Work in Brasil - relocating to teach English in the southern part

Hello Colorado60,

The problem will not be in finding work teaching English in Brazil. As a native speaker you'll be able to land a job teaching quite easily, especially if you apply in June or December when many schools take on new hires.

The problem will be trying to survive on the low pay that this is going to provide you. You are paid only for actual class hours, no prep time, no correcting homework, in most cases no holiday pay or other benefits. Unless the school can completely fill your available time with classes (they usually won't) you will find yourself struggling to get by.

State capitals are usually much easier to find teaching jobs in than are the smaller cities in the interior too. Pay scales are also a bit lower in small interior cities.

Cheers,
James   Expat-blog Experts Team

Thank you for the information.

Sorry, my first post and am still getting my head around your site/blog.
I was wondering how one can get married in Brasil without a birth certificate. Any ideas would be appreciated.

It is not possible to get married without an original of your Birth Certificate (long form) that has to be issued within 180 days prior to submission to the Cartório. This is one of the ultimately most important documents for the marriage process.

Cheers,
James        Expat-blog Experts Team

Oh thank you, James. That's likely to be tricky one for me then. I was born in a conflict zone where my parents (one British) had to flee with me as a child and never had a birth certificate. How can I explain this to Brasilian Consulate?

Certainly your birth had to have been registered somewhere? You should find out where it was registered, that's where you will apply for a Birth Certificate. They would have also had to register your birth with the British Consulate in the country where you were born, how in the world do you obtain any important documents or register for school without a Birth Certificate, I've never heard of that before in my entire life; certainly never in the UK.

Cheers,
James        Expat-blog Experts Team

James, I appreciate your ideas and I will follow up.
Oh yes, there are many life stories out there and not everyone has been fortunately enough to live ordinary life which most take for granted.
Thank you for your ideas.

Good luck with your quest to find your Birth Certificate, or some reasonable substitute that will pass muster with the absurd Brazilian bureaucracy. Nothing is really EASY in this country.

Cheers,
James

Hi Colorado60,

I am a US citizen, and I teach English here in Brazil. I live in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's southernmost state.

The first thing to understand is that there is a lot of teaching work available here. BUT, it's difficult to work legally in Brazil. To get a work visa, you'll need a school or other business to sponsor you. They have to file the application, not you. And few schools will go through the trouble. Now, if you obtain legal residency, for example, via marriage, then you receive a work card and can work legally.

Many expats here teach English here under the table. I'm not advocating that. I'm just saying that many do, and I've never heard of anyone being arrested, ejected, fined, or anything.

If you overstay your tourist visa, you'll need to pay a fine for that, based on the number of days you overstayed, and currently capped at about 825 reals. You'll sometimes be asked to pay before you leave Brazil, but sometimes only when you want to return.

If you have more questions related to teaching ESL here, let me know. John

I was told by someone on a blog that there is work but it is difficult to make enough money teaching to live there. I would be willing to work more than 40 hours a week or get another job on the side. Is it easy to marry a Brasilian woman? I want to get married.

I have heard people say this also, that's it's tough to make enough money here teaching English. But I've been doing it for over 6 years, so it can be done. It's like anything else: It takes some time.

I think that most people who say that you can't make money teaching English work for schools and make perhaps 30 reals per hour. To have a good standard of living, you need to pick up private students so that you can make 60-70 per hour. I teach primarily by Skype and only ask 50/hour, but I can stack classes one after the other and don't lose time traveling about town. For face-to-face classes I get 60-70. I have a nice middle-class life and don't work that hard now to maintain it. I also write for a magazine, which adds variety and additional income. But just the teaching income is enough to live on, and I don't have to scrimp.

As for getting married here, I am not married, but a buddy of mine from RSA married a Brazilian woman. It's not difficult to do, but I caution you against marrying just for residency. That is, marry for love and not papers. The Federal Police, who have jurisdiction over immigration here, DO check. They DO visit your home to verify that you are in fact living together as man and wife. Being married here will entitle you to receive a work card. I'm not sure though of the timeframes involved. There are likely some waiting periods.

I hope this has been some help. Cheers

Hi JR,

You are right, you can make from R$25-30 for your (classroom) time at a school and if they'll fill your availability fully you can get by on it. You won't get rich, but you'll survive. You certainly can make anywhere from R$50-100 per hour teaching private students too, and that makes life lots easier.

BUT

That's in the big cities that are the economic centers of this country such as São Paulo and Rio where the Cost of Living is also going to be much higher and if you do "in-company" classes you're going to be spending most of your day in public transportation getting from one class to the next rather than teaching and getting paid for it.

Not everyone coming to Brazil chooses to settle in São Paulo and Rio either. In most places here the schools pay near slave wages and won't fill your available hours completely. I too have made my living here teaching for 13 years now, in 5 different states, it's far from easy and that's why I won't candy coat it when people ask about teaching here. If you're in São Paulo and are lucky enough to earn just over R$1500 per month at a school, what do you do when a 1br unfurnished apartment goes for around R$1000 - 1500 per month? Unfortunately that's the reality of teaching in Brazil.

Cheers,
James   Expat-blog Experts Team

As you say, working for schools, it's difficult to get by. I believe schools are the easiest way for a new teacher to get started, since they find students, handle the collecting of payments, etc. But as soon as you step out on your own with private students, your income per hour doubles or more. So that's the way to go long term.

I also am doing well teaching via Skype. I charge about 50/hour (it's actually a flat amount per month, but based on 50 per class). Most of my students are in Rio and SP capital or state. I live in a small town where it's less expensive. This works well, too. BUT, you have to live in a town with adequate internet speed.

Making a living in Brazil is rarely easy, but I think teaching ESL is one of the easier routes for foreigners. But you have to choose a good model and stick with it. Once boca a boca starts working for you, it becomes much easier.