Please help me return to North America!
 

Help! I am traveling from Canada to Italy this summer but I plan to stay for a year and work there. The porblem is, I'm not what route to take as far as plane tickets are concerned. I can't buy round trip because I don't know when I'll be returning. An open-ended ticket is too $$$! My only fear about buying a one-way ticket is getting through customs in Italy. What should I do? Help! Thanks.

I think you're going to the wrong source for some definitive answers. Check with whatever department within the Canadian government would have jurisdiction over such matters. <BR>I would think there are a lot of "legal" questions involved. For example, do you need a work visa (or whatever they are called) or some other official document to stay in Italy and work for a year?

Hi, Lisa, <BR>Working "above board" in the EC countries for non EC-nationals is a tall order; remember much of Europe has pretty high unemployment and they rightly want their own people to have first crack at jobs. Of course there are ways around this, and lots of people work without benefit of a work permit, but your tourist entry visa will probably only be good for 6 or 12 months so you'll need to cope with extensions or leaving and re-entering the EC during that time. <BR> <BR>Some consolidators offer more affordable one-way tickets than the airlines themselves - check out www.tiss.com for example. Another cheap one way method I've heard of is work-for-passage on some freighter lines (yes, still done). You can get lists of many of the lines at http://www.shipguide.com/ <BR> <BR>Good luck! <BR> <BR>

Lisa, <BR>If you are interested in working in Europe and have no set idea of working in Italy then the Irish government is tagetting Canadians to come and work in Ireland legally. Lots of work here and not enough Irish - check out FAS - the Irish agency responsible for recruiting people to come and work here in ireland - link via www.irlgov.ie. Your could always visit Italy on holidays

Also check with yourtravel agent to know whether a 1 time change is allowed to extend your ticket, for a fee of course (approx. $100 Cdn). you can also call the Italian Consulate in Ottawa and ask them - I won't give a name - just "I am thinking about this", or "what are the regulations about entrying the country with a one way ticket?". Lastly - it might be cheaper to buy a two way - finding a great deal, not return on it, but then buy a return ticket in Italy for your flight back to Canada. <BR> <BR>Good luck!