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Thread: Teaching English in Japan with no Degree on Student Visa /( Please Help)

  1. #1
    Junior Member Male
    Join Date Sep 25, 2009
    Posts 2
    United States

    Teaching English in Japan with no Degree on Student Visa /( Please Help)


    国際交流パーティー - Tokyo International Party

    This a two part question.
    I am coming to Japan to a Japanese Language School basically because after enough research its my only way to get a Visa. I do not have a BA, I am working on one online.
    I will have a TEFL certification and 6 months teaching in China when I arrive.
    The language school allows me to file for the PT work permit.
    So my initial question is it possible for GEOS AEON etc hire someone Part Time given that they do not have to go through immigration for me? (does anyone have experience with this?) Or should I try a conversation school?
    Secondly, I know you can get an ESL job in Japan with three years teaching experience. ( i dont want to hear about how the Degree is the law, it isnt. Or I dont need to read how "hard" it might be as I have read many different opinions on this matter)
    How is that verified? ( The experience) Obviously if option A works out and I work for a school while on the student Visa I will have over 3 years experience and be close to finishing my BA online.
    But if it does not, I know I am allowed to take private students with the permit as I have already asked but would this count as teaching experience? If so how would it be proven?
    I am open to other suggestions that allow me to live and work in Japan, but please keep your responses positive to those suggestions and I would appreciate any and all help.
    Thank You
    Chris Noland
  2. #2
    Just me Male
    Join Date Aug 20, 2003
    Location Hokkaido, Japan (American)
    Posts 2,966
    Japan-Hokkaido
    The language school allows me to file for the PT work permit.
    So my initial question is it possible for GEOS AEON etc hire someone Part Time given that they do not have to go through immigration for me?
    Yes. The special permission allows you to work at practically any job. If I understand correctly, though, you cannot ask for that permission unless you actually have a willing employer ready to provide the work. So, you'd have to explain that to GEOS or AEON. I don't know if they hire such types of people, and right now Japan is flooded with teachers.

    Or should I try a conversation school?
    Uh, GEOS and AEON are conversation schools. Big ones with hundreds of branches.

    Secondly, I know you can get an ESL job in Japan with three years teaching experience. ( i dont want to hear about how the Degree is the law, it isnt. Or I dont need to read how "hard" it might be as I have read many different opinions on this matter)
    How is that verified?
    You verify your previous teaching work experience any way you can, whether with tax records, your face in a school catalogue, previous contracts, pay stubs, etc.

    ( The experience) Obviously if option A works out and I work for a school while on the student Visa I will have over 3 years experience and be close to finishing my BA online.
    The 3 years must be full-time, please realize. So, for example, if you work half-time hours, you'd need to be on that student visa 6 years.

    But if it does not, I know I am allowed to take private students with the permit as I have already asked but would this count as teaching experience?
    What exactly was explained to you? Private lessons are private contracts that really cannot guarantee any sort of work hours or pay. That's why, for instance, you cannot self-sponsor with private lessons. I would also think that private lessons, unless you have your own formal school, would not count as teaching experience per se. A good lawyer might be able to finagle something out of them, but I wouldn't count on it.

    You seem to be in a bit of a hurry to get that visa. Why?

    Other options to live and work in Japan are pretty limited. Cultural activities visa lets you study a craft under a master, but you need to have done some studying on your own beforehand, I think. (martial arts, bonsai, pottery making, indigo dyeing, sword making, etc.). It also lets you do PT work with the same special permission. No other options unless you qualify for a working holiday visa (Americans don't), dependent visa, spouse visa, or SOFA status, or unless you have sufficient (usually 5-10 years) experience in another type of career for a different work visa.
  3. #3
    In imagination land Male
    Join Date Feb 2, 2007
    Location Denver
    Age 34
    Posts 765
    USA - Colorado
    I do not want to say you should not do things the legal way, but when i was a student I did some part time work and private lessons and it was all just paid in cash. Of course none of that can count as "real" experience, but that really depends what your aim is. If you just need extra cash to finance a temporary life here as a student then you could probably end up doing something like that. If you wanna try and live here for the long term though.. be patient, get your degree, get yourself some skills you can sell here, and then come over here. Not saying that you are, but if it so happens to be that you are in a hurry to get here just to try and escape from something back home I highly suggest you reconsider.
  4. #4
    Banned Female
    Join Date Apr 22, 2010
    Posts 4
    Singapore
    This a two part question.
    I am coming to Japan to a Japanese Language School basically because after enough research its my only way to get a Visa. I do not have a BA, I am working on one online.
    I will have a TEFL certification and 6 months teaching in China when I arrive.
    The language school allows me to file for the PT work permit.
    So my initial question is it possible for GEOS AEON etc hire someone Part Time given that they do not have to go through immigration for me? (does anyone have experience with this?) Or should I try a conversation school?
    Secondly, I know you can get an ESL job in Japan with three years teaching experience. ( i dont want to hear about how the Degree is the law, it isnt. Or I dont need to read how "hard" it might be as I have read many different opinions on this matter)
    How is that verified? ( The experience) Obviously if option A works out and I work for a school while on the student Visa I will have over 3 years experience and be close to finishing my BA online.
    But if it does not, I know I am allowed to take private students with the permit as I have already asked but would this count as teaching experience? If so how would it be proven?
    I am open to other suggestions that allow me to live and work in Japan, but please keep your responses positive to those suggestions and I would appreciate any and all help.
    Thank You
    Chris Noland
    you cannot hold student visa to work in Japan, even as part time work.once found will force to send back.
  5. #5
    Just me Male
    Join Date Aug 20, 2003
    Location Hokkaido, Japan (American)
    Posts 2,966
    Japan-Hokkaido
    grado,
    It is perfectly legal to have a student visa and to work PT. All the student needs is the special permission from immigration.
    http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/te...hikakugai.html

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