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MADE
Joined: 11 Mar 2005
Posts: 3
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 Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 8:15 pm Post subject: help me please! ! ! ! |
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okay, i know many of you have probably answered this question before
"I only went to college so i dont have a degree, what should i do????"
I really want to go japan but it seems like without a degree i'm hopeness.
i hope you guys can give me some advice on what to do.
thanks in advance ! !  |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 8:34 pm Post subject: Re: help me please! ! ! ! |
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| MADE wrote: |
okay, i know many of you have probably answered this question before
"I only went to college so i dont have a degree, what should i do????"
I really want to go japan but it seems like without a degree i'm hopeness.
i hope you guys can give me some advice on what to do.
thanks in advance ! ! |
Help us help you
What is your nationality and how old are you?
Non-Americans under the age of 30 can get a working holiday visa for 6 months which doesnt need a degree. WHV is available to New Zealanders,Canadians UK and Australian citizens.
Americans need a 4-year degree or 3 years relevant teaching experience or come on spouse or dependent visa if they are married to a Japanese or foreign spouse (not at the same time)
I will assume you are not married so a dependent visa or spouse visa is not an option.
There are a number of options for people without degrees but they are non-working visas, or you can only work part time e.g. student visa. It depends on whether you qualify and strict criteria here generally apply for getting working visas. |
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MADE
Joined: 11 Mar 2005
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 9:22 pm Post subject: forgot the details sorry |
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i'm 23year old chinese-canadian
i was born in hong kong and have been in toronto for more then 15 years
i recently graduated from graphic design at george brown college. i've done a bit of research and it seems the only way for me to work in japan is a working holiday visa but i wish to stay as long as possible. Also there arn't many schools i can work for since i dont have a degree.
what are my options . . .?  |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 9:51 pm Post subject: Re: forgot the details sorry |
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| MADE wrote: |
i'm 23year old chinese-canadian
i was born in hong kong and have been in toronto for more then 15 years
i recently graduated from graphic design at george brown college. i've done a bit of research and it seems the only way for me to work in japan is a working holiday visa but i wish to stay as long as possible. Also there arn't many schools i can work for since i dont have a degree.
what are my options . . .? |
A work visa here requires you have an undergraduate Bachelors degree to get a work visa. With no work visa no one will hire you, much less give you an interview. This is an immigration, not an employer requirement. The only work visa that allows you to work here without a degree is a Humanities visa which requires at least 3 years of certified teaching experience either in Japan or in another country. No tutoring and teaching private students is allowed.
Im sure Glenski will chip in at some point, but for a person with no degree there are no easy options:
Spouse visa, married to Japanese national. Dependent visa. Married to foreign national with a working visa and working full time in Japan. Student visa. Non-work visa but allows you to work in Japan to support your studies.
At this point my only advice is to come on the working holiday visa, as sad to say, with no degree here you are going to be up against people with degrees, including Masters degrees and with teaching experience chasing after the same jobs as you. There is no real long term future in Japan for a person who does not meet the minimum requirements for a work visa and any jobs you get will be extremely low paid. If you are serious about working here, you will either need the degree or develop solid teaching experience in Canada and apply again.
PS if you have one year of tertiary education you can work part time at NOVA on a working holiday visa but they dont sponsor visas for part timers. |
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MADE
Joined: 11 Mar 2005
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 11:35 pm Post subject: |
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| is it possible to renew a working holiday visa? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 11:59 pm Post subject: |
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| MADE wrote: |
| is it possible to renew a working holiday visa? |
For Canadians its a six month visa renewable ONCE which means after one year in Japan you must either leave the country or get a sponsored work visa, which means you have to have a university degree.
If you got married to a Japanese in that time you can apply for a spouse visa which allows you to do any job in Japan. That said, you still need what employers ask for which is usually a degree, even on a spouse visa. There are dozens of people come over every year with Japanese spouses and no degree but have trouble finding decent stable work as they neither speak Japanese nor have any background in language teaching. Many I hear about have good jobs back home or are in IT etc but J-wife gets homesick and wants to come back. Tecchie husband has to teach English to survive as his skills dont translate well here with no Japanese ability. Some do find work by piecing together part time work or they find an employer who is willing to hire them on a spouse visa. A few start teaching privately at home.
Technically an employer will hire any one who is a resident in Japan and has a valid visa, as degree is only needed for an Instructor visa. A lot of the jobs that people on working holiday visa do are jobs that no one else wants, they are part time or have long hours, are poorly paid or perhaps have long commutes. Some dispatch company jobs (where you are sent to teach in a kindergarten for example) may require you go to several schools in one day and spend a lot of time running around on trains. Not all of them are like this but keep in mind a person on a working holiday is not considered a professional full time teacher, but a long term tourist with a work permit.
A part timer can expect to make about CAN$14-15 an hour, which is not a lot of money when you consider you have tp pay your airfare, accomodation, living expenses out of your salary. I would not recommend you come to japan with less that $3000 and a return plane ticket.
Not sure what else I can tell you, but you may want to consider coming here for a year seeing what its like and testing the waters. Living in Japan as a long term resident (I have been here nearly 20 years) is not the same thing as being a working tourist on a low income. Many doors will be shut to you with no degree or no means of making a decent living. You will be able to support yourself on a full time income at one of the big language schools, but you would not be able to support a wife and family for example, and salaries are now going down. At NOVA the starting salary for a full time teacher is about 230,000 yen or about CAN$2900 which is about $18 an hour before taxes. This is considered an entry level income because of the high cost of living here- The cost of living in Tokyo is the same as New York or London.
You will need the degree anyway to get anything better than entry level jobs and the ones that no one else wants.
Last edited by PAULH on Wed May 11, 2005 12:11 am; edited 1 time in total |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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