> Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?
Sounds like an awesome idea - sign me up today.
However, I used to work for a large chain restaurant with many branches
overseas - particularly in the UK. The company even had a "passport" program
that allowed fully trained people in all positions of the restaurant to work
in their other stores. When I was in my 20s, many of us worked our way across
the country, going from store to store and crashing on the floor at someone's
house. (Cooks, servers, bartenders and even hosts) It was a hell of a lot of
fun and an easy way to fund vacations. (Recently, some old friends of mine
worked Mardi Gras in New Orleans - 2 shifts paid most of their expenses.)
Anyway, the question came up - can I work overseas? The answer from corporate
was "yes and no." If you open stores and train people, you can go. Can you
just go there and work - absolutely not. They began to ramble on about work
visas and such. I suggested that I had years of experience and could help out
a recently opened store. Again, absolutely not.
On the other end of things, I have buddies that worked in Ireland and were
paid "cash" for their services - off the books. I sure that could be done, but
it isn't really an "exchange program." If anyone wants to set a program
up......
let me know...