posted 06-18-2002 03:20 PM            

I would check with the local (i.e., state) boards of education and see what they have about "emergency" credentials for teachers; California it's pretty easy from my understanding, but check where you want to be. Your results may vary.

posted 06-18-2002 03:56 PM               

As for a visa......... I thought as long as you could provide the people that be that you were in fact going to be working over here, you could very easilly get a work visa. And that will allow you to be here as long as you are working. It can be made into a permanent visa or whatever later. I know this because a friend of my mom's kept her work visa going for almost 20 years.
Hope this helps.

From The Last Frontier............

posted 06-18-2002 07:01 PM               

I'm not a major expert (actually I'm not an expert of any kind lol), but because I've dual citizenship my dad was able to move to the States recently as a US resident. To enable him to do this we spent quite a lot of time going through the requirements.

Are you thinking about just obtaining a work permit or ultimately becoming US resident / citizen?

Either way the first port of call I'd think is the INS (Immigration and Naturalisation Service) website which is www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics and/or the US Embassy in London which has an INS department which handles amongst over things Visas and permits.

I don't know whether getting a visa will be as easy as the guys above make it seem - particularly considering the roasting the INS got following issuing confirmation of the student visas to a couple of the Sept 11 hijackers months after they no longer needed them.

There are limits to the no of visas the INS issue each year and they are split between various categories. My dad because I have US citizenship was Category 1 and got his immediately - however, my stepmother who is category 2A applying as a spouse of a US resident (not citizen big difference) is still waiting for confirmation of when she is going to get (note not actually get) her Visa 2 and a half years down the line. This has not been helped in that a year or so ago the INS declared an amnesty on illegal immigrants.

The Visas for the amnesty weren't an extra allocation, but they used the ones from the normal allocation - so those people who had applied were pushed back (basically if my step-mother had overstayed the visitors visa she currently uses then she'd be legally resident by now!).

There are a few categories which fall out of the normal visa allocation (I think they both do) is through qualification - where the US has a chronic shortfall of a particualar category of employees those with the relevant qualifactions can obtain visas quickly. Also if your employer applies for the visa - however, I think with this route they have to show that there is no US citizen qualified to do the job.

Hope this helps.

posted 06-19-2002 11:32 AM               

The one exception to this is private schools. Typically, I believe, private schools are exempt from state certification requirements. Of course, these teachers also fail to get the various union-driven benefits(eg, in New York, tenure after three years). I am sure there is a board somewhere that posts job openings specific to private schools. You may, however, need to expand your parameters. Not many schools are large enough to hire a teacher dedicated to drama. An English teacher who is willing to also teach a semester course in drama as well as take on the responsibility for the fall play and spring musical would be an asset.