Job Discussion Forums

[Cairo Chica]

Hi all,
I have an offer from a school, and they are requesting all of my certifications, CV and "certificate of employment" to be stamped by the US Dept of foreign affairs.

It's unclear to me why they are being stamped. What would a stamp signify? I have a CELTA, which is a certification from the UK, so how will the US dept of foreign affairs verify that it is a credible document? Also, what is a certificate of employment?

Where do I begin to have this done? Are there regional offices, or does everything need to be sent to DC? How do I get in touch with that dept? Is there a website I'm not finding?

Thanks

[veiledsentiments]

I will assume that you are American. Yes? This is actually a procedure that supposedly proves that you went to X school and got X degree, but naturally it is just a way for the governments to separate us from our money. This is the first time I have seen it from schools in Egypt, but it has become very common in the Gulf.

We have no "dept of foreign affairs" - it is The State Department. If you go to their website you can find it under something like attestation or certification or apostille. But, they don't really tell you the process. If you are near Washington DC, you can do the process yourself. If not, there are companies that do this for you. Here is one... www.rocadc.com that a few people here have used for the Gulf.

I suspect that if you have only taught/worked in the US, you have no "certificates of employment" as they are not done here. How that is handled probably depends on your new employer. Do you perhaps have letters of recommendation from all or most or some of them?

VS

[Cairo Chica]

Yes, I'm American.

This is my first time working abroad. I don't have letters of recommendation from previous jobs, but of course have references who they may call and hear how great I am This all has to be done ASAP, so I don't think I would have time to contact everyone and get written letters within the next few days.

As for the documents they want stamped, they want original documents of my CV, certificates from school, college and university and certificates of employment .

I'm assuming this is my CV, CELTA certificate... I didn't attend college. They asked me to provide any certifications I received from other jobs (they know this is my first real non-volunteer teaching job). I have a technical license in another field... should I send this as well?

I'm hesitant to send originals of anything to Egypt. I know the mail system, even Fed Ex or DHL can be pretty sketchy. What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks

[veiledsentiments]

Never let the originals of anything leave your hands!! For any of these countries... it is copies that are "certified."

They rarely will call references. They want something in writing. A technical certificate in another field isn't required.

It appears that you have only one document to be certified and that is your CELTA. You have no "letters of employment" and CV/resumes are NOT certified. Here is the problem... you may need to have it certified by the main office in the UK. Hopefully a person at the office of the website that I gave you can tell you that. Someone that I know who just did this from the other side of the world required a couple of months to get this in hand.

BTW... nothing personal, but I would only take this job with very low expectations of this employer. Reputable schools do not hire someone with no degree. Teaching in Egypt can be a fun experience, but the job may be quite a bad one. (I presume you have read the thread that is a sticky at the top of this branch of the board... this is at a school that requires a valid US teaching license for hire)

VS