Job Discussion Forums

[xtin77]

I am a 24 year old, female Singaporean and have a keen and enthusiastic interest in immersing myself in the Japanese culture and hoping to learn the language at the same time.

My highest qualification is the GCE 'A' Level and I have more than 12 years of education with English as the medium of instruction.

I understand that to work in Japan, one needs a Bachelor's Degree in any major or 2-3 years of work experience in the related field of work, to qualify for a work visa. However, I do not have either of those requirements.

I am planning to undertake the Diploma in TEFL awarded and acredited by London Teacher Training College but am worried it will be a lost cause if I am still unable to gain sponsorship by a Japanese "eikaiwa" to get a work visa.

What are my options other than taking 3 years to earn a Bachelor's degree just for the sake of a work visa in Japan???

[Apsara]

You have answered the question yourself- Immigration requires either a bachelor's degree or 3 years relevant experience. A TEFL certificate is not a substitute- you really do have to fulfill one of the above requirements or Immigration will not consider you eligible. I'm afraid there are no other options for a work visa.

You could look at coming to Japan as a student and working part time perhaps- I'm assuming Singapore has no working holiday visa relationship with Japan?

[xtin77]

I was hoping there might be some legal way to work around the Work Visa requirements. For example, is it possible, regardless how difficult, that an eikaiwa company is willing to sponsor me? Will that then allow me to work in Japan to TEFL.

Edit: No, Singapore doesn't have any WHV agreement with Japan. Sadly, I wonder why not?

[xtin77]

Oh I forgot to add, i had emailed one such company earlier this week and I basically asked the same thing as I originally posted in this thread.

Their reply said,

"We appreciate your recent application for the position at ___________
After we review your application, we will inform you about our decision by e-mail.

We thank you for your time and patience"

I told them I have no Bachelor's degree only a Diploma in TEFL, but somehow their above reply seems to imply the possibility of consideration.

This is extremely frustrating.

[seklarwia]

I'm afraid that email sounds like an automated response just to confirm that your application landed in their inbox, nothing more. Don't raise your hopes based on that.

It doesn't matter how much the company likes you and wants you to work for them, they are still are required to submit the same documents for the CoE application as everyone else to immigration, one of which is either your original degree certificate, a set of original transcripts or a signed letter of graduation from your uni.

If one of these is not submitted to Japanese immigration, then they don't issue a CoE and you can't get the visa. The company holds no sway over whether you get issued with a CoE or not. I'm afraid immigration hold all the power here.

The only way to get around this without getting a degree of getting the experience is to go to Japan on a student or culture visa. But even this will require the issue of a CoE by immigation and has its own requirements.

Or... you could always marry a current work visa holder or Japanese citizen to get a visa that way

[xtin77]

wow, I guess I have really come to a dead end then. Sigh....

I've been scouring various forums and sites regarding possible work arounds CoE and work visa without a degree. I have seen somewhat similar cases whereby they were able to get by with only company sponsorship.

Despite how hopeless, somehow, some part of me is still holding on to any last shred of hope of getting that work visa in my situation.

Thanks for your information and outlook though!

[drum]

If I were you, I would go ahead and send an email with attached resume expressing interest to several schools anyway.

It won't take very much time, and worst case scenario they will tell you what you have assumed here. Who knows though, if it is LEGAL (is it?), maybe someone over there might still consider you! If nothing else, it's at last worth asking to find out for sure.

[seklarwia]

Please don't be tempted to take any offers you may receive to work without a form of work visa or permission to work from immigration. The penalties are just not worth it.

I've no doubt that there are cases when people get around the bachelors degree thing, but they probably have some highly specific special circumstances.

For example, my dad's company may be getting a new Japanese partner in the not too distant future if all goes to plan. One thing they want to do in the future is to do temporary transfers of workers between the two company to get more experience for their workers.

Of course not all my dad's employees have uni degrees but as it is considered a joint venture with a company in Japan, the type of visa they will be applying for will not require a degree only that the UK workers have been working in my dad's company for more than a year.

I wish you all the best in the future and hope you find a way to legally get to Japan.

[Glenski]

[wintersweet]

xtin77, my limited understanding of the working holiday arrangement is that it's a mutual program. Japan doesn't extend it to the USA because the American government doesn't extend it to Japan (or anyone else). Perhaps Singapore is the same way.

I agree with Glenski--a bachelor's degree is something that you will have forever, even if your interest in Japan fades or changes. For that matter, if your interest grows stronger and you decide you want to make TEFL a genuine career, you'll probably want to get a master's degree in TESOL/applied linguistics/etc. In that case you'll definitely need to have a bachelor's degree. Therefore, you shouldn't dismiss the idea so lightly.

You can get a bachelor's in Japan in English if you have enough money, but it's probably far cheaper to do it in your home country (or find an accelerated program elsewhere). But just for reference:
http://www.tuj.ac.jp/degree_programs/undergraduate.html
I'm not sure about Sophia ... http://www.sophia.ac.jp/E/E_admissions.nsf/Content/adm

Anyway, good luck.

[xtin77]

[Glenski]

[xtin77]