Biography
Live it Out offers unique hospitality and culinary internships in Spain.
Spain is one of the three most visited countries in the world so we know a lot about hospitality and we have some of the best cuisine in the world. Live it Out offers hospitality and culinary students the opportunity to gain training and experience in their chosen profession. However, the program does not only teach the students how to be a good receptionist or a great chef, we also teach them to work in a team, to learn about other cultures and to be open-minded and disciplined.
My future plans are to keep working and growing with my clients in Mexico, the Philippines; Peru, the United States and the other countries we have recently entered or willing to explore.
LIVE IT OUT also offers our clientes (non European students) a full legal assessment regarding the visa process and local administrative process once in Spain.
I think it would be interesting to discuss at WYSTC the problems that agencies that send students or graduates to Europe and us, the local agencies, have to face regarding the visa process that applicants have to follow. In my case, I can speak about Spain, but I know that most European countries have to deal with similar problems.
LIVE IT OUT is collaborating with Spanish consulates from Mexico, the USA, Peru, the Philippines, Argentina and Paraguay. I have visited most of the Spanish Consulates where students (in Spain, graduates can not apply for an Internship) apply for their student’s visas to present my company, the process we follow, etc. and I had to make my own key contacts also in Spain because, unfortunately I realized that even students presented all the requirements that consulates ask, sometimes the consulates and the Spanish authorities wouldn’t make it easy for the process to be approved. The rules should be the same
everywhere, but I know some Consulates, depending on the country, are extremely strict with the requirements, so it is really difficult for students to get a student visa, which unfortunately doesn’t allow them to go abroad and live an international experience.
Fortunately, and because we really made a big effort to have these key contacts , we have been able to have almost a 100% of visas approvals, but when problems arise it is really tough to fix them. I guess this is not only happening regarding Spain, but also with other Schengen countries, as the visa requirements are similar.
I have always assisted sessions at WYSTC talking about the US visa process, the J1, etc… so, my suggestion is that we could discuss also about the European visa process…. In my opinion, it would be great that WYSE could have a key role also with European Consulates and Public Administrations (European Foreign Offices) and not only with US representatives. I know the US visa process is very important, as many members collaborate or come from the US, and I know the process is sometimes taught, and I celebrate that the WYSE Work and Volunteer Abroad association is supporting its members by taking actions like inviting to the WYSTC congress US key representatives, organizing seminars to discuss about the US visa process, etc. That is what European agencies and non- European agencies that send their students to us also need.
My suggestion would be to do one more step for the members that are interested in the EUROPEAN visa process. I think the WYSE Work and Volunteer Abroad should also be a key institution in the European consulates and local administrations. Maybe a document that focuses specifically in the European visa process would also be interesting. But not only that, I wish we could replicate the actions WYSE is taking with the US visa process and invite a key European representative to the Congress who could talk about the EUROPEAN visa process, who could give us useful tips, etc., to open a table to discuss about it, where all of us, could tell their own experience. I think the European Consulates and local Administrations should know who the WYSE Work and Volunteer Abroad is, we should explain the importance of the youth mobility, that the WYSE members are not promoting illegal mobility but only providing extraordinary experiences for the young people.
The malfunctioning of the Public Administration is a real problem and we need more support. In my opinion, I think it would be interesting that the the WYSE TRAVEL CONFEDERATION would be introduced as an institution that supports and encourages the young mobility and as a recognized worldwide young travel confederation, so the European Administration will know that if a student is enrolled with a member of WYSE, that, without a doubt, would provide credibility and legitimacy to the process.