Job Discussion Forums

[pPamela]

Hello,
I am new here and need some information as quickly as possible.
I am posting for a young friend who has applied to join, but has not received back the email to post.

She has just been offered an English teaching position at AE Surabaya for 6 million/month and wants to do some checking before she takes up the contract.
If she accepts the contract she needs to be there by 10th January, so will need to accept in the next couple of days.
There was someone else Surfingyogi asking about this same school back in July, but there were not many responses.
From what my friend has been told by the owner there is no other Australian presently working there, so did Surfingyogi take up their offer and get the sack or did they decide against taking up the offer.

My friend has been told by the owner of the school she may have to come over on a Tourist Visa and then go to Singapore for her KITAS.
That in itself sounds very suspect to me.
Plus they have told her they will reimburse her airfare after 3 months.
What do you all think of that offer?

If anyone out knows anything about this school good or bad or has worked there, please post here or alternatively please email my friend direct at
[email protected]
Thank you in advance. Pamela Fuge.

[ls650]

[pPamela]

No, the 3 month reimbursement is for her ticket to Indonesia from Australia from what I understand.

From my understanding Jess should get a KITAS before she arrives.
It is illegal to work on a tourist visa and that is what she would be doing for the first 60 days.
Pamela.

[Cardinal Synn]

The new tourist visa only lasts 30 days. I won't go into the legality part of working on one but it is very very common practice. I could rattle off the names of dozens and dozens of schools that do this. It is not worth sweating over. If your friend is happy with the prospect of working with this school, then he/she shouldn't let the tourist visa issue stand in her way. Once you have a KITAS it's difficult to leave a school before the end of the contract, so a month or two without such ties gives you time to reconsider and find another job if neccessary.
In Indonesia, money talks (to the authorities) and school owners certainly have plenty of that.

[TEAM_PAPUA]

Remember you need a return ticket, or onward ticket, in order to enter Indonesia on a tourist visa. If you have the KITAS a single ticket is fine.



T_P

[sidjameson]

many years ago I was deported from Indonesia for working on a tourist visa. I rekon that somebody told. I apid money but had to leave anyway. Just my experience, but it can happen.

[Cardinal Synn]

That is true, you do need a return or onward ticket. However, in all the times I've entered Indonesia(at the airport in Jakarta) on a tourist visa, I have never ever been asked to show them my ticket. Not worth risking though.
You can enter Indonesia at Batam via the fast ferry from Singapore without a return ticket. The flight from Batam to Jakarta is cheap and short. Mind you, the Batam run is really for those experienced with Indonesia.
Just out of interest. The Immigration guys at the ferry terminals on Batam know full well that people take the ferry over to Singapore for the sole reason of leaving and reentering Indonesia cheaply for a new tourist visa. I've discussed it with several of them. They have a very relaxed attitude towards this and in my experience are affable and likeable, not like immigration in the Airports.

[twinkel]

Do not ever work for AE ( active english ) surabaya. it is a bad school.you can read the other story about AE and find how terrible it is.

[pPamela]

Thanks for your information. My friend eventually declined the offer when she was told her passport would be kept in a bank safety deposit box while she was contracted to the school.
She is now happily teaching in Bandung and enjoying her life there.