Teaching English
There are many things that I am interested in. One thing though has been consistent.. my desire to live and work overseas.
I have spent many hours researching the possibilities. If you hold certain qualifications then it's fairly easy to get a work permit. But, if you are an average Joe like me (I am a technical support specialst) then you can't get a work permit to save your life.
The only option that I found was the Dutch American Friendship Treaty. For over 60 years, the Dutch American Friendship Treaty has enabled USA citizens to start a business in Holland. Successful applicants receive a residence permit which allows them to work on a self-employed basis, or to represent American companies with business interests in Holland.
The treaty gives American citizens preferential treatment to operate a business in the Netherlands. In contrast to other non-EU nationals who want to work in the Netherlands on a self-employed basis, Americans applying under the treaty do not need to satisfy the 'essential Dutch economic interest' test which is applied to non-EU businesses. This information came from this website: http://www.expatlaw.nl/dutch_american_friendship_treaty.htm
With that being said I believe that my only chance to work and live overseas is to teach English classes. Now here is my problem: No Bachelors degree. I do have experience developing and conducting compuer training classes though. I also know that my teaching style has been well recieved.
What to do. What to do. Conduct an experiement? Yes!
Maybe I'll sign up here for certification
I have spent many hours researching the possibilities. If you hold certain qualifications then it's fairly easy to get a work permit. But, if you are an average Joe like me (I am a technical support specialst) then you can't get a work permit to save your life.
The only option that I found was the Dutch American Friendship Treaty. For over 60 years, the Dutch American Friendship Treaty has enabled USA citizens to start a business in Holland. Successful applicants receive a residence permit which allows them to work on a self-employed basis, or to represent American companies with business interests in Holland.
The treaty gives American citizens preferential treatment to operate a business in the Netherlands. In contrast to other non-EU nationals who want to work in the Netherlands on a self-employed basis, Americans applying under the treaty do not need to satisfy the 'essential Dutch economic interest' test which is applied to non-EU businesses. This information came from this website: http://www.expatlaw.nl/dutch_american_friendship_treaty.htm
With that being said I believe that my only chance to work and live overseas is to teach English classes. Now here is my problem: No Bachelors degree. I do have experience developing and conducting compuer training classes though. I also know that my teaching style has been well recieved.
What to do. What to do. Conduct an experiement? Yes!
Maybe I'll sign up here for certification
Intriguing, intriguing. How long would you want to live/work in the other country? Three months? Six months? A year? If it's a significant amount of time, then this is essentially a career change...which means maybe you can figure other kinds of expertise to bring in the moolah. Maybe you figure out how to make the moolah in the US, and then consider your 3 months overseas as the research stage for the US-based business. So you're not working as an employee or business overseas, but are instead gathering information for your US-based business. Just a thought.
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Thank you Dave for reading my blog and posting interesting comments!
I don't know exactly how long I'd want to live/work in another country. I'm assuming that at first I might want to make it 3-6 months. Then back to the States and work as a Temp to earn more income.
I definitely need to find ways of making money while doing things like this. Anything I can do to make this adventure a business write-off would be awesome I think.
Got any suggestions for me?
Thanks,
Erin
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I've been thinking about this also, and I think the traditional wisdom is that you need to have a job in place before you can make a break for it, which is tough to do when you already have one. It takes a different kind of thinking to leave job security...scary! I think a first place to start is to figure out how much money it would take to just survive and have something to do every day.
I've also been made aware of this forum on The">http://idler.co.uk/forum/">The Idler, which might give you some more ideas.
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Hi Erin. I'm the guy that Dave just gave you the link to the "scooter club" website
I have a buddy that spent a few years in Japan teaching English as a second language. Email me your contact info and I'll give you his email address. He's a really nice guy and I'm sure he'd be into answering any ?'s and giving insight.
Cheers,
Sid
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