Job hunting and the consulate are behind me... but let's take it one step at a time.

I'll start with the job. If you decide to find a job on your own, start as early as possible. When I was browsing ads online, I thought finding a job would be super easy. BUT!!! When I actually started messaging intermediaries and learning the nuances, everything turned out to be very difficult and time-consuming. Advice: always ask immediately when payment is due—before or after the job offer is confirmed. Even though many ads say payment is after, once you start talking, various deposits and prepayments start popping up.

I found my first job (and notice, if there's a 'first', it means there will be more than one) online as an ice cream seller. After a long investigation into what, where to live, how much they pay, how, and how much to work, it turned out I had to pay first. But, having read reviews online, I strictly forbade myself from even thinking about paying anyone in advance. That option was out.

I found the second job online too. I asked various people who had worked with the seller about him; he seemed like a reliable person, he works without prepayment, and the conditions were normal. He made us an offer, and as expected, I decided to call the employer, but I couldn't get through. I asked a friend in America to call him, and after many attempts, she couldn't either. Asking the guy who made the offer, it turned out the hotel wasn't open yet; it would only open in the summer. OH THE HORROR!!!! And we had already submitted the offer for verification. And what do you think??? We got our first NO.

The third job inspired confidence because there were people who had already had their job offer confirmed this year. But we got a NO status for that one too. How? Why? What for? My strength started to leave me, and time was running out. After all, when we submitted the first offer, we were told we would go to the consul almost first. It turned out this employer had hired too many students, and not all invitations would be approved!!! Another disappointment.

The fourth job. Everything seemed fine, we reached the employer, checked everything. Another NO!!!! I was already hysterical; it felt like they were mocking me. It turned out the employer was just an intermediary and supplies workers to hotels, which is prohibited by the terms of the contract with the sponsor. What the????

I'll clarify: during the entire time of job searching, I sent more than 20-30 messages every day to different people, but there were very few real offers. So don't count on a huge number of ads; there are only a few real offers there.

By the way, the more people you ask about a job, the more likely you are to separate scammers from real people making offers. I received the same information about the job from different sellers, just with different costs.

In conclusion: After a long search, I found a job, didn't check it, just submitted the offer, since it was already the end of April or the beginning of May, I don't remember, and it was confirmed. HOORAY!!!!!

Be careful when buying an offer!