Job Discussion Forums

sidjameson · Joined: 11 Jan 2004 Posts: 629 Location: osaka

Interested to work part time, but of course the visa is a problem. If I marry a local can I work legally?

travelNteach · Joined: 14 Jul 2009 Posts: 222

no

u can stay on a social visa sponsored by your wife. normally for 60days and extendable 2 more times while in the country for a total of 6 months. have heard that 1 year social visas are supposed to be available. u are not allowed to work or even do volunteer work on this visa. basically be a couch potatoe.

work visas have to be sponsored by a company and u are only legally allowed to work for that company.

malu · Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 1344 Location: Sunny Java

After a few SosBud visa renewals your wife can sponsor you for a KITAS on the understanding that you can't do any work. To work you need an employer to sponsor a work visa and pay the dreaded foreign worker tax ($1200) up front.

laughing_magpie06 · Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 282

I've always wondered if you extend the social visa for the full six months then go home for a month or so, can you then apply for the same process again? Because if so, you should be able to stay indefinitely on a social visa provided you make the odd trip back home.

Bliss · Joined: 15 Feb 2011 Posts: 7

actually if you marry an Indonesian you don't get a KITAS you get a KITAP big difference. A KITAS gives you permission to work for one employer, who actually holds the KITAS it costs $1200 US plus the filling fees usually your employer will pay for this provided you finish a one year contract with them if you don't finish some may back charge you the $1200. A KITAP as stated above gives you permission to be a couch potato for 5 years

travelNteach · Joined: 14 Jul 2009 Posts: 222

thats not entirely correct. there are differences between kitas/kitap and working visa. also there are specific requirments to qualify to being eligible to get a KITAP, not just marry an indoneisian woman. stangely enough, the requirements are not nearly as stringent for foreign women marrying indonesian men

Bliss · Joined: 15 Feb 2011 Posts: 7

can you elaborate? I have been visiting regularly since 2003 and I am currently trying to move there permanently. This was my understanding from what I had read and I understand that it wont be just that easy to get a KITAP but I still have a lot to learn so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks Erin

travelNteach · Joined: 14 Jul 2009 Posts: 222

in my country Erin can be the name of a male or female. if u are female, u dont have anything to worry about. previously, a man had to be married to a woman and working in the same industry for 5 years to be eligible for a KITAP. another way was to one a company and make yourself the CEO while the rest of the board members were Indonesians. my info may be a little dated because it has been a while since i looked into this situation. also, i have heard rumors that they are thinking about offering permanent resident status to expat men that have been married for a certain period of time or have been working here for a certain period of time. i do know that immigration now has a line for permanent residents and if u are on a kitas u are allowed to use this line. the immigrant agent usually speaks fairly good english as well. last time thru, one immigration officer was checking all the bules in that line and making the tourist move to the foreign passport lines and kicked the indonesians out as well. well done immigration. i was thur immigration in record time.

if u really want up to date information on visas, sponsorship, setting up shell companies for self sponsored visas, or 3rd party sponsored kitas, go to okusi.net or it might be .com or .org or something. the guy is a canadian that used to be an editor for the jakarta post. he is pretty on top of things and is happy to answer questions via email. he is a little more expensive than other agents, but his info is usually spot on and no hidden or extra fees. about 5 years ago he opened a satelitte office in bali. not sure if it is still up and running. if u have problems finding his website either directly or via google, let me know and i will run past his office. it is located on jalan jaksa.......or it had been for the last 10 years but i havent been down that road for 6 months or so.

hope this helps

Bliss · Joined: 15 Feb 2011 Posts: 7

I'm male in America males usually spell it with an a but my grandfather is Irish so I got the Irish spelling and a lot of grief as a kid : )
I know of Okasi I was going to use them to start an English school for myself but with the change in laws I'm out of luck looking for a new line of work.

Nothing has changed yet as regards to men married to Indonesian women, but they are writing a bill right now, so far Imagrasi is against it.
I've been following your and others posts on the law change regarding the BA sit.. I doubt there will be a pay increase or any kind of shortage with whats happening in the mid east I suspect there will be a lot of well qualified teachers moving to Asia. Which will be better for the Indonesians.

