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pablo_boogie
Joined: 17 Jan 2006
Posts: 4
Location: takarazuka, japan
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 Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 4:07 am Post subject: visa hunting |
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ok, so im already in japan, being a good little JET, and my girlfriend (who has just finished the CELTA course), wants to come over and find a job. seeing as it's recruitment time here and she'd like to get out of australia ASAP (as well as the considerable fiscal requirement for the working holiday visa), she might be taking the hard road to working in japan - coming here on a tourist visa and applying anywhere.
now, to get to my point, the question ive been asking is whether the big fellas in eikawas (AEON, ECC, etc) sponsor work visas here in Japan. I'm always told the official line, that "they do that from your home country". well, i know that. i'm just wondering if there is another way.
the tourist visa getting upgraded here is a situation that seems to get all sorts of maybes and contradictory reports wherever i search. it is a bit hard on the brain sometimes, but i guess that's japanese bureaucracy for you. 
oh - and if anyone knows of the likelyness of getting an visa upgrade around kobe and osaka, i can shout you a few brews. anyways, sorry for the scatter shot post. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 5:46 am Post subject: Re: visa hunting |
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| pablo_boogie wrote: |
onow, to get to my point, the question ive been asking is whether the big fellas in eikawas (AEON, ECC, etc) sponsor work visas here in Japan. I'm always told the official line, that "they do that from your home country". well, i know that. i'm just wondering if there is another way.
the tourist visa getting upgraded here is a situation that seems to get all sorts of maybes and contradictory reports wherever i search. it is a bit hard on the brain sometimes, but i guess that's japanese bureaucracy for you.
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My advice is if she is going to be here anyway not to restrict her search to the big chain schools but go through the Kansai Time Out and Kansai Flea Market, contact schools and tell them when she will be in Japan. When she gets here she can hit the ground running rather than put all her eggs in a very small basket and get knocked back by one or two big schools.
Osaka is a big place and I have a list of conversation schools she can write to (only in Japanese though). The reason most big chain schools dont recruit here is their reputation is shot to hell and no one who lives in Japan would think to apply for a job with them in country. Most want to quit NOVA and work somewhere else, not the other way around. |
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pablo_boogie
Joined: 17 Jan 2006
Posts: 4
Location: takarazuka, japan
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| Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 2:51 am Post subject: |
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| thanks for that paulh. ive been scouring the kansai flea market, and that looks promising. its just a matter of playing the numbers i guess until someone wants to sponsor an upgrade. we were thinking the big fellas because the visa can be sorted, then she can bail on them. cheeky? yes. but its some sense of stability. the eikaiwa lists would be good - maybe i can get one of my teachers to help me (im still struggling with adjectives at the moment). ah, job hunting. thanks again mate - i might need to shout you a drink. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 3:08 am Post subject: |
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| pablo_boogie wrote: |
| thanks for that paulh. ive been scouring the kansai flea market, and that looks promising. its just a matter of playing the numbers i guess until someone wants to sponsor an upgrade. we were thinking the big fellas because the visa can be sorted, then she can bail on them. cheeky? yes. but its some sense of stability. the eikaiwa lists would be good - maybe i can get one of my teachers to help me (im still struggling with adjectives at the moment). ah, job hunting. thanks again mate - i might need to shout you a drink. |
Not sure what you mean by upgrade- from tourist to working visa? Its simply a change of status of period of stay. Your initial visa is cancelled when you enter the country and you get a period of stay for 90-days from immigration. That status is changed to instructor etc at immigration. One visa is not 'better' as they are simply different visas for different purposes.
Bail on them? Once you are employed with NOVA or GEOS you are required by Japanese labor law to give the notice that is stated in your contract. Some companies say you must give up to 3 months notice if you want to quit your job. Technically you are in violation of your contract if you bail out with insufficient notice but its unlikely they will sue you for the money. They may withhold some salary as a punishment or "fine" her for lack of adequate notice.
Secondly, if you want to change sponsors on your visa you must get a letter of release from your employer. they have to give it to you by law but they wont be happy giving one to someone they have taken the trouble to sponsor from a tourist visa. Thats probably why they probably dont sponsor people in Japan: too many newbies doing a bunk on them as soon as they have a work visa.
