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ryuro
Joined: 22 Apr 2003
Posts: 91
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 Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2003 10:32 am Post subject: more visa info |
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Hey spark808,
Everything the other posters have said in this thread is absolutletely true and I just thought I'd throw in a bit of my personal experience in dealing with the whole visa issue (I posted the follwoing in another thread on this Japan board under "changing WHV to a work visa").
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I have been doing this for a while and both I and my Japanese co-director have not only talked to Immigration in Tokyo directly, but gone and dealt DIRECTLY with the officers in our regional office.
This is the only thing you can be 100% sure of
IF YOU HAVE A FOUR YEAR UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE DEGREE YOU CAN QUALIFY FOR A REGULAR WORK VISA.
Anything other than that is a crap shoot. There are NO hard and fast rules about 1 or 2 year degrees or TESOL/TEFL plus experience. Those situations are dealt with on a strict CASE BY CASE basis. And depending on the mood of whatever immigration officer you happen to get that day, the application may be accepted for consideration or flatly refused there on the spot. Immigration has a great deal of lattitude to deal with these "case-by-case" situations and often they run their offices like little feifdoms.
Any employer who tells you contrary to this has probably never actually dealt directly with immigration. Finally, calling or visiting immigration(even with a Japanese company director) to find out how a particular case will be handled is fruitless. Here's what will happen:
You "I have a two-year degree plus two years experience, can I qualify for a work visa?"
Immigration "These situations are dealt with case by case and I cannot give you any information on a possible decision until you actually submit an application."
So there you have it. Get a four year degree and you'll have no problems, try it without a four year degree and you're taking a HUGE chance.
To date, I've had NO success without the degree and have seen three great teachers have to head home after finishing their WHV in order to finish off their degrees (which I think is the best thing for them in the long run anyway).
Cheers,
ryuro |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2003 12:45 pm Post subject: Re: more visa info |
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| ryuro wrote: |
Hey spark808,
--
This is the only thing you can be 100% sure of
IF YOU HAVE A FOUR YEAR UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE DEGREE YOU CAN QUALIFY FOR A REGULAR WORK VISA.
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That is, if you are coming from the US where they have four year degrees
Spark is from Canada where the degrees only take three years, unless you are doing a degree.
Anyways, I would take a look at the regular job websites such as http://www.ohayosensei.com and http://www.jobsinjapan.com
see how many jobs require a degree for the visa and you will see what your boyfriend is going to up against when looking for jobs here.
I would also like to add that having a degree would simply get you into an entry level teaching position at one of the run of the mill language schools i.e just over the start-line. If you want to get in to the big money stakes or better paying positions such as high schools and university teaching jobs (even JET starts at 300,000 yen month or 3.6 million yen a year, part time college jobs start at around 5 million yen a year) you will need to think about a Masters degree.
Having a BA will provide you with a minimum standard of living , a base wage and not much else. |
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As Das Fads
Joined: 06 Mar 2003
Posts: 44
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| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2003 10:56 pm Post subject: Leo's Palace |
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| Homer I have a different experience of Leo's. You can stay as long as you want, but must specify fixed periods (1, 2 , 3, 5, etc months). You can renew these fixed periods as often as you like. You are only required to pay one month as a deposit but then pay month-to-month like normal rent. However if you leave before your fixed period has expired then you must pay for the remainder of that period. |
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homersimpson
Joined: 14 Feb 2003
Posts: 569
Location: Kagoshima
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| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2003 12:12 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Homer I have a different experience of Leo's. You can stay as long as you want, but must specify fixed periods (1, 2 , 3, 5, etc months). You can renew these fixed periods as often as you like. You are only required to pay one month as a deposit but then pay month-to-month like normal rent. However if you leave before your fixed period has expired then you must pay for the remainder of that period. |
I have never lived at a Leo Palace apartment, so I will take your word for it. I was basing my comments on information provided on the Leo website:
Step2 Application (Contract)
After you decide to have an apartment renting with us, please prepay all the charges for your renting period. Here we are no need of deposit, key money, annuity and any renewing charges etc. Also no need of guarantor. |
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ruggedtoast
Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 81
Location: tokyo
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| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2003 5:15 am Post subject: |
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| Does anyone have a link for Leo Palace, I cant find it. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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voodoochild
Joined: 04 Apr 2003
Posts: 80
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| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2003 1:38 pm Post subject: |
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A 3 year degree is needed (4 year if from USA) .....
I knew someone who went to look for work in Japan and had a fake degree......but I doubt that it will get through immigrations scrutiny... |
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homersimpson
Joined: 14 Feb 2003
Posts: 569
Location: Kagoshima
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| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2003 11:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I knew someone who went to look for work in Japan and had a fake degree......but I doubt that it will get through immigrations scrutiny... |
Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your point of view, the odds of a fake degree slipping through immigration are rather high. It's highly unlikely that a quality forgery would arouse any suspicion. And the odds of someone from immigration picking up the phone and calling the university in question in the U.S., Canada, UK, etc. are even more unlikely. |
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mc
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Posts: 90
Location: Aichi, Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2003 5:37 am Post subject: Re: To add to the already good advice.... |
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| JimDunlop2 wrote: |
2. Working visa w/o a degree = extremely unlikely these days (even though Japanese laws depend on the phase of the moon and the overall mood of the immigration staff on any given day) The official answer is "no" although I've heard of the odd exception. The Japanese consular official explained it this way: "The company that sponsors your visa needs to prove to the government that they need to hire you because you possess a skill or talent that could not be filled by a Japanese citizen. In order to do that, they need a degree."
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Doesn't this seem like a strange requirement for English teachers? Last time I checked, "native English speaker" is one of those skills/talents that a Japanese citizen lacks.  |
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