Job Discussion Forums

[johntpartee]

I have been corresponding with the owner of a language school about a position at establishment. I sent him a scan of my passport, diploma, visa, etc. He sent me a message saying that he needed me to scan EVERY page of my passport with each page labelled. Anybody ever heard of anything like this?

[spiral78]

Yes. They may want to know if you've been to/spent time in some region that they consider dodgy for some reason. Depending where you are applying, they might be on the lookout for people who've spent time in Israel, or Syria, Lebanon, general ME.

I have also heard that some employers occasionally check if a candidate has overstayed a visa at any point.

I have had such a check of my passport when I went on a project to Russia, and when I worked at a government facility in Europe.

[Sashadroogie]

Interesting. I've never heard of this before either. However, if it is to check out somebody's movements, then it doesn't seem like it would be too effective. Some of us have two passports (either from the same country or two different ones) and some of us renew passports more often than the ten-years they are issued for.

It would be very hard to track my travels by just looking at the stamps on the passport pages - phew!

[Glenski]

All they really need is your first page in the passport, and frankly, they don't need that at all. That only proves your nationality and age.

What should get you in the front door (pile A of applications) is a good resume and cover letter. If they judge you based on where you've traveled, for whatever reasons you had when you traveled, do you really want to work for them?

[johntpartee]

[spiral78]

Interesting. I've never heard of this before either. However, if it is to check out somebody's movements, then it doesn't seem like it would be too effective. Some of us have two passports (either from the same country or two different ones) and some of us renew passports more often than the ten-years they are issued for.

It would be very hard to track my travels by just looking at the stamps on the passport pages - phew!

I agree it's not effective (and in most cases probably not fair).

But I have heard of it, and I think for some jobs it's probably appropriate (military, government, etc, though these positions should require a much more thorough background search than a single passport scan!).

If the job's just a run-of-the-mill language school, it seems unnecessary and kinda dodgy, I agree.

[Chancellor]

I wouldn't trust any school (or other entity) that would ask you to send them a scanned copy of every page in your passport. It's too easy to take that and use it to manufacture a fake passport for someone else.

[spiral78]

Actually, it's pretty hard with today's holograms and etc. The quality of a scanned copy isn't really very good.

[johntpartee]

I've never worried about anybody using my info to create a "bogus me". There are at least ten hotels in Hong Kong alone who have scanned my passport, visa, etc. It would be just as easy to create a brand new person (or "rejuvenate" a corpse).

[Guy Courchesne]

Not related exactly, but in Mexico, immigration asks you for a copy of every page of your passport when applying for a work permit.

[spiral78]

Yes, it's true for work visas in some European countries too.

[johntpartee]

That's because some countries require that you have "X" number of blank pages in your passport (in China it's three).

[Glenski]

[scooby doo]