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VKU Visa Warning
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bradleycooper



Joined: 12 Apr 2013
Posts: 310

PostPosted: Fri May 23, 2014 2:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tazz wrote:
Name of school in Bogor? Not the wonderful Swara EF by any chance?


Okay I did some checking. The Immigration raids in Bogor were all done at National Plus schools not the language mills. The scrutiny was much more rigorous than usual. They checked for example that the photos in the documentation matched the actual faces of teachers. As for those seven teachers caught in business visas, they haven't actually been sent home yet. As often happens in such cases, negotiations may be possible. So that aspect of the reports was not accurate. I don't think it is wise to say the names of the actual raided schools at this point as it could conceivably make problems for the teachers.

To try and pre-empt further problems, this information was obtained from a single person. It isn't gospel. It is one account heard on the grapevine.
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jaybet3



Joined: 15 Dec 2010
Posts: 140
Location: Indonesia

PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2014 10:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks princess. I'm glad at least two of us see eye to eye on the current state of affairs in Indo while someone else is hung up on minor verbiage.

That person might call it hearsay, but I spoken with the owners of an independently run language school in my town in Jawa Tengh.

The husband said he attended a business seminar where a representative of Manpower happily declared that the number of foreign hires was going down and encouraged local business owners not to hire foreigners. Xenophobia anyone?

Also, I had approached the wife about a business plan and she said it is too difficult hiring native speakers so it wasn't worth the effort. Instead, she was looking for Indonesian English teachers.

Another example of the trend is what I was told by my visa agent in Singapore. I have been doing business with her for years as well as many of the other schools in Indonesia. I asked how many work visas (KITAS) she had been processing lately and said the number was very, very low compared to in the past. She said most teachers are not working on Social Visas.

Anyway, take it for what it's worth, but this is my opinion based on my own experiences.

The result: I've taken a job in Malaysia where their government has been sponsoring a multi-year program to educate their local teachers with help from native speakers. In contrast to Indonesia, both Malaysia and China understand the future growth of their countries will be helped by an educated public and more English speakers. Unfortunately, from what I can see, those in control of corrupt Indonesia want things to remain the same. Keep the people dumb and poor and the rich can continue to fill their pockets.
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princesss



Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Posts: 152
Location: japan/indo/aust

PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2014 11:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I find myself agreeing with your sentiments, Jaybets. There are now over 30, 000 less expats than compared to 2011 according to the Jakarta post, a whopping 40% fall. The government is celebrating it as a victory. I suppose it is if you are a xenophobic Far Right voter who dislikes "foreigners" on principle.

You are not alone in finding it tough to find a job there either. I know many teachers who've been turned down ten times because no one can be bothered dealing with the hassle of hiring foreigners. And the sad thing is that many of these schools are using local teachers instead who are barely Intermediate level. There are greener pastures for you in Malaysia Jaybets.

For newcomers I'd strongly recommend that you wait until after the Presidential election before considering working in Indonesia as Prabowo has really been beating the anti foreigner drum. Hopefully he will lose to Jokowi but it's getting closer in the polls.


Last edited by princesss on Thu Jun 12, 2014 6:51 am; edited 2 times in total
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markustm



Joined: 15 Mar 2010
Posts: 95

PostPosted: Fri May 30, 2014 5:29 am    Post subject: Whats the Current Visa situation? Reply with quote

Putting aside personal arguments, and subjective opinions about working visas in Indonesia, Has the visa situation for teachers in English schools, who are not involved in the formal education system (eg. Nat- Plus, International Schools) recently changed?
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princesss



Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Posts: 152
Location: japan/indo/aust

PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 3:17 am    Post subject: Re: Whats the Current Visa situation? Reply with quote

markustm wrote:
Putting aside personal arguments, and subjective opinions about working visas in Indonesia, Has the visa situation for teachers in English schools, who are not involved in the formal education system (eg. Nat- Plus, International Schools) recently changed?


Subjective judgments? A Vku visa is a 2 month business visa which teachers objectively cannot work upon. Teachers have been deported from Indonesia for working on these. Mark should avail himself of the objective facts before making comments on here. I am sure he wouldn't want to get people in trouble with the authorities. Or does he honestly claim teachers can work on Vku visas?

The worst of the well known schools in terms of visa scams is TBI. Not surprisingly their representatives such as self-confessed TBI "former" employee Markustm have been loudest in screaming that visa scams never happened at TBI, which is s shameless lie. Buyer beware.
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