Job Discussion Forums

[hasan muhammad]

ok try this one - 49 years old with 3 years of university credits (still have the transcripts) but never graduated. tefl certificate and 7 years experience teaching esl at all levels in Jakarta Indonesia. Impossible to get a teaching position in Japan? Also, I'd be arriving with my 13 year old son.[/b]o yes, we are americans.

[bearcat]

You dont qualify for a working holiday visa. (Since you are an American)

Special in humanities visa in general requires a degree or a number of years of work experience in the profession (Glenski can clarify that if he posts). Whether your work experience qualifies will be up to immigration.

Keep in mind many companies here market to their clients/customers that their staff have a degree. Not all mind you. Thus whether or not such companies would be willing to sponsor you for the above visa is up in the air as well.

Your kid will have to come on a dependent's visa. Some companies may not consider you as well due to that.

I assume you plan to put your kid in a private International HS. Whether where you gain employment there is a close by school such as that or not will thus limit your job considerations. As well expect to pay a considerable amount to put your kid in the school. Typical jobs you remotely qualify for will be pretty tight on money after you factor that or even not possible.

Thus, I really question whether this is a good idea or not. This would be tough going.

[seklarwia]

Although the full degree is a visa requirement more than a job requirement, on the website it mentioned there maybe an exception to this rule if you could prove so many years experience in the right areas of employment. So perhaps it maybe good to check in with your Japanese embassy, since you won't be able to get a working holiday visa.

EDIT: Ahh beaten to the punch... yeah what he said

[hasan muhammad]

Thanks very much for your candid responses. Much appreciated.

[Glenski]

Three years of full-time teaching employment is all that is needed to bypass the need for a bachelor's degree to get the visa.

What would it really take to finish that degree, though? Flooded market means employers may be looking for those who are more qualified in terms of degrees, not just experience. Case by case, of course.

[johncanada24]

Adressing the original poster I can certainly relate to your situation on some lvl. Ive had to deal with immigration one to many times in my unique case so I hope my experience helps you out.

I have a 2 year College degree in IT and a TESL and was able to successfully get a working visa here in Japan and now I enjoy teaching more than IT. After I finished school I became curious about the world volunteered in language centers and taught basic conversation. From there you get the idea.

Now to the visa part

At the time application (which was last year) I only had 1 year of experience teaching abroad but they requested I give proof of previous experience which had to total 3 years.
I worked at the boys and girls club of canada for 4-5 years and they considered this sufficient experience for the visa because I would essentially be teaching small children English with the company that was sponsoring me.

Basicaly they didnt even look at my College Diploma cause it had nothing to do with the job in question. So if you can find a way to prove your experience that immigration could consider relevant than Id say youd have a greater chance for a smooth application but of course as mentioned it is case by case.

Im in the process of getting my Working Visa renewed as we speak, waiting for it now should get it around mid march.

Thats the thing, once you have that valid visa once, the renewal process is much easier ( at least in my case).

At any rate i hope this helps message me if you think I could help you.

[Glenski]

[johncanada24]

Glenski Wrote**
1) It doesn't have to be in anything particular, so that doesn't matter.

Didnt know you became an immigration officer now.

Whatever you think may not be what immigration agrees with my personal experience plus my co workers experience is proof enough. Bottom line, Immigration has the final word and what you think is irrelevant to their decisions. Therefore its probably best to leave these things to the professionals who deal with this ( the immigration officers) contact and speak with them directly and get the most up to date info which is what I did. I only provided my example story as a means to address the original poster and possibly provide some insite as to what to possibly expect.

It has everything to do with the immigration officers your dealing with and your cirumstances. There are people who have been denied visas from my company who have B.As and the correct credentials and people with out a B.A (myself) who have provided proof of experience and have gotten a visa.

Glenski Wrote**
2) How can you be so sure they didn't look at it? Work visas are had with the equivalent of a bachelor's degree, or a combination of experience and education

I handed them my degree and they looked at it and commented. Straight away they questioned if this degree had any releavence to the job I was sponsored for by company.
I had no Bachelors degree to show so I was asked for any other educational papers by the immigration officer. They would not accept my college diploma in IT from Canada coming from the word of the officer by the way. So I gave them my TESL certificate the documents to prove my experience back home.

It seems that Immigration wants to make sure that the person in question　is capable and legally able to perform the job. IT and Teaching English in Japan doesnt mix and they stressed that point many times. Frankly the officer I had was a bit of a stifler. The way I look at it, Immigration doesnt HAVE to give you a visa its your job to adhere to officers requests and prevent yourself from giving them any reason to deny you.