# Any advice is welcome!!



## Miz Bella

My husband (who is of Italian decent - his father's side is from Italy) and I are considering moving to Italy and would love to hear advice, comments and pointers from anyone in the process of making the move or anyone who has made the leap. My husband is a teacher & is considering teaching English as a second Language


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## Bevdeforges

Not sure if it's the same in Italy as in France, but one consideration is to make sure your husband gets a TEFL or TESOL qualification to teach English. Lots of Americans come over to Europe thinking they can teach English if they can speak it. The result is that the pay level for "informal" teachers of English is seriously depressed.

To find a "real job" teaching English with a reputable language school, you need to have a TESOL or TEFL qualification. If you're thinking about making the move, now would be the time to get started on a program to pick up that certificate. (It takes about a year for a "night school" type program. In an intensive program, you can do the training in about 3 months.)

The other important thing to consider is whether or not you can qualify for a visa. Check the Italian Embassy in the US website for details. Being of Italian descent is one thing - you may have to have some details (name, place of birth, etc.) about the family back in Italy and accumulating that can take a bit of time.


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## stefanaccio

If you have not already done so, my advice would be to use any relatives that you have in Italy as contacts, sources of information, etc regarding your move.


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## Miz Bella

Bevdeforges said:


> Not sure if it's the same in Italy as in France, but one consideration is to make sure your husband gets a TEFL or TESOL qualification to teach English. Lots of Americans come over to Europe thinking they can teach English if they can speak it. The result is that the pay level for "informal" teachers of English is seriously depressed.
> 
> To find a "real job" teaching English with a reputable language school, you need to have a TESOL or TEFL qualification. If you're thinking about making the move, now would be the time to get started on a program to pick up that certificate. (It takes about a year for a "night school" type program. In an intensive program, you can do the training in about 3 months.)
> 
> The other important thing to consider is whether or not you can qualify for a visa. Check the Italian Embassy in the US website for details. Being of Italian descent is one thing - you may have to have some details (name, place of birth, etc.) about the family back in Italy and accumulating that can take a bit of time.


Thanks to all who offered helpful tips. From what I have read, a visa can be quite a challenge to obtain. This may be a silly question, but is it best to get started on the visa or the teaching cert. first? Seems having a job to go to would make getting the visa easier?


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## rob

*Moving to Italy*



Miz Bella said:


> My husband (who is of Italian decent - his father's side is from Italy) and I are considering moving to Italy and would love to hear advice, comments and pointers from anyone in the process of making the move or anyone who has made the leap. My husband is a teacher & is considering teaching English as a second Language


I moved to italy in 1998 from the UK and being a European citizen thought that it would be easy but it wasn't. If your husband can apply for an italian passport, and therefore have dual citizenship (as I ended up doing) then it will be easy. if not, upon arrival you will have to apply for a special visa called "permesso di soggiorno" at the Questura which is a type of police station. Depending on where you go, there are so many immigrants that you will not believe it and there will be huge queues and delays and red tape.... If you get it, it will usually last 12 months, and you will need to apply for an identity card, then "work book" that employers will need to employ you. The teaching jobs are usually at private schools - pay is bad, and work is often not guaranteed as a full time job. if you want to work in state school: forget it, as it is quite impossible unless you "know somebody" who can get you through... hope this helps.

ADDITION: on the other hand, these schools sometimes employ people without documents or registration in the above manner, but then you will be working illegally and subject to explusion if caught. This all sounds a bit gloomy, but I've been there and done it, and it was tough. Oh yeah, check out the TEFL certifications because some are better than others and schools specify that they only accept certain types of TEFL certificates.. Buona Fortuna!!


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## Goldberg

Qualifications help for sure. TEFL.


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## Miz Bella

rob said:


> I moved to italy in 1998 from the UK and being a European citizen thought that it would be easy but it wasn't. If your husband can apply for an italian passport, and therefore have dual citizenship (as I ended up doing) then it will be easy. if not, upon arrival you will have to apply for a special visa called "permesso di soggiorno" at the Questura which is a type of police station. Depending on where you go, there are so many immigrants that you will not believe it and there will be huge queues and delays and red tape.... If you get it, it will usually last 12 months, and you will need to apply for an identity card, then "work book" that employers will need to employ you. The teaching jobs are usually at private schools - pay is bad, and work is often not guaranteed as a full time job. if you want to work in state school: forget it, as it is quite impossible unless you "know somebody" who can get you through... hope this helps.
> 
> ADDITION: on the other hand, these schools sometimes employ people without documents or registration in the above manner, but then you will be working illegally and subject to explusion if caught. This all sounds a bit gloomy, but I've been there and done it, and it was tough. Oh yeah, check out the TEFL certifications because some are better than others and schools specify that they only accept certain types of TEFL certificates.. Buona Fortuna!!


