Job Discussion Forums

[christmas]

Does anyone know what it takes to get your work visa for Macau.
I have a job offer at a school and I am wondering what type of paper work is needed and how long it takes.
Any advice would be nice.
Cheers

[sistercream]

The time taken to process a work visa in Macau is entirely dependent on the relationships between your school's board and other higher-ups with those higher-ups in the Macau civil service. Could be two weeks, could be 6 months+ . The nepotism, bureaucracy and corruption there are even worse than the traffic fumes on Seui Hang Mei during evening peak hour. (To balance things out, I either enjoyed or really loved just about everything else about my 2 stints there - about 5 years total)

As well as the work visa, there might also be the issue of getting your teaching credentials accredited and a valid health exam completed - although I understand procedures have been simplified a bit since I went through the whole kerfuffle 15 years ago.

Paperwork? Bring EVERYTHING. I mean EVERYTHING. Not just the full transcripts of the results of every course you did at college or uni, but also the synopses of those courses' contents, stamped and signed by the institution(s). I needed those, some colleagues didn't ... but some other single women were asked to produce a certificate of singleness from their home country. Driver's licence, tax statements for the past 7 years, original degree parchments (with certified copies), vaccination certificates, birth certificate, proof that great grandmother did not suffer from ingrowing toenails ...

but as I said above, how many of those you will be asked to produce depends entirely on how your employer is related to the Establishment.

[Spelunker]

RE: Macau work visa.

I have been through the ringer on this one, The school I was interested in working at in Macau was unable to hire me, because they said it was too late to put the work visa through the system due to the school year already starting, something about the red tape and slow cogs of officialdom in Macau....and no real way to oil those cogs

Hong Kong is also no duckwalk...it can depend on the immigration officer who is handling your case, or whether your employer checks back. In short, a nightmare. I hear for the maids it's also somewhat of a nightmare. The official in question wanted a transcript, a effing TRANSCRIPT for my TEFL certificate from my Uni. My (then) bosses response, was to just put in the application without the TEFL....madness.

So yes, as you say, PAPERWORK, PAPERWORK.....I even included photocopies of birth certificate, along with all the usual guff, and a politely written cover letter.....still no dice.

I'd like to hear from any teacher who has got a work visa in either place. Because while in some ways the process is more clear cut than in say China (mainland), the officialdom and waiting involved is still infuriating........sooooo, anyone?

[kpjf]

One thing I'm surprised about Macau is how dead it seems as a TEFL destination. I realise the population is only approx. 600,000 but still you'd think there would be more than the odd advert once in a blue moon!

[Spelunker]

I am glad you brought this up, it seems totally DEAD. Aside from that one school I went to for an interview, I really couldn't even see much in the way of the dreaded language centres!!

One can only assume the local populace prefers to cling to Cantonese, or the local patua language....I really don't get it.

[nomad soul]

There probably isn't much of a demand for English because 1) Macau is teeny tiny, 2) its main industry is tourism/gambling, and 3) the majority of visitors are from mainland China followed by Hong Kong and Taiwan. (See http://www.ggrasia.com/macau-visitor-numbers-fall-2-6-pct-in-2015/.) BTW, Macau is under China's sovereignty.