Working for a NGO & 25K$ visa rule

Hi folks!

A quick question..
Has anyone managed to get a job or at least a job offer with NGO after volunteering there for like 6 months or a year?

Anyone knows is there a hack for 25K$ employment visa requirement?(Now, apparently,changed to 16.25 lakh per annum)

I highly doubt that one could score 1.3 lakh per month for most of NGO jobs. However, i've red that they are allowed to have you on "honorary" basis. Any experience with that?

I thought that NGO workers are exempted of minimum salary rule, but after double checking i found out it ain't correct.. :-/

Didnt Check thoroughly did ya

From the source - MHA - E visa

Actually this 10k INR thing caught my eye on one of the websites i've browsed. But for long term life in India 10k is nothing. I would go there for, say, a year of volunteering hoping that it might turn into employment which would allow me to settle there.
Dunno would they be willing to give some more under the table...

Any expats here who are actually working in India for a NGO and getting a salary, above those 10K? How to pull that out...?

Just like in many other countries, some charities/NGOs employ professional managers. Imagine if your Here&there-based charity is going to set up a fairly large specialist hospital in India... that's not something that can be built or run by volunteers with kind hearts. It's something that requires experts in the fields of hospital building and administration. The doctors, nurses, and other professional staff do not work for nothing either: they are going to get the going rate.

Here is the problem for you: you might have suitable skills, but so do... Indians.

Yup, millions of them.
I guess that no amount of forum posts and other people's experience on the topic can precisely clarify whole thing.After all we're talking about India where everything might be possible
Only thing to do,eventually, will be to pack up, get out of the comfort zone and hope for the best..

.. and be prepared for the worst.

Well, better pack your bags and get out here! And do lots of homework too, such as finding out what it takes to earn what you need to earn, and if you have or can get that.

A wise man once said that the difference between dreams and reality is hard work.

I hate hard work.

But it is not exactly untrue. I won't say that I worked hard to get to be here. Many of the pieces of the puzzle were deftly delivered by fate. Some of them (like loosing that safe-for-life job) didn't even seem like good deliveries at the time.

Hey: I would have retired last month. I wonder what I'm doing in that other universe. I wonder how things worked out there over the past twelve years.

I know of one who worked for an NGO in India for four years (An international one, based in Altanta) and was paid very well. He is now in South America.

As Nick said, these are professionals. They have degree in their field of specialization (Doctors, Architects, Agriculturalists) plus organisational degree plus language skills.

"Worst" ain't that bad- spending a year in India and volunteering would be definitely enriching and amazing experience. It's how you take it.

That's a good point. Call it a faith or whatever you like but what needs to happen will happen one way or another. So in that context giving it a shot is definitely worth it. No regrets.
Better than thinking,down the line, what would happen if i did it.

Errr,how to put this and not sound like i'm out of my mind
Actually i have degree in Corporate communications,it's basically about PR,advertising, stuff like that. But lately i'm like; i rather do something where i can help others(like teaching English even if that means earning less)than think of ways how to persuade people to buy crap they don't actually need just so that fat corporate pockets can get even fatter :-/
However, it might be that some of those NGOs could have a need for communication specialist and in such setup i wouldn't feel bad about what i do for a living. But then, what Nick said, anyone who wants to get a job over there has to face enormous competition and besides that i'm not sure they would be willing to pay me 1.6 lakh per month! That is decent salary even here in Germany.

A man that wants to give up marketing! Sounds good.

Of course, you can take the man out of marketing but can you take marketing out of the man?

Maybe you can... But should you at this time?

Find a way to use your skills, knowledge, experience, to do what you want. Even good things need PR and marketing. Even good people need to be taught better communication skills.

You may need an entrance point here. The entrance point might even have to be the sort of corporate environment you want to get away from... But if it gets you in the gate, go for it.

Better hit those jobs in India sites

After that, another step in the minefield may be discovering that charities and NGOs in India are... a minefield. Many of them exist just to make individuals fat and rich!

But somehow, you need an "in". You probably know a lot more about persuading corporate types that they need you than I ever did. Go for it!

That is what i thought too.Even if it means working over there in corporate world for couple of years. It could be an entrance point as you've put it. Thou i'm not at senior level within this story hence not sure that it will be possible to get a job which qualifies for the visa.
Anyway, will give it a shot.

I hear you! I'm not saying i know it all from those few months i've spent there, but i'm not seeing India thru pink glasses either.I'm well aware that country has great many issues to tackle and really horrible things can happen there.
Greed is universal thing, not just something of which we in the West suffer. Consumerism and materialism gripped Bharat firmly.....but there is still this "Aum shanti,shanti" component of India which endured test of time as it is part of Indian DNA. That is one thing i'm into, one of the things i like about India.

Thanks for the input Nick!

You're welcome! You can either do it or you can't... Or some people find a way somehow.

At least you are thinking straight. It's the people who go on asking the questions and then complaining because they go on getting the same answers that they don't like. Not unusual: had a boss in London that did that. Used to tell him, "same answer as yesterday"

What I did, by the way, women aside, was, first to spend a month in the same room in the same city, which is different to travelling, then I got my own place, set up home by myself and settled in, calling it a six month experiment. And... Well, I'm still here.

But the job-not-for-life had given me enough to get by on for two years. Then I had a house to sell.

True that, first thing first, one needs to get a foothold. Than if it is meant to be, things will happen on their own.

I had similar experience to yours. Went to Malaysia for six months to train a martial art but those six months turn into four years!
Went thru relationship with local girl and got my BA degree in Kuala Lumpur and now i'm not even into that martial art, the thing which actually took me there.
In that sense- things are not as they appear to be&strange are the ways of Lord!

Haha... Atheist here!

Oddly, perhaps, I hardly travelled at all before coming to India.

Used to have a signature: I'm not a traveller, I just found a home 4,000 miles away from the old one. still true.

If I were you, I'd crack open the a swiss agency's guide to NGOs (not cheap, but then quality information is not cheap)

Find out how many of the agencies of the country of your origin have global NGOs with ties to India. Knock at their doors.

Work with UN agencies (This is not easy, but being hombre blanco does open doors)

Is English your first and native language ?