Job Discussion Forums

[Jaurez]

Hi,

I recently got a TEFL certificate and started looking for jobs in SE Asia.

I was offered a position by someone claiming to be from Sri Ara Schools (yay!), but shortly after they put me in contact from someone claiming to be from the country's immigration department who wanted a large sum of money from me in return for a visa/plane tickets/etc. (boo!).

It seemed suspicious, so I googled ESL scams and it seems to match the profile.

Just to be certain (because the job offer was very nice - too good to be true it seems) I requested the contact details of previous teachers, which were provided. I emailed both and requested a chat on skype. Both replied, but gave various excuses for why they were unable to talk on skype.

So I'm steering clear of that one.

This is my first experience with something like this (I only started looking for ESL jobs 2 weeks ago), so what would more experienced teachers make of this?

[nomad soul]

[KayuJati]

For sure the Malaysian immigration department does NOT book airline flights for you. You buy your own ticket and when you enter Malaysia you go through immigration. I doubt that this potentially fictitious school will line up a visa before you arrive.

I went to Malaysia and studied the language for a couple of months all the while checking job adverts. There was a school with an American degree program (2+2 in those days) and they hired me right away. They worked on transferring my short-term visa (90 days) into a work visa. Yeah, there were two visa runs, but it all worked out and I went 17 years with a valid visa, renewing every other year.

On the ground is better than from overseas.

[Jaurez]

Thanks for the replies.

I've never encountered something like this, so just wanted some reassurance that I'd taken the correct course of action.

[Hod]