Thanks so much for your insight - it is actually not a surprise...it confirms what I already suspected (unfortunately). Not sure either of us is up to all that headache! 
Are you now doing okay after getting through all of that?


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## rob

Miz Bella said:


> Thanks so much for your insight - it is actually not a surprise...it confirms what I already suspected (unfortunately). Not sure either of us is up to all that headache!
> Are you now doing okay after getting through all of that?


Hi Miz Bella!! Yes, after all the headache of getting started, things worked out OK in the end. It's a great country to live especially because it has great food and great culture. We're surrounded by fabulous places too. The cost of living has increased significantly from when we have the Euro, but that has happened all over Europe. Anyhow, good luck with your plans and if you need any more help please let me know... All the best.


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## TravelingHillbilly

*Concern about your advice*

I am a U.S. Citizen as well considering living in Italy for over a year anyways and possibly longer if it worked out for me and I'm concerned about some of your advice. Just as in the U.S. and many other countries, you CAN'T apply for residency status when you are currently in the same country as a tourist. You must leave the country and then apply. You are suggesting that as U.S. Citizens we can apply at the local police station for "permesso di soggiorno" for up to one year. Do you know this is as fact? Is it because it is only "temporary residency" status as opposed to permanent? Or is it not even residency status at all, but merely an extended visitors visa? And if so, then would they really be able to issue a work permit on such a visa? Some clarification would be essential in this case, because it would really SUCK to travel to Italy with a tourist passport to only find out I'll have to come back stateside and apply.
As others, I am planning to get my TEFL certification (starting a class March 1 that is an intense class, certification in 1 month) and bring that with me so that I can get at least a job that may pay the rent and then some. Does anyone know if I want to teach english, does it mean being forced to live in huge cities such as Rome or Florence or can some of the smaller towns in Tuscany have a need for English Teachers?
Any help of course would be deeply appreciated!

TravelingHillbilly....




rob said:


> I moved to italy in 1998 from the UK and being a European citizen thought that it would be easy but it wasn't. If your husband can apply for an italian passport, and therefore have dual citizenship (as I ended up doing) then it will be easy. *if not, upon arrival you will have to apply for a special visa called "permesso di soggiorno" at the Questura which is a type of police station*. Depending on where you go, there are so many immigrants that you will not believe it and there will be huge queues and delays and red tape.... If you get it, it will usually last 12 months, and you will need to apply for an identity card, then "work book" that employers will need to employ you. The teaching jobs are usually at private schools - pay is bad, and work is often not guaranteed as a full time job. if you want to work in state school: forget it, as it is quite impossible unless you "know somebody" who can get you through... hope this helps.
> 
> ADDITION: on the other hand, these schools sometimes employ people without documents or registration in the above manner, but then you will be working illegally and subject to explusion if caught. This all sounds a bit gloomy, but I've been there and done it, and it was tough. Oh yeah, check out the TEFL certifications because some are better than others and schools specify that they only accept certain types of TEFL certificates.. Buona Fortuna!!


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## Bevdeforges

TravelingHillbilly said:


> You are suggesting that as U.S. Citizens we can apply at the local police station for "permesso di soggiorno" for up to one year. Do you know this is as fact? Is it because it is only "temporary residency" status as opposed to permanent? Or is it not even residency status at all, but merely an extended visitors visa? And if so, then would they really be able to issue a work permit on such a visa?


While I don't have any experience with Italy, the process you were describing sounds very much like what happens here in France - and actually France and Italy have very similar governments in many ways (though don't tell the French that!  ).

The "permesso di soggiorno" sounds pretty much like our "carte de séjour" which isn't a visa at all, but rather a residence permit you get after having entered the country and getting your visa validated on entry. For the original poster, who was a UK citizen, there was no need for a visa so all the formalities would have been conducted at the police station. If you have authorization to work (due to the type of visa you hold or your EU nationality) they then issue the appropriate documents.

As a US national, you still have to get the proper sort of visa before you arrive in Italy - and make sure that the visa is validated when you enter the country. Check with the Italian consulate in the US, but for most countries in the EU, you need to have secured a job BEFORE you apply for the visa and move to the country. Your scenario about arriving on a tourist visa and then having to go back to apply for a working visa is exactly what happens - and precisely why many language schools hire illegals (for considerably less than the going living wage rates).

There are English teaching jobs outside the big cities. Find any area with large, international companies (offices or factories) - many of them have contracts with local language schools to teach their managers English. By and large the language schools that deal with large corporations tend to be more on the up and up than the smaller fly-by-night ones.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Nancy Beacham

*Have you evaluated take home pay?*

I haven't done it yet but have done some research on the teaching English in Italy idea and have been told that the jobs don't pay much, that you can likely support yourself if you also do tutoring on the side but just barely. So this is something to definitely check out, both pay and taxes, before taking the plunge.

I hope you do though, sounds exciting.


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