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Master Shake
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1202
Location: Colorado, USA
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 Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:50 pm Post subject: Job Opportunities for Partner (non-native speaker) |
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Hi Everyone,
I've just accepted a very good job in Tokyo which starts in April. I'm currently living/teaching in Poland and I have a long-term Polish girlfriend here.
She's 29, has a Polish uni. degree, speaks English at a B1-B2 (intermediate-upper-int.) level and works in a call center in Warsaw. Would this rule out teaching EFL in Tokyo? I know the standard of Eng of a lot of Japanese state school teachers isn't particularly high, perhaps she could find work teaching kids?
Any other ideas? I think she'll enjoy Japan, but obviously hanging out in a tiny flat in a foreign country can get pretty boring & lonely if you're not working.
Thanks,
-Shake |
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mitsui
Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Posts: 1562
Location: Kawasaki
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| Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 12:47 am Post subject: |
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Nope.
I knew a teacher from Krakow but her MA was from an American college.
Just a girlfriend? How can she get a visa? |
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Pitarou
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 1116
Location: Narita, Japan
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| Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 1:05 am Post subject: |
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Not without a visa.
Marry her, and then we can talk about it. |
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mitsui
Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Posts: 1562
Location: Kawasaki
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| Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 1:37 am Post subject: |
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Just having a white face isn`t enough, Taiwan included.
I knew a Russian who had his visa revoked in Taiwan. Why he got a work visa in the first place, I don`t know.
Maybe in China, I don`t know. |
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nightsintodreams
Joined: 18 May 2010
Posts: 558
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| Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 4:33 am Post subject: |
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I've met a few non-native speakers who have done it, but it's not easy. Can Polish people apply for the one year working holiday VISA? If so, that might be her way into the country.
I wouldn't worry too much though, Japan has plenty of girls. |
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kah5217
Joined: 29 Sep 2012
Posts: 270
Location: Ibaraki
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| Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 7:23 am Post subject: |
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^ What an insensitive comment.
If she can get a working holiday visa, private companies might be an option. I don't think the public school system would like someone who isn't at or near native fluency. |
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Pitarou
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 1116
Location: Narita, Japan
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| Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 7:57 am Post subject: |
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| kah5217 wrote: |
| If she can get a working holiday visa... |
Probably not. The working holiday visa is available to citizens of:
Australia
New Zealand
Canada
The Republic of Korea
France
Germany
The United Kingdom
Ireland
Denmark
Hong Kong
Norway |
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Master Shake
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1202
Location: Colorado, USA
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| Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:20 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the info. That's unfortunate about Poles not being able to get the working holiday visa.
If a working holiday visa isn't an option, how about extending a 90-day tourist visa? Is it possible to do visa runs in Japan?
How about arriving on a tourist visa and later applying in-country for a working visa? |
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Pitarou
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 1116
Location: Narita, Japan
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| Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 10:27 am Post subject: |
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| Master Shake wrote: |
| If a working holiday visa isn't an option, how about extending a 90-day tourist visa? |
I don't know about Poland, but for citizens of some countries you can extend your visa to 180-days without doing a visa run. I guess you just have to go to the Immigration Office and request an extension.
| Quote: |
| Is it possible to do visa runs in Japan? |
No, you have to leave the country first. 
But seriously, yes, people do hop back-and-forth between Korea and Japan. It's a risky business, though. It's not unknown for people to be stopped by immigration at the airport. She might end up having to buy a ticket back to Poland at very short notice (pricey!).
There's also the matter of getting into the country in the first place without a return ticket or residency visa. Most Westerners are allowed to do that (beware: the strictest gatekeeper is the airline itself) but border police cheerfully discriminate by nationality. I wouldn't be surprised if they scrutinised a Pole more carefully than, say, a Briton. Still, it must be possible. There are plenty of East Europeans working in hostess bars...
| Quote: |
| How about arriving on a tourist visa and later applying in-country for a working visa? |
In principle, that's certainly possible, but she still needs to get a job. As you say, it might be possible for her to get a job as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in a Junior High school somewhere. Some Boards of Agency hire their ALTs directly, and they don't go out of their way to recruit so they're not especially fussy about native-level competence. But that's still a tall order because:
- the jobs are few and far between: her chances of getting one near you are slim
- the jobs aren't widely advertised (probably just in a local Japanese-language City Hall newsletter)
- her lack of visa upfront will probably hamper her
- her lack of Japanese will hamper her
If she works in a call centre, I presume she doesn't have any other highly-sought-after skills.