My advice when signing a contract is ALWAYS know what you are signing up for and be prepared to uphold your end of the bargain. Yes, you can quit your job but you are also required to give the notice stated in your contract. Its likely that any company she goes to will be no better than the one she leaves as she is fresh off the boat and has no experience. Quitting a job you have just started with and is willing to pay you a full time salary is an exercise in futility, in my opinion. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 3:13 am Post subject: |
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| Here is the list I have of conversation schools in Osaka (prefecture) . A bit out of date but it has many school addresses. |
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pablo_boogie
Joined: 17 Jan 2006
Posts: 4
Location: takarazuka, japan
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| Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 10:04 am Post subject: |
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| hmm, food for thought. as for "upgrade", what i meant was someone willing to sponsor a work visa while she's on a tourist visa. thanks for pointing out the dangers of job bailing. tis hard to research every rule here - my kanji is that of a baby's. will have to enlist some friends' help for the contracts then. again, thanks a bunch!!! |
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pablo_boogie
Joined: 17 Jan 2006
Posts: 4
Location: takarazuka, japan
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| Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 10:13 am Post subject: |
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| in the end, im a bit embarrased about myself here. poor paulh has be dilligently providing this same answer to all the conniving gaijin wanting to come here on a sponsorship and then ditch it. sorry to be another case throwing up the same suggestion mate. thanks for the useful advice which puts me and my girl in the right direction. also, thanks for yr patience on this forum. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 10:42 am Post subject: |
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| pablo_boogie wrote: |
| in the end, im a bit embarrased about myself here. poor paulh has be dilligently providing this same answer to all the conniving gaijin wanting to come here on a sponsorship and then ditch it. sorry to be another case throwing up the same suggestion mate. thanks for the useful advice which puts me and my girl in the right direction. also, thanks for yr patience on this forum. |
Pablo,
I have been teaching in Japan since 1987 and ever since I have been posting on these forums (which is about the mid 1990's) people have talked about bailing out and quitting jobs for something better. I dont want to get on your case or 'bail you out' but people have been doing that or talking about it as long as foreigners have taught in Japan or they have visas to get jobs here. Everyone just arrived is looking for an angle, a backdoor into a job and a loophole. Employers here are not stupid and now a majority of japanese bosses think that gaijin coming to Japan straight off the boat are clueless, naive and extremely flakey. 90% of NOVA teachers do not complete a year long contract and 50% of JET ALTs do not renew their contracts for a second year.
Here is what two Japanese managers at language schools said about foreign teachers who come here:
Manager #1
Foreign teachers often feel an eikaiwa is not school but rather a business; that we (management) aren't concerned with education. It's difficult for many foreigners to understand Japanese business practices because they aren't familiar with our culture. For example, some teachers get angry when we point out the need for friendliness and enjoyment in the classroom. They have a different idea of how students (and we) see teachers. In Japanese junior and senior high schools teachers are not just expected to teach the subject material but to serve as counselors, concerned with each student's well being. Teaching and counseling are equally important... As for the question about hiring qualified teachers, to be honest, we've had difficulty finding professional teachers. When we do interview qualified teachers they usually want to work part-time to supplement their other sources of income (from high schools and colleges)... It's hard to keep qualified teachers because they want a lot of money ...Yes, teachers sometimes want to have more responsibilities and make decisions but the problem we've had in the past is they don't stay long enough at the school. After 1 or 2 years teachers leave and the new teachers want to do things 'their' way... Students don't like it when the system and teaching staff keep changing.
Manager #2
Some foreigners are serious about teaching, but many are here just to make money. They don't want to work hard even though they are paid a lot of money compared to other Japanese employees. Many teachers aren't team oriented and feel the school is trying to control them. In the past we hired real teachers but they were very hard to handle. They wanted to change everything; the curriculum, the number of students in the class, the working hours, and so on. ..I don't think it's so important to have a teaching license. The most important thing is to have a caring attitude. Teachers should try to improve themselves...'trying', is the most important thing... It is very expensive to train teachers. We can't spend the time really necessary because we are a private school... My experience has been that teachers aren't aware of what students need; some qualified teachers are skilled (they have good techniques) but they are not good at giving each student what they need...students want English that is useful for them, specifically. Basically, we'd like the teachers to focus on teaching and not think about sales. Sometimes teachers complain that we (the managers) don't include them in the business side of the company. We don't like to tell teachers a lot about the organization because teachers move from school to school frequently, and, as it is a business, we don't want other schools to know how we operate.
Language school bosses (Japanese and foreign owners) know that if they offer a low enough salary there will always be some poor sucker on a working holiday or tourist visa down to his last $100 who will take it, even if its for 180,000 yen for a forty hour week and they can escape a job from hell at NOVA. The grass is always greener on the other side, someone is always earning more money than you or has a better job than you. The sad truth is that among eikaiwa, schools, dispatch companies and every other mom and pop job you have all the same kind of people with a BA degree and six months experience chasing after the same low paying menial jobs. Its like playing musical chairs but switching jobs every few months, and it simply means that employers here dont treat foreign employees with any respect, you are just treated as a short term warm body and they get as much work out of you for as little cost as they can, until they either not renew your contract or you quit. Another warm body will quickly take your place, probably for less salary.
Yes, your girlfriend can quit on a dime and no one can make her stay at her job. Nowadays English teaching has become like working at Walmart, with low pay, lousy working conditions, very few labor rights and lots of wannabes calling themselves language teachers working for subsistence wages in a foreign country. They have become economci migrants, working tourists, or white Chinese coolies in Japan chasing after a paycheck just to pay the rent and fund their one year OE. |
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