Getting a working visa to teach in Japan

elyar · Post by **elyar** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 2:38 pm

Hi
I currently live in London and work as an accountant. I graduated from Cambridge University last year and have been looking at teaching in Japan. I have lots and lots of teaching experience and have even been offered a teaching position in a private school in Tokyo. But my problem is that I cannot get the certificate of eligibility because I do not have a british passport. I am of Persian origin and I have an Iranian passport, but English is my mother tongue since my dad is a diplomat and I have always travelled around the world going only to English speaking schools. Can someone please tell me if there is any way I could get a working visa having such a passport. I have looked at a few other east asian countries, but Japan is the one I have my heart set on. Ideas would be very much appreciated.

fluffyhamster · Post by **fluffyhamster** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 5:22 am

Would it be possible for the employer to claim that you would be (needed for teaching) Arabic or something, in which case your official nationality would then be working for rather than against you? I mean, the visa is as a specialist in 'Humanities/International services' rather than specifying a particular language (although obviously most people will be assumed to be teaching English, and luckily have a passport/official nationality to match i.e. that coincides). (That being said, this might not be a wise strategy in the long run, or even a workable one in the short term...just trying to think outside the box/off the wall is all. I guess the visa people could well try to check if the language school actually offers private courses in Arabic...).

By the way, as your level of English was sufficient for the employer, why would the immigration authorities question that decision? Surely they must be aware that there are bi- or multilingual people floating around in the world (at least outside of Japan), even if they don't all have suitcases full of different passports like Jason Bourne!

elyar · Post by **elyar** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 11:24 am

Hi, thank you for your response. I will suggest your idea to the school but I am not very optimistic. I have already started looking at other east asian counties which are not quite as strict as Japan. This is a real shame though, since my ex-girlfriend lives in japan, and we were both looking forward to getting back together. Thank you for your advise.....