Kinda sucks for me planed for a year on this, last year nobody was having problems that I knew of, and moved my wife and kids there last October seems like they started enforcing the law in Nov. HA! just my luck

Anyway thanks for the info I'll be following the posts hoping for a change

travelNteach · Joined: 14 Jul 2009 Posts: 222

you are right, the landscape is changing rapidly and sorry to hear that u have gotten caught on the wrong side of it. there are still some schools that might hire u with a CELTA as the law for the BA isnt being enforced unilaterally. each immigration acts independantly and according to their own rules. at internatonal schools like mine, u report to the immigration closest to where u live, not the one closest to the school. so each teacher has to jump thru a different set of hoops.

language schools would never pay u enough to support a wife and children. u would have to look at nationalplus schools. for some of these schools, a very strong christian faith is much more important than educcation, credentials, or experience. u will have to get your children registered as dual citizens if u want to send them to national schools and avoid paying kitas fees on them every year. private schools here are expensive as hell. first u have to pay an idiotic administration fee that can be thousands of dollars, then anywhere from 3-20,000 us dollars per year for tuition plus an assortment of additional activity and club fees. whatever your situation was there, u should have stayed there. educations here is crap (with the exception of a few school) and certainly wont give your chldren the leg up they need to be successful when they enter university or the work force.

Bliss · Joined: 15 Feb 2011 Posts: 7

No chance of staying where I am not for long at least. With the down fall in the economy and the low and medium grade construction projects all but vanished the Latinos and Chinese are biding against me, when I lose a job now (which happens quite often) I usually lose it by 50% of my bid.

If you know of a decent international school thats hiring that will accept an advanced CTESOL (140hr class accredited)and an easy going neighbored Immigration official I'm all ears.
I was going to open my own school with my wife but thats definitely out because it is at least 2 and more than likely 6 months to open the doors probably 2-4 more to start making profit. which means 2-6 months at best of profitable months before having to renew my KITAS which would be no guarantee again.
We are Muslim so I kinda doubt the Christian schools would hire me : )

I have looked at the pay and the cost of living there and I have stayed there quite frequently I see no problem with working for a school like Wall street to pay the bills, obviously most EF pay wouldn't cut it. I think it's all about the standard of living you expect. I grew up rural and poor, I've lived and worked in the inner city ghetto as well as the nice areas. So I know how to do without and stretch the budget in any case.

Kids
We are home schooling the kids and they are already dual citizens. So far my wife is dong a great job, our daughter speaks English and Indonesian both better than others her age and she is currently learning Arabic and she turns 4 in march. My boy at 2 is about par in his English and is learning Indonesian now. For now it works as they get older we may have to enroll them somewhere But public schools in San Francisco and the surrounding area are definitely out. AVERAGE age for loss of virginity is 12, random drive by shootings killing good kids, a lot of gang initiations target innocent people, My cousins boyfriend was talking about how much better his school had gotten "no one has been shot or stabbed on campus in three months" while it is much better than the 1-2 per month that is traditional there its still not what I'm willing to send my daughter to.[/b]

travelNteach · Joined: 14 Jul 2009 Posts: 222

Actually u would have to set up a PMA or PT which costs about 10,000 and u need to have 30 or 150,000 dollars in the bank as well as office address. also u have to go thru 7 different ministries to get approval to issue KITAS and work visas.

i understand how immigrants are uncutting constructions jobs mostly because they arent paying tax, insurance, and 5 families live in 1 house so it makes it impossible to compete with them. does dissappoint me that u take a worse case scenero (and maybe exaggerated) to portray the american education system. glad that homeschool is working for the the time being, but there will come a time where your children will need to attend a proper school. and u have to remember that when they are applying to universities or jobs that graduating for a local school might not be looked at in a favorable light.

I dont think any international school or even nationalplus school will touch u with a ctesol course. the want a related BA and years of experience. who was the CTESOL issued by?

wall street is paying 11-13 million with no housing or other benefits. even for someone adapted to a backpacker lifestyle this is still hard going for a family of 4. housing will cost a couple of months salary, and that is empty of furniture or ac. u can rent furnished, but it is much more expensive. i believe that wall street will give a housing loan, but not sure what the upper liimit is.

hope the best for u.

Bliss · Joined: 15 Feb 2011 Posts: 7

Wow that sucked I just tried to respond to your PM but I'm not allowed that either and when I went to copy it, It deleted instead and wouldn't allow me to undo.
Sweet

travelNteach · Joined: 14 Jul 2009 Posts: 222

should have worked. maybe they changed it. guess u just have to say hello on 25 or 35......... whatever the minimum post amount is...... in order to reply to a pm.

jondeg · Joined: 30 May 2007 Posts: 27