My Epic Fail with a Recruiter Abroad: How I Lost My Shirt

I learned the hard way that it's often better to learn from someone else's mistakes. So, I'm sharing mine in the hopes that it might help someone out there.

My boyfriend and I are just regular folks who don't have a lot of money. We decided to look for work abroad because, let's be real, it's tough to make ends meet back home. We figured that even if it's hard work, at least we'd get a decent salary – something like $100-$150 a month, which is basically impossible to find here. So, we were willing to do some physical labor for a decent wage. We were really interested in working in greenhouses, and we still are.

We decided to head to Finland because it seemed like a great country to work in. And then we stumbled upon this agency that specializes in sending people to work there.

Job ad from the agency

The girl who managed our case – let's call her T – was really nice and responsive. She answered all our questions and even created profiles for us to send to potential employers.

Then, they sent us this document with some pretty 'promising' language.

First part of the document

Second part of the document

After reading that, we decided to visit the agency.

We went to the office and were greeted by some friendly girls who showed us around. We met T again, and she told us how lucky we were because our profiles had been accepted by a potential employer – some of our group members didn't make the cut, but we did. Apparently, they had some openings in Finland, and we just happened to be a good fit.

I'll never forget the first 'hiccup' that happened. Our manager T told us we had to pay for the job posting the next day - and it wasn't a small amount, either, 225 euros, to be exact. And then there was another 315 on top of that.

We were really keen to get going, especially after we'd paid, because we were promised a contract and receipts for the payment. Plus, we needed to get our documents ready to take to the embassy to apply for a Schengen visa. So, we scraped together the money with a mixture of reluctance and determination.

We took the money to the agency, signed the contract - I read it carefully. The agency promised to help with job placement abroad and provide consulting services. What I liked about this was that the agency offered to refund our money if the embassy refused to issue the visa for any reason - not because of our fault.

They gave us a receipt for the payment, complete with the agency's seal. But, as inexperienced people in this field, we didn't notice that the receipt was in dollars and euros, not hryvnia - which is against the law, as far as I know.

So, we went back to the agency a little while later, collected the documents they'd prepared (the invitation and insurance), and headed to the embassy with my boyfriend. We waited for 40 minutes and then submitted our application. We paid a significant consular fee - 120 euros for the two of us. Throughout the whole process, we were preparing for the trip, buying loads of stuff for the journey, and constantly checking the status of our visa application. And then, finally, the day arrived when we went to the embassy, collected our response, and our passports. But the response was a rejection - point 8, to be exact. The reason was that the information we'd provided to prove our purpose and the conditions of our stay wasn't credible.

The information we'd provided to prove our purpose and the conditions of our stay wasn't credible.

We were shocked, to say the least. It was clear that the problem wasn't with our documents, but with the ones the agency had provided. So, we went straight to the agency with the rejection letters.

We were met, looked at, and left speechless. T said that now they're not giving out these visas to everyone, and that there are already too many of our 'foreign workers' in this country, and so on. With a 'sad' face, she made scans of our rejections and said that we'd find a way to get around it somehow. A few days later, they told us that there were options to make the documents for the workers at the 'fur factory,' or to apply for a different visa. And basically, come back in a few days - they're still thinking about what can be done.

We came back with the guy a few days later. And again, we listened to 'Well, the factory might not work out, and the Polish visa might not be approved either... and the application is already too late to submit, because the season for 'seasonal workers' is already ending!' We were, to put it mildly, stunned. Everything we had hoped for just fell apart in front of our eyes. And the agency didn't flinch, and offered us (those of us who were still reeling) some alternative options - to go to the Czech Republic to work on a factory shift (where shifts are 12 hours long and the pay is basically nothing), and to go to Sweden to pick berries (and after Sweden, they 'offered' the possibility of working in Germany for a few months). What could we do? We agreed to go to Sweden. And now, pay attention, the agency offered us to get a Polish work visa, which would allow us to pick berries in Sweden for three months.

We gathered a package of documents for us, which (according to them) 'Always works. We've never had any rejections with this document package for a Polish visa!'

And now, the second 'shock'. Warning! We didn't sign any contracts for the Polish visa, or Sweden in particular! They didn't tell us anything about the cost of this work visa. But they did 'cheer us up' by telling us that we'd have to pay the visa fee again - 20 euros.

We made such mistakes, still in a state of shock! But we still trusted the agency a bit.

And again - we stood in line for six hours at the visa center to submit our application! Then we came back a week later to pick up our visa and passport. Can you imagine? Again, we got rejected! Point 9, quoting:

You haven't justified the purpose or conditions of your planned trip.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around what happened at the agency. Our documents were fine, so the problem clearly lies with the agency's paperwork. One person who knows their stuff confirmed this.

We headed back to the agency, and that's when the CIRCUS really started.

The manager, T., who had been handling our case, was in a state of shock. She called us over to talk to the agency director, who was sitting at a nearby table.

'Guys, for our agency, it's no big deal if someone doesn't get a visa with documents like these! Everything was perfect. There are two consuls at the consulate - one is great, and always grants visas, while the other is a nightmare - if they're in a bad mood, they'll deny visas to anyone!'

I was left speechless after that 'rant.' The atmosphere around us became surreal. Manager T. sat at her desk, pretending to be devastated, while the other girls started moving around the office, scanning rejection letters, nodding in agreement with the director, and generally making a scene.

Then, things took a turn for the worse. The director announced that we wouldn't be getting our money back for the visa, but they'd try to get it reimbursed. However, if they failed, they'd still take their 150 euros for their work.

I think that's ridiculous - 150 euros for these visas? We didn't sign anything, and no one informed us about the costs or conditions. It was only later, through a social media group, that I found out the agency had told others that the visas cost 100 euros.

The director then informed us that the person responsible for processing visas in Poland was on vacation, and we'd have to wait another week. After that, they'd figure out where to send us next.

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TL;DR P.S.

I have to admit, before visiting the agency, I tried to find reviews online. I found some, but they were short and incomplete. Still, they were there.

2. I asked a few people on VK who actually went to Poland through this agency, and they said they were helped and settled in okay.

3. I'm not even going to try to remember how much we spent on preparing for the trip as a couple. It was definitely over $200 for the two of us. We had to buy clothes, food for the first few days, and personal hygiene items.

4. We need to pay back the money we borrowed from each other. That's a significant amount.

5. No one reimburses you for visa fees. For the two of us, it was around $150.

6. And the most important thing - we're going to try to get our money back as much as possible. Our friends who work in government agencies and an organization that helps people fight organized crime and scams already know about this story, so if they don't want to give us our money back, they'll have to deal with those organizations.

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Continuation.

We did end up getting our money back, although we were really skeptical about it. They didn't give us back the insurance premium (but you can actually get that back from the insurance company) and, of course, the visa fee. That's a pretty significant amount. We're still in the red, but we're really glad we were able to get out of this agency without losing a fortune.