Do you want some other ideas? Like I said before: marry her, and the sooner the better. (If you marry her just before you leave, the Immigration Bureau might be skeptical about the status of your relationship.) On a dependent's visa I think she can do a little part-time work, and she can supplement her income in the "informal sector".
Sorry, I know that's not what you want to hear, but her options really are very limited. The whole point of the immigration system is to keep out foreigners who lack special skills, and keep Japanese jobs for the Japanese. And if you think the system in Japan stinks, try getting a work visa for a Japanese person in England. |
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Master Shake
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1202
Location: Colorado, USA
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| Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 12:56 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the reply, Pitarou.
I agree that the outlook isn't too rosy, but we're going to give it a shot and play it by ear. Hopefully, we will be able to sort something out. If she can come out and visit for up to 180 days, that's a big first step and affords her a good chance at finding work.
I have to admit I thought it would be easier to sort out a job and a visa for her in Japan. I taught in Thailand and Vietnam before and I finding teaching work was a snap for anyone white who spoke some English. It was also possible to stay in Thailand indefinitely on a tourist visa by getting visa extensions and doing visa runs to Cambodia. Working on a tourist visa was technically illegal, but many, many teachers did this and getting deported was unheard of.
I can see now that Japan is a whole other ball game. |
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Rooster.
Joined: 13 Mar 2012
Posts: 247
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| Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 2:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Look at Gaba, Nova, and Coco Juku I think. They aren't the best but it's a job and a visa. Also, some international pres books have non-native assistants. Look for those. |
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rtm
Joined: 13 Apr 2007
Posts: 1003
Location: US
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| Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Master Shake wrote: |
| I can see now that Japan is a whole other ball game. |
Yes, Japan is a very different ball game from Thailand and Vietnam.
Your girlfriend will face 2 major problems working as an EFL teacher in Japan.
1) Getting a visa. To get a visa as a non-native speaker, she needs to prove that at least 12 years of her formal education was English-medium. I've also heard that having a degree from one of the major English-speaking countries is also useful. Another route is to show that she has at least 3 years of full-time, verifiable English teaching experience. However, it doesn't sound like she has any of these. So, getting a visa for teaching English will be very, very difficult, if not impossible.
2) Finding an employer. If she ends up being eligible for a visa, she'll still have to find an employer who will go out on a limb by hiring a non-native speaker, and doing the additional paperwork. This is unlikely, as there are many native English speakers already on the ground in Japan, many of whom already have their own work visas. Also, hiring a native speaker from abroad would probably be preferable to many employers over hiring a non-native speaker for a full-time job.
In case you haven't read them yet, a couple recent threads that are relevant are:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=105905
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=105261
As others have suggested, if you want her to come with you to Japan, your best bet is to get married. She could then come as your dependent, and apply for permission to work (a limited number of hours, I think). |
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nightsintodreams
Joined: 18 May 2010
Posts: 558
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| Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:33 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| 1) Getting a visa. To get a visa as a non-native speaker, she needs to prove that at least 12 years of her formal education was English-medium. |
I could be wrong but I don't believe this to be true. What's your source? |
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Pitarou
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 1116
Location: Narita, Japan
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| Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 2:32 am Post subject: |
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| nightsintodreams wrote: |
| Quote: |
| 1) Getting a visa. To get a visa as a non-native speaker, she needs to prove that at least 12 years of her formal education was English-medium. |
I could be wrong but I don't believe this to be true. What's your source? |
That's what I thought, too.
To my knowledge, the requirement for a Specialist in Humanities visa is a full (4-years in the US) college degree and a job offer. The x years of formal education in English is a common employer requirement; not a visa requirement. |
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