Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this and have questions and concerns. I want to get my TEFL cetificate but will need to do so online (looking for a combined class to gain teaching experience) - I'm not able to leave my paying job yet, planning to do so early next year.

I was on a different site and they gave me a login to access their online course and I felt lost especially with the grammar modules. It's been forever since I've done anything like that as my more recent online courses were geared to management and marketing. Any hints on what to read or where to go to brush up on topice I'll need to know before I start my TEFL clsases?

Now to get more on topic, I want to move to Seville to work. I live in the US and am a US citizen. Do schools assist with visa, can I work on a toruist visa, what challenges will I face in trying to make this work?

Thanks All for any help and advice!!!

Hi Vikielynne,

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but in terms of working in Seville, or indeed anywhere in the EU, unless you have a passport from an EU member state (perhaps through an ancestry claim) or are married to an EU citizen or have an appropriate work visa your chances of finding legal work are slim to none. Generally speaking, in order for an employer in the EU to hire a non-EU citizen, he/she has to prove that there were no suitably qualified EU citizens who could do the job. Which is a fairly unlikely proposition given that (a) Spain has been hit hard by recession and (b) Spain has the highest unemployment rate - around 25% - in Europe. 

As an American you would be entering Spain on a Schengen visa, which is essentially a tourist visa that gives you 90 days in the Schengen zone. Note that you cannot work legally on this visa. You would have 90 days to convert the visa into a working visa (through a potential employer, which as I mentioned above is not a likely proposition). Failure to do so means having to leave not just Spain but the entire Schengen zone (which covers much of Europe) for a further 90 days. If you overstay and are caught you will in all likelihood be banned from the entire Schengen zone for the foreseeable future.

So, how can you work legally in Spain? If you are a qualified elementary/high school teacher in the US, it may be possible to find work with an International School teaching the American schools curriculum to children of expats. Failing that, you could apply to any language schools with 'American' or 'Canadian' in the title, as they tend to prefer American English to British English. I'm not sure whether there's one in Seville though. Unless you're a student at a recognised university and can get a student work visa, your only other option (as long as you're under 35) that I can see is the Ministry of Education's program for North American Language and Culture Assistants, which I've come across on a couple of forums.

Briona