Moving to Brazil, Job opps

Hi Lisa,



On behalf of the entire Expat-blog Team welcome on board. I hope your experience here will be both enjoyable and informative as well as giving you the opportunity to make lots of new friends.

Regarding obtaining work here in Brazil it's far from being an easy task for foreigners. First of all is the fact that Brazilian law requires employers to prove that they have exhausted all avenues to fill a job vacancy with a qualified Brazilian before they can fill it with a foreign national. Second of all, in order to obtain a work permit you must either hold (or have applied for) a permanent visa or have a temporary work contract. This, I presume, is your husband's situation.

Speaking Portuguese is essential in any field otherwise even in the largest of multinational coporations one would be extremely limited in their ability to communicate with co-workers. Despite the fact that English is the universal language of commerce it is not widely spoken even in business here. It is slowly catching on but one can not hope to get by speaking only English here.

I would recommend that both you and your husband begin taking Portuguese language lessons as soon as possible and at an accelerated pace if you plan on coming here soon. Continue the classes here following arrival since you will both certainly need to speak the language reasonably well just in day-to-day living situations. Not speaking Portuguese would leave one extremely isolated and completely dependent on others to translate even the simplest things, I doubt highly that you would want that.

Teaching English, even on a full-time basis, will not earn you a great income. Teachers of any subject here in Brazil are notoriously underpaid and undervalued. If you are thinking about working because you want the activity (as opposed to needing the extra income) I would suggest some kind of volunteer work. If it is a matter of needing two incomes then teaching will provide a little extra, but you certainly won't be happy with the pays that are usual here.

Your languages would be of benefit to you in the hospitality industry in Rio, which is really booming right now with the upcoming World Cup 2014 and Olympic Games 2016, however you would also need to speak Portuguese in that field in order to best take advantage of any job opportunities.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team