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markowe
Site Admin
Joined: 04 Oct 2007
Posts: 104
Location: Novi Sad, Serbia
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 Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 7:16 pm Post subject: Questions about moving to Serbia |
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A forum member messaged me to ask a few questions about Serbia so I thought I would answer them publicly in case they help someone else:
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| is it hard to find a job teaching english? |
In short, no. There are lots and lots of private language schools now in Serbia, especially in Belgrade and Novi Sad. Many of them would be only too happy to have a native speaker taking some lessons for them, as these are in pretty short supply. However, there are plenty of less professional schools around who would probably not pay very well, not employ you legally, and possibly mess you around a lot. The longer-established, more professional schools (I can tell you roughly which those are) may expect a much higher standard from you - swings and roundabouts, but I think it should be possible to get some kind of work teaching English, certainly.
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| how much is the cost of living in novi sad or nis? how much does renting a small room cost and what is the cost of an average meal? |
Flat rental is quite expensive - 200 EUR would barely get you a bedsit, probably you are looking at 400-500 for a reasonably-sized flat not too far from the centre (though everything is close to the centre in NS!) - I could be a little out on those figures though because I have not rented for a while. Niš would probably be 25-30% less on average.
Cost of living is lower in Novi Sad than in Belgrade in some respects, but food etc. is pretty much the same everywhere. In Serbia almost ALL goods are more expensive than in the West - it's scandalous really: food costs at least the same (except fruit and veg at the market, that is really cheap, and MUCH better than the awful Western supermarket stuff), all imported goods are up to 50% more expensive, clothes are either terrible quality and cheap, or good quality and hideously expensive. However, I would say that in Serbia you get used to a different way of life, with less luxuries, but also less work  So you get to enjoy small things, like going for a coffee in a cafe (which IS cheap) in the middle of the day, or spending more time with friends.
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| with regards to getting serbian citizenship and pr, i've heard that citizenship is one year if you are married with a child and 3 years if u are married w/o a child is that true? have you any experience with applying for PR and citizenship and what documents are needed? are police certificates needed? if so, how many years back? and how long does citizenship or pr takes to be approved? i might try to prepare all the documents before leaving as it will undoubtedly be easier to gather them here..thanks.. |
Unfortunately I have outdated information in that respect but I have never heard that you get citizenship quicker if you are married with a child, I don't believe that is true. If your wife has not forgotten Serbian, she can read the rules here: http://www.mup.sr.gov.yu/cms_lat/dokumenta.nsf/drzavljanstvo.h (the section titled "PRIJEM STRANCA U DRŽAVLJANSTVO"). As far as I can see, you need to have been married 3 years, (but I guess it works retroactively), and to have permanent residence first (which you get on the basis of being married - not clear if you HAVE to be resident here for 3 years too) but the weird thing I can't work out is that one of the requirements is proof you will renounce your other citizenship, but that can't be right... I didn't have to renounce anything. Anyway, you can see all the documents you need there - in particular your birth certificate and marriage certificate, neither should be older than 6 months, which is silly because these are only issued once in England.
My experience is, as you can see, that the instructions, however clear, are never quite clear enough, and the easiest way to figure it all out is just to start the process and see how far you get! Although Serbian bureaucracy is annoying, I actually think it is a lot better than many countries, and you CAN get things done eventually, you just have to be persistent.
Good luck!
_________________
Odista - professional English and Serbian translation services.
Odista - prevod na engleski prepustite Englezima! |
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blueeee11
Joined: 04 Dec 2009
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 4:52 am Post subject: |
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hey mark,
i am just wondering...is it easy for esl teachers in serbia to get a work visa? or is serbia one of those countries where it is impossible to do so and all the teachers work illegally on tourist visa |
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markowe
Site Admin
Joined: 04 Oct 2007
Posts: 104
Location: Novi Sad, Serbia
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| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 11:21 am Post subject: |
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| blueeee11 wrote: |
hey mark,
i am just wondering...is it easy for esl teachers in serbia to get a work visa? or is serbia one of those countries where it is impossible to do so and all the teachers work illegally on tourist visa |
Unfortunately there IS a lot of that kind of grey-area work. That's why I would really suggest finding a more professional school that will employ you legally. You ARE able to work legally very easily in Serbia, in fact if you get legal employment then that pretty much guarantees you a residency permit! That's why I say Serbia is not as bad as some countries.
_________________
Odista - professional English and Serbian translation services.
Odista - prevod na engleski prepustite Englezima! |
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blueeee11
Joined: 04 Dec 2009
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 11:40 am Post subject: |
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hey mark,
for the folks on work visa, is it still 3 years to citizenship for them? just like the folks on marriage visa?
any idea how long till the folks on work visa can apply for permanent residence? and can permanent residence be revoked if you are outside the country for x amount of time or commit an offence?
my wife is serbian by blood but she does not have serbian citizenship. she has lived in the us all her life. we now live in asia. we will have to get documents to prove that she is serbian and probably wait a year or two till they approve it. (that means going back to the us to do some serious digging of documents. we have chatted with her parents over the phone and apparently her parents birth certificates are missing! )
i was thinking we might as well get citizenship and permanent residence via the work route should she lack the proper documents to support her claim. in fact , if i get started on the work visa route as soon as we get to serbia, it would even be faster than waiting for her citizenship to be approved. |
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