David

question for any of you with experience working/living abroad. i am in my 20s, with a college degree is computer science and business, and have always romaticized the idea of being able to live and work in italy for an extended period of time. how difficult is it to find work in the country when you have only a menial grasp of the language? does anyone have any experience finding work in the high-tech sector, and is this type of work found more prevelant in the north, as opposed to the south. thanks to all that respond.

russ

David,<BR><BR>You can do it if you're serious about it . . . I worked for a year in Italy as the Director of Marketing for an Italian company. <BR><BR>There is a lot of paperwork involved with getting a work visa and is best done in Italy, with the assistance the Italian company. <BR><BR>For your background, you will find the majority of jobs in the north. The zone along Autostrada A4 from Venice to Milan is the primary industrial/high tech region of Italy. This area has the highest density of industry in Italy.<BR><BR>Language isn't a big problem. You'll find most business is done in English especially now with the European union and the need for a common business language. Plus most Italians take English in school.<BR><BR>Check monster.com's international links for a starting point on finding a job.<BR><BR><BR><BR>

Betsy

Try www.slowtalk.com and www.slowtrav.com, two non-commercial sites with several Americans who moved to Italy reporting in about their experiences. I think they'd even welcome e-mail inquiries. Meanwhile, sign up at your local community college for Italian 101.<BR><BR>Buona fortuna<BR><BR>

Alice Twain

Things have gotten harder since Russ was here. The new government has issued a law that applies to any non-EU citizen that may want to live and work in Italy. Basically, now you can't enter Italy with a touristic visa, find yourself a job and than let the employer do a little (a lot of) paperwork. With the new nonsensical law, you can have a working visa (permeso di soggiorno) only if you already have a contract with some employer, but the employer is forced to accept you as an employee with no trial period and he can't have you sign the contract if you do not have the Permesso di soggiorno. You would have to come to italy for a maximum of 3 months, look for an employer, go back home, have the employer send you a pre-contract that sais that he will employ you, than you can apply for a permesso di soggiorno and once you receive the permeso di soggiorno, you can move to Italy. The whole process has not been tested yet, but I have the distinct feeling that may take at least 6 months to be accomplished. Obviously, you can just work it the other way round: oversay your visa, stay as an unauthorized immigrant (as immigrants have been doing all long the past deceds and will increasingly do in the next years because of this silly law) and find yourself some irregular job. Yet, doing this might cause you to be arrested imprisoned for a few nonhs in a lager-like CPT (centro di permanenza temporanea) and finally be expelled to your own country ant not be allowed to legally enter Italy again.

Jackie

I'm also currently planning to move to Italy, and the way that I am doing it (my boyfriend is also coming) is trying to avoid the work-visa altogether. That visa is sort of a catch-22 and very difficult to get.<BR><BR>Instead, I've heard from many people (who live as natives or expatriates in Italy) that if you get a student visa, you can work up to 20 hours per week. My boyfriend already has an opportunity with his company to telecommute in Italy, and therefore he is able to stay legally for 3 months per "semester" and work for his US based company. I am going to get a student visa, be able to work part time, and, since i have some freelancing skills in design, etc., i will be able to freelance as well, hopefully similiar to this telecommuting thing my boyfriend will be doing. if your position is one where you could telecommute or freelance AND study (you could even just do one-on-one tutoring to get a visa), i would recommend this. Student visas are the easiest to get.<BR><BR>definitely get the book "Living, Studying, and Working In Italy" by Travis Neighbor and Monica Larner. It will give you all sorts of much needed info about the hard facts about living and working in Italy. It'll either change your mind about studying over there, or it will inspire you more.<BR><BR>Jackie<BR>http://www.thelongtriphome.com

jack

Don't forget that the italain taxes are horrible. The cost of living can get quite expensive (taxes, gas for your car if you have one, etc etc etc)

Natalie

I have recently returned to London from living and working in Rome. I know it was obviously easier for me to work in Italy as the UK is part of the EU, therefore, it was not necessary for me to have any particular visa to stay.<BR><BR>I could not comment on the legalities regarding people from the US wanting to live and work in Italy, but I know that there are many people there from the US, Australia, New Zealand who work without documents. I would not recommend this as if you get caught, you could face serious problems.<BR><BR>Living in Italy is very different to travelling there for holidays, as the wages are very low (compared to the UK) and even though the cost of living is cheaper, it is not in relation to the salaries ie. if you wanted to work in administration full-time, the average salary is around &pound;600 (US$900) and rent for a one-bedroom apartment is from &pound;400 (US$600) which does not leave much money to play with! I now understand why the Italians live with their parents for soo long and many study for long periods because without some formal qualifications, you can not earn very good money.<BR><BR>However, I really wish I was still there and travel to Italy frequently in the hope that one day I will return!<BR><BR>Regards.<BR><BR><BR>Natalie

Alice Twain

A single person can, instead of renting a whole apartament, can look for single rooms in apartments shared with other youth. They ar pretty common in every university city. Find out where the universu&igrave;ity is and tour the corridors looking for the "Affittasi" signs (quite often only hadwritten pieces of paper).