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Ski season help

8 replies

OhCobblers · 06/08/2025 19:54

Eldest is very keen to do a ski season this year but has had no luck with applications. Non EU passport holder doesn’t help!

Does anyone have some advice on just heading out to a resort (probably one that he already knows) for 6 weeks to look for casual FOH/waitering work, getting super cheap accommodation and skiing for 6 weeks?!

thanks!!

OP posts:
FanSpamTastic · 06/08/2025 20:00

Can he fund a ski instructor course? If so he could go out train and then earn the money back by working as an instructor. Then can go back and work in future too.

Muchtoomuchtodo · 06/08/2025 20:11

Canada is the place to go

OhCobblers · 06/08/2025 20:30

Sadly he can’t get to Canada - hasn’t got enough £!
Possibly worth taking a look at ski instructor courses but first one I found was £10k 😬😬

OP posts:
Muchtoomuchtodo · 06/08/2025 20:49

Even if he has his ski instructor qualification, he still needs to be eligible to work in the EU. That will be tough, and also the same for bar work etc.

If he’ll be working once he’s out there surely he only needs to have the cost of his flight and first few days accommodation saved up to go to Canada? His wages will pay the rest. I know a few people who have done this - as lift attendants and ski instructors.

RaspberryCloud · 06/08/2025 20:54

May I ask where he has applied so far? It’s reasonably early in the recruitment season for winter 25-26 so he shouldn’t lose hope yet.

What experience / skills does he have? Can he drive?

Havanananana · 06/08/2025 22:04

Without a EU passport he's got next to no chance of finding anything in Europe. While there are companies that are able to get visas for their staff, these tend to be experienced managers, instructors, chefs etc. rather than staff with no experience and no relevent qualifications.

If you look at the recruitment sites for the major British tour operators (Crystal, TUI, Inghams, Nielsen etc) they all specify EU passport holders only - and since Covid/Brexit most of the TO's "British" resort staff either have Irish passports or have a EU passport through a foreign parent. I've met several "British" reps who were born and raised in the UK, but who have a Dutch, French or Scandinavian parent and so have dual UK-EU citizenship. To the pp^ who thinks that this is early for TOs to be recruiting, the opposite is the case - recruitment starts in July and much of their recruitment will already have been completed.

As for finding casual work and somewhere cheap to live - these are both very difficult to find. Few employers are willing to take on someone "off the books" as the penalties are huge (just as they are in the UK) and accommodation in resorts is scarce and expensive. Remember too that if he gets caught, the penalty might include being deported and banned from the EU/Schengen countries for a number of years.

Ski instructing is not an option as he'll still need a work visa (which for a first-season instructor is almost certainly not going to happen).

There are however still some options available. If he saves enough money between now and January he could just be a ski-bum for 6 weeks, skiing every day without needing to work.

Or he could go to a non-EU country - the most obvious being Andorra.

Or as others have suggested, look at Canada. He'll need a Working Holiday Visa These visas are limited in number and tend to be over-subscribed, and he may well already be too late for the 2025-26 season > International Experience Canada: Who can apply - Canada.ca

OhCobblers · 06/08/2025 22:50

@Havanananana being a ski bum for 6 weeks is what I’ve suggested to him. Shame about the “casual work” but I see your point. We’ve said he needs to have enough to support himself - just need to look at where he’d stay for that long!
@RaspberryCloud he’s applied to a whole list. Most say if you’ve not heard after X weeks from your application date that you’ve not been successful and we’re past that now. He didn’t get an interview with anyone 😟

OP posts:
massistar · 12/08/2025 10:45

DS did 2 ski seasons in Europe but he’s bilingual with an EU passport. Out of his mates a couple went to Canada and one went to Japan on a ski instructor course. He did know someone who got a job in meribel working in a laundry who doesn’t have an EU passport but not sure how he found it!

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