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Lurker Finally Posting -- Moving To Tunisia!

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Hello / Bonjour / Asslamu Alaikum to my fellow Tunisians!

I lurked through this forum for quite some time and now I feel that it is time to post here and see where I can go with this. I have already read some great helpful advice here which gave me some ideas to get started. I suppose this is not really a Q&A post but more of a work-in-progress post.

A short story about myself:

After graduating from my university in the United States, I decided to take a long cycling trip around Europe and the Middle East. My initial plan was to cycle from the UK to Spain, cross over to Morocco, go through North Africa, Turkey, and then eventually Poland to see my grandmother. It was a grandiose idea but that never happened.

What did end up happening is that I started in Spain, crossed over to Morocco and flew to Tunisia because of the dangers associated with Algeria. Well, unexpectedly, I ended up staying in Tunisia for 3 months and even worked briefly. I met great people and eventually met someone who, today, is my fiancée. I really had no reason to leave. Alas, money became an issue and my grandmother became ill so I returned home.

Ever since then, I had been itching to return to Tunisia. Today, I work at a major telecommunications company providing technical support and analysis and I make pretty good money for what I do. I've been saving that money so I can go back to Tunisia. With the support of my family, friends, and most importantly, my fiancée, I feel confident that I can move to Tunisia soon.

Working in Tunisia:

Even though I had a short but eye-opening experience working in Tunisia, I've considered it a lucky opportunity. If I were in Tunisia today, I don't think I'd have the same opportunity. Up until today, I've taken on a wide variety of different roles such as being a representative, vice president, director, teacher, analyst, researcher, and more. I've developed my people skills considerably and now I need to work on my technical skills (i.e, programming).

Based on the advice I've read so far, I seem to have a dilemma. People often suggest that expats look into teaching English but more than often, these places look for those with TESOL or TOEFL certificates. This would require a course that may take 3 to 6 months and may cost to upwards of $2,000. Or I can just continue developing my technical skills but face problems with being hired because they prioritize Tunisians over foreigners. I'm entirely uncertain on what to pursue here.

Getting Married:

Also, from what I read, getting married is not so easy as you'd have to produce a lot of documents to prove that you are capable of taking care of your wife. But that may be a problem as I may not be able to find a job which they would find fitting. Although I plan to stay for a certain amount of years (generally more than 2 years), what if I'd like to bring my wife back to the United States one day? It seems to be a lot of hassle as the Tunisian government requires that I have a job in the United States first.

Just sharing my thoughts here and I will continue to post here as time goes by, God willing. Any words of thoughts or encouragement will be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Jeffrey

Tunis Forum

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