In the first part of the articlewe talk about two attitudes that have enormous potential to make you a citizen of the world and put you in an international career. The first is the opportunity to take a degree abroad and the fluency of a second language, in this case, English.
The question that remained on the air, for those who did not have the opportunity to study abroad, is: how do you have an international career while having fluent English?
Resuming the discussion, if you could not attend a good university abroad you most likely will not get an international career upon graduation. In this case, you will need to substitute a solid training * for a meaningful experience in your area that makes your profile unique and desired.
(* Solid here is in the eyes of your future employer overseas – if you felt diminished, read Part 1 of the article).
Before we get into the question of the professional profile aimed at the international market, let’s look at the procedure, that is, the bureaucratic issue to be able to work abroad.
Know that there are only two ways you can be legally enabled to work overseas. One is via an expatriate type of employment contract and another is via a local labour contract .
The expatriate type of employment contract is the one you are hired in Brazil to provide your services abroad. It is a type of contract that recognizes that you do not have a residence or work visa at the place of service and for this reason, the company usually gives you legal and financial support for staying abroad.
In this case, the company usually helps you to obtain a place to live, the issue of a work visa, the tax issue abroad (income tax), medical care and insurance, some trips back home, part transfer of your salary to your country of origin, etc.
Expatriate work contracts are very common for jobs in countries with abundant natural resources and a shortage of professionals trained to occupy the senior positions. To find out, there are several foreigners working as expatriates in Brazil, especially in the mining, oil and gas sectors. Of course, this number fell sharply with the crisis, since the operations of foreign companies in Brazil also declined.
I do not want to enter into the legal nature of an expatriate contract but know that CLT foresees such a situation. What happens is that due to the seniority of the position and the desire of both sides to prevail the negotiation that was made, the vast majority goes abroad contracted as the service provider, the famous legal entity (PJ). At this point, it is up to your accountant to understand how you can save on taxes because you will be exporting your services and this is subject to tax benefits in Brazil. The exceptions to PJ contracts abroad are the employees of Brazilian or multinational multinationals with a strong administrative presence in Brazil, who often go abroad with a CLT contract or a mix of CLT and PJ.
Another type of contract for those who want to go abroad is the local contract. Having this type of contract means that you have immigrated (or will immigrate) your expenses to the destination country and being there, already in possession of a residence and / or work visa that you will provide, will assume a position in a company local. See that this condition is completely different from an expatriate contract. In this case you really leave your country and immigrate. Therefore, you will be hired according to local labour laws, will be embedded in a table of local positions and salaries and, most importantly, will immigrate and obtain permits to stay in the destination country at your own risk. The drawback, and the biggest difference from a “place” to an “expatriate”, is the legal issue of the residence visa and / or work visa. In possession of a Brazilian citizenship, not many countries will allow them to stay for an extended time, and even more, a stay with the purpose of seeking or taking a job. This is because of diplomatic reciprocity and interests in the protection of the local labour market of each country.
There are excellent countries with shortages of qualified professionals and therefore have qualified immigration programs. There are other more restrictive study destinations for their universities of exceptional quality and release study visas that allow the student to also work legally.
Through special immigration programs, a Brazilian, with planning and possessing resources for such, can legally immigrate and develop his career abroad. Among the countries that have these programs out to Australia the Canada , to New Zealand and the Republic of Ireland with excellent programs for skilled immigration that gives you the right to permanent residence and complete work provided it fulfils certain requirements. On the other hand, a little more restrictive, we can mention the United States and the United Kingdom as a great destination for studies and temporary jobs with the possibility of getting permanent work and stay legally after the course is completed.
What many professionals do is choose to study in a good university in these countries, to do a postgraduate for example, and during or until after the conclusion of the course to obtain a job that will greatly facilitate the obtaining of a permanent visa and / or job. This is certainly the best and least complicated way to have an international career because on the one hand it leaves your professional profile more attractive with the graduate and on the other opens the possibility of temporary stay in another country that can become permanent depending on your will. The bad side? You need to put up front money to reap the benefits later. This includes preparation to be able to enrol in an overseas course. Generally, some proof of the level of English is required ( TOEFL ,IELTS or TOEIC ) or even the GMAT that measures your analytical, writing, verbal and reading ability, logically in English.
There are some lucky ones who have a second citizenship of some European Union country, for example, which enables this professional to embark to any country of the Schengen Area without employment or without the pre-arranged course. They can move only with money in their pockets and the willingness to work and / or study. If the professional decides for a country other than that of his second European citizenship, the resident visa is issued immediately in all countries of the Schengen Area, requiring only a registration in the immigration office.
In short, if you choose to seek a contract of the expatriate type in a multinational company, you will most often opt for a temporary immigration, one that will cover a short need of the company outside Brazil. After this period you will return to your place of origin or you may even go to another country to spend another season. The local contract is best suited for professionals who really want to set up residence outside the country for a long period of time or who do not even want to return.
About the professional profile to be built by someone seeking an international career we will see in the third part of the article very soon.
Hugs,
Luiz Junqueira
