. I hardly think 1% is a big deal but it is the deal she made with my child. Most of my funds are tied up in investments etc and she needed money quickly sent to her. Why am I defending myself, this is assinine. I posted what happened to my sister as a result of being deported, so to the others please go to europe illegally and hope this doesn't happen to you.

Emily

Hattie, <BR><BR>There is a program that allows college students in the US to work in Britain through BUNAC's Work in Britain program. Their web site has all the details: http://www.bunac.org.uk/<BR><BR><BR>I used the program and worked for three months in London between my Freshman and Sophomore year of college. I made contacts before I left and got a job with a US company in London. A friend of mine spent six months after college working at a law firm in London. <BR><BR><BR>

Ann

Bunac is a great program. I spent a summer working in Birmingham, England, several years ago, after meeting my now husband the previous summer when he came over from Ireland to the U.S. through BUNAC.<BR><BR>I had trouble finding work in Birmingham, but no one in their right mind would go there, unless it was for a young Irishman. Everyone else I knew worked in London, and didn't have any trouble at all finding work. The great thing about Bunac is you don't need a job before you arrive in that country.

Kathleen

BTW, Jacqui, it works the same way for foreigners working in the UK. A spouse is not automatically given a visa just because one spouse has one.<BR><BR>Actually, I found UK immigration to be more difficult in some ways than in the US. For example, there doesn't seem to be an equivalent of a green card in the UK. When we lived there, I asked about applying for some form of permanent residency, and was told that I simply had to renew my visa every year (my husband is a UK citizen), and that if I left for an extended period of time, I'd have to apply all over again. Whereas in the US, my husband got his temporary green card when we got married, and permanent one after 2 years.

Gerry

Kathleen, Just want you to be aware since your husband carries a green card, however, this might have changed, but I had a permanent residency card in the USA (I am now a citizen) and if you left the country for an extended period of time (one year) you had to reapply for a green card.

x

"Yes, they have crime in Germany but it isn't normally violent and is nothing like what goes on in the states"<BR><BR>Ever hear of the Holocaust, not to mention WWI and WWII? Oh, but that was different, right?

nicolette

The best way to try and do it is what a previous poster had suggested. Try www.usajobs.opm.gov. It is the website for the US Government for employment. There are jobs all over the world. It takes a while to get a job through the government so if she does it she needs to be very patient.