Job Discussion Forums

[lm_shanny]

Hi, any input greatly appreciated!

Does anyone know about Interac, have worked with them?
I filled in an application form through the careers website of my university, today i recieved a text saying i passed intial screening and contact them. I'm currently in the final year of my B.A i specified this in the application, is this possible/ legal?

[Glenski]

Interac is widely known in Japan, being the largest ALT dispatch supplier. You'll undoubtedly find some people on this forum who work or have worked for them.

If you don't yet have a BA degree, you can't work in Japan, but if you are nearly finished, it may be a simple matter of getting your graduation info in the form of a certified letter plus transcripts, and then you can get a work visa.

[seklarwia]

If you are applying for a summer position then it shouldn't be a problem. Most people have graduated by June/July, so that leaves time for them to apply for your COE if you are accepted. They only need proof of graduation. I got a letter from the administrator because the my signed transcripts couldn't be used (our uni only prints the month and year, but not the day. We have a second set of transcripts with the full date but the immigration won't accept them for some reason).

NOVA did something similar but went one step further. They actually held interview sessions specifically for final year students where they would pretty much admitted age discrimination.

[gwynnie86]

I'm going (with Interac) in a month, and I graduated last July. I was originally meant to go in August but they didn't actually have enough placements... also, they need a copy of your degree certificate and a transcript, which you won't actually have until you've graduated. So that leaves about a month for them to process your certificate of eligibility, which in reality isn't really enough time. What they would have done for me, had I gone in August, would be to send me over there on a Working Holiday Visa and change it at a later date... so you'd need to look up what such a visa will mean. I'm sure you have to fly out of the country to apply for a full working Visa, so it's all quite complicated. I have had to wait months from graduating to going out there, but it gives you time to work and save up some money, and actually prepare for going to Japan rather than rushing straight from uni. Hope that helps. Also search "Interac" on the forum, you'll find a lot of discussion!

[seklarwia]

Some people arrive towards the end of August so would have about 2/3 months from graduation, which should be enough time to get the COE before hand. I've yet to meet anyone who came out on a WHV and even the couple of newly graduated newbies who I met last summer already had proper instructor visas.

Even if you did come out on a WHV, you no longer need to leave the country to apply for a work visa. You can simply take your COE up to your local immigration to have it processed.

And although Interac asks for a copy of your certificate, I'm not sure if its absolutely vital that you have that for the COE application. My uni sent me a copy of my transcripts with my degree classification on once my finals had finished, been marked and the board had met and decided that I had met all the requirements for passing and confirmed what classification I would be awarded. They were also willing to start giving out certified letters of graduation once the marks and classifications had been confirmed in May despite graduation being in July (so that people can start applying for jobs immediately). I'd imagine that immigration would accept these as proof of you having a degree.

And our uni doesn't actually give the official certificate out at graduation. We get ours sent a couple of months later. But this didn't seem a problem for one of our new JETs who went to the same uni as me and arrived just after graduation with an instructor visa despite not having a certificate yet.