Job Discussion Forums

[Fishy]

I have just finished a one year contract at TBI in Kelapa Gading and am now free to tell you all about it.

TBI was a brilliant place to work.

The pay was reasonable, 11.1m for 20 hour contract with overtime available (I believe the central office pays around 12.5m for 24 hour contract.) We had six weeks holiday - four of which could be taken whenever. Generally great students at all levels and a decent DOS that just let you get on with it. The owner of the school is a very nice man, great to have a chat to and always seen us right. Health insurance up to �50k.

The only thing I was uncomfortable with was the visa situation and I can give you the jist of what happened. I worked for most of my contract on a kitas but did work at times on a business visa and some of the other teachers worked on business visas for long periods. I feel that this was mainly down to naivety on the school�s part and a rubbish agent sorting it all out. My DOS had assured me that it was ok to work on a business visa but he was wrong, as we learnt when two teachers were deported from TBI Bogor. Immigration walked into the Bogor school and asked to see the teacher�s papers. The teachers caused a fuss and were stupid themselves not to smile and play the game. They probably would have been all right if they had�ve smiled and got the owner to sort it all out but they didn�t (I�ve heard they decided to argue with immigration) and they got chucked out.

IT IS ILLEGAL TO WORK IN INDONESIA ON A BUSINESS VISA.

I understand that language schools have some difficulty here. To get a kitas on time for the start of a teacher�s contract is difficult when hiring from abroad; lets face it, some freaks turn up and some others just can�t handle it and leave. If the kitas was already paid for it would cost the school loads. Aside from this I get the impression some schools just try to avoid paying all together.

I worked for my last month on a business visa (nervously.) On my way out at the end, Immigration at the airport tried to get me to admit I had been working. I just kept telling him I�d been there for a few meetings to discuss future business and they let me go. I was lucky I was a bit more clued up but others could have lots of problems.

In future when I come back to Indonesia I will not work for a school unless my kitas is processed immediately, I suggest others should do the same. If you get caught working without kitas and a work permit you could get deported, have problems with your own government and have problems ever coming back to Indonesia.

Back to my original point though; TBI is great to work for and better than any EF. If you have a degree and 4 week TEFL cert, TBI can give you a decent package. If you haven�t got a degree or bothered to take any training, EF is really the best you can hope for.