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refazenda
Joined: 08 Mar 2004
Posts: 70
Location: El Salvador, Central America
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 Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:13 pm Post subject: Copy of passport required to process application? |
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| I have had a couple of companies ask for a copy of my passport in order to process my application. I have generally repsonded by giving stating that I have a US passport, that I was born in the US (and where) and giving the passport issue date and place of issue. Call me paranoid, but I have not felt comfortable giving a copy of my passport immediately. Is this a normal part of the process? Should I be worried? Should I balk if a propsctive employer refuses to process my application if I don't want to provide a copy of my passport? |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:34 pm Post subject: |
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| A copy of the information page of your passport is necessary in order to process a work visa. Feel free in providing it. |
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refazenda
Joined: 08 Mar 2004
Posts: 70
Location: El Salvador, Central America
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| Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:38 pm Post subject: passport |
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Okay, I understand that, but in the initial stages, the prospective employer is just weeding through resumes and applications. They said they need the passport to process my application; they have not gotten to the visa processing stage yet.
I have always stated that I am happy to provide my passport if I am offered a position. I don't think I am being unreasonable. |
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refazenda
Joined: 08 Mar 2004
Posts: 70
Location: El Salvador, Central America
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| Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:51 pm Post subject: Native speaker |
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| More specifically, they wanted a copy of my passport to see if I was a native speaker. Seeing my passport will tell if I am a US citizen by birth, but not if I am a native speaker. Hypothetical: what if I was born in the US but raised in say - Brazil - and did not return to the US until I entered college? Suppose that furthermore my parents were of Japanese and italian ancestry respectively (don't laugh - I had a friend in grad school who fit that description). I would speak Portuguese, possibly Italian and Japanese, but not English. Yet my US passport and my US birthright would make me a native speaker? |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 12:28 am Post subject: |
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| Since you say that you are, indeed, a native English speaker and not one of those exceptions that you described, you don't appear to have anything to worry about by showing them your passport. Why balk at doing this? |
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ls650
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 1:16 am Post subject: Re: Copy of passport required to process application? |
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| refazenda wrote: |
| I have had a couple of companies ask for a copy of my passport in order to process my application. Should I balk if a propsctive employer refuses to process my application if I don't want to provide a copy of my passport? |
I guess it depends on how strongly you feel about this issue: what's more important to you, your privacy or finding work...?
To you or I it may be an invasion of privacy or we may have concerns about information security - but these are foreign employers who play by different rules.
Back home I would have a major issue with being fingerprinted to get a job - but here in Indonesia I had to. I'm a guest in another country and the rules are different.
If you don't want to send a copy of your passport, don't send it - but then don't be surprised if they simply round-file your application and move on to one of the dozens (if not hundreds) of other candidates who did send a copy.  |
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refazenda
Joined: 08 Mar 2004
Posts: 70
Location: El Salvador, Central America
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 1:21 am Post subject: Secure information |
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| It's like giving out your Social Security Number (IMHO). I don't give that to just anyone. In fact, some utilities in the US want it to set up your account; I always try to provide alternative information, if at all possible. I feel the need to be exclusive with certain types of information. |
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Wolf
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 1245
Location: Middle Earth
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:12 am Post subject: |
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It's been my experience that some countries require a copy of the passport's information page to process a work visa. That can mean giving the copy to your employer, who then makes the visa application.
However, most employers I know only apply for visas of people that they need to sponsor, ie employees.
Your nationality might be an issue when it comes to recieving a work visa from certain governments, and your employer might need to make sure that you are from a certain country before giving you a job. Or the company might have a policy of having all the paperwork they might need for each applicant, and then select the one they want. To prevent headaches/unwanted surprises later.
But, if you don't feel comfortable with it, don't do it. I only ever gave passport info to my Japanese and Chinese employers after I had been hired, and it has never been a problem. |
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Joachim
Joined: 01 Oct 2003
Posts: 311
Location: Brighton, UK
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:19 am Post subject: |
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A lot of employers will be asking for your passport at the early stages so they can check out your ethnicity and age. Older people are less desired, as are nn-caucasians, especially in Asia.
Totally out of order of course, but you kind of wish they would just be honest about it. |
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refazenda
Joined: 08 Mar 2004
Posts: 70
Location: El Salvador, Central America
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:24 am Post subject: Really looking for something else? |
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| Oh now that is awful! I am more than happy to provide whatever they want to know - marital status, age, ethnicity, etc. I'd even send a photo if they asked; in fact, I have sent photos to those who have requested one. |
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ls650
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:45 am Post subject: Re: Secure information |
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| refazenda wrote: |
| It's like giving out your Social Security Number (IMHO). I don't give that to just anyone. I feel the need to be exclusive with certain types of information. |
You can always say "Passport and other documents available upon request" in your cover letter and emails.  If an employer is seriously interested in you, they can then ask you for the documentation. |
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Wolf
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 1245
Location: Middle Earth
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 7:24 am Post subject: Re: Really looking for something else? |
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| refazenda wrote: |
| Oh now that is awful! I am more than happy to provide whatever they want to know - marital status, age, ethnicity, etc. |
It is. It's no fun getting passed by for a job because of something as ridiculous as age, ethic group, gender, etc. It's illegal in many of our countries. It also happens to technically be illegal in Japan. This is interesting, as stories abound, even among those who taught at Japanese universities, of older people (40s and 50s, not that I consider that old) who have been fired after they got "too old."
I'd hate to put down roots in a country, start a family, commit to a career, etc; only to lose my job over something like that.
It is the way many parts of the world work. And there is little I can do about it.
But it is still awful. |
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Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 10:45 am Post subject: |
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We often ask for the passport at an early stage. The reason is that it will be needed at some time to process the visa, and it is better to have it early on than run the risk of forgetting to ask for it, and then finding out later that the application has been blocked in Personnel as a result.
There is also the factor of people lying about their nationality, and/or their age or sex. This does occasionally happen. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 11:06 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I am more than happy to provide whatever they want to know - marital status, age, ethnicity, etc. I'd even send a photo if they asked; |
Pardon me, but now you are just being silly, if not totally ridiculous. You are perfectly willing to divulge all of this personal, private information, yet you won't give them your passport data page, which is needed in order to process a work visa. Just what do you think they are going to do with the information on that page? You have already admitted that you have nothing to hide in the way of ethnicity or status of your citizenship.
As ls650 wrote, it's up to you to give your passport info (or any other info for that matter), but you are plainly limiting your options of getting a job. You might get away with squirming around providing your SSN in the USA, but Japanese are not as accommodating with such shenanigans. It will definitely look as if you have something to hide, whether ethnicity, age, citizenship, or perhaps even having a passport in the first place! |
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Lanza-Armonia
Joined: 04 Jan 2004
Posts: 525
Location: London, UK. Soon to be in Hamburg, Germany
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 12:01 pm Post subject: |
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I wouldn't personally send it for the first stage. I would only send it when I've been given the job.
LA |
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