Can anyone give me advice about finding a cheap apartment in ...
This isn’t quite so easy as just finding an apartment an moving. Assuming you’re not an EU citizen, you’ll need to get a visa that allows you to work and live here. In your case, you would be self-employed, but you still need the visa and are subject to being taxed in your host country. If you’re from the US, you may also have to file taxes there as well. That would certainly be the case if you moved here to Italy.
EU citizens have the right to live and work within the EU, but others need a visa to live and work here legally. You can’t just decide to relocate and go. The site for visas here in Italy, for example, is: http://www.esteri.it/visti/index_eng.asp . The site has links to the application, the additional information you need to supply in order to get the visa and where to apply.
The rules in much of the EU have been harmonized and will be similar. You can also check the website of the consulate of various countries that has jurisdiction over you for other information. For example, for England try the consulate that has jurisdiction over your area; there are links to the consulates in the US here: http://ukinusa.fco.gov.uk/en/our-offices… . You cannot apply for the visa from Italy; you need to do that before you arrive. When you get here, you will have to apply for a Permesso di Soggiorno (Permission to Stay) from the authorities. With the economy now, jobs are scarce – a lot of companies have a hiring freeze in place. The unemployment rate in Spain is around 20% for example and almost 50% in the 16 to 24 year old age group. One other thing will be language skills; you’ll need to be able to work in Italian here. However, in the larger cities, there is more English spoken than in the countryside and that would generally be true throughout Europe. You should still expect work to be done largely in the local languages though.
A work permit is separate – you cannot apply for that yourself. The company has to apply and they have to be able to demonstrate that there is not a viable EU candidate for the job. As a result, jobs for foreigners including Canadian or US citizens are pretty much restricted to people with special education, knowledge, or experience. The medical/healthcare field may have the most demand right now. You will need to know the language. When I applied for a visa several years ago, the process took about 8 months even though it was just of transfer of the job I was already doing from the US to Italy. Actually getting the visa after the paperwork was in place was pretty quick though (about a week). Since you wouldn’t be working as a dependent of a company, this may not be so difficult for you.
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