...going to Japan and THEN getting a work visa?!
 

Hi there,

I live in England, have Austrian citizenship and am actually South African - so my first language is english!
I want to go to Japan to teach - does anyone have any experience of doing it like this:
- Just fly to japan (no visa required to visit) and see if I can pick up a job with a school that will sort out my visa?

Any comments or advice would be really nice:)

Thanks!!

Good way to be helpful Tenchu 8D;;

If you look around this forum (Living in Japan), there are many threads about being an English Teacher in Japan. Go through the first few posts, you'll likely find answers to your questions in there. They've helped me understand more about the subject :3

I know, I know! I was just teasing you! ^-^

I'd assume that if she/he lives in England, then their english would be pretty good. Though it does depend on where and how they were raised.

I was born and raised in a family that only spoke French. Then learning English in school, and these days, I use english more than I use french, or at least on an equal basis. Even if I have a small accent, it's not big enough so that people can't understand me. Having an accent isn't necessarely a bad thing, as long as others can understand you correctly, without having to try figuring out what the hell you're saying.

In everyday life, I'd agree with you, but with the matter at hand I don't. The Japanese, like any other country that teaches a language prefer to have a good well known accent. With english, it is generally American accent (I know this because the foreign students I help here in my university have the most annoying fake american accents. lol)

I guess that would be right :3

But each case is different, I assume it depends how thick is the person's accent.

if you are going to drop into Japan and find a job yourself then you are going to be applying at 英会話 so the owners/managers are very likely to be westerners. some schools like to have different accents available to their students because most of the major international language tests require that you can understand conversations in other accents. the number of times i've had students complain about the indian english or scottish english accent haha.

if you are black that is not a problem, at least not from my experience. as long as your english is of a good standard. there are plenty of non-american black people working in Japan. the sad thing is, many of them pretend to be america with hip-hop style etc. oh well.

Same can be said for a large portion of Japanese teenagers. What do you expect with a cultural monopoly that has infected all corners of the globe? Brand America sells.

An actual bloody reply to the question asked, yes you can get the work visa after you come. Just be prepared to search for a job for about two months and you have to buy round trip tickets flying in on a tourist visa.

there is a big difference, they pretend to the Japanese that they ARE american. clearly they have a Nigerian accent to those that know, but many Japanese are naive and trust it. Japan certainly has it's share of Japanese loving America but they don't say they are American. I wish there was a nice east asian country that is influenced by Confucian values where 'Brand America' doesn't sell. NK doesn't count, can't immigrate there even if i wanted to.

Woohey! - a real reply instead of loads of waffling about the colour of my skin!!

My accent is easily understandable - very similar to british english (and Ive lived in the UK for 3 years now...). I actually taught english in Peru for a bit and I intend to do a TEFL course before I head over.

Thanks a lot - do you know if for example it would be easier to get a job in say popular Kyoto or somewhere like Hokkaido?! Random question for the morning!

hey my post was a real post.. so i hope you weren't excluding that. tenchu usually provides crap discussion on this forum and usually based on very little fact.

i think as long as you go to a reasonable sized city you will be fine. the advantage of Kyoto is that you have Nara, Osaka & Kobe all near by where you can look for a job also. somewhere like Fukouka might be a good option, largish city and i don't imagine many people start off there. might be a bit easier to get a job there.

Thanks for taking the time to reply anrakushi - your advice is well helpful!
Thats a good idea to start somewhere where there are lots of towns/cities around...
Do you think it will be helpful for me to do the TEFL course over here in england or do the schools not really care much? Can I ask - are you japanese or do you teach over there?

Thanks again!

If you are wanting to make a career of english teaching then having a TEFL course is always a good thing. it also shows to the school you have some more formal training and in most cases makes you favourable to hire over someone with no training. having said that, as long as you have a degree then you don't need any teaching qualifications to get a teaching job in Japan. Remember that without experience you may have to start yourself off on the lower paying jobs (¥200,000) a month rather than the ¥250,000 + positions. mind you ¥200,000 is more than enough to live and enjoy yourself in kansai area, plenty of places can be rented for around 60,000, even less.

You certainly can ask, I'm Australian. I have studied and worked (english teacher) in Japan and returned to Australia as recently as August last year. I will be returning to live in Japan in the coming months, hopefully somewhere in Hyogo prefecture. Just waiting until some things are sorted out here before heading back.

if you're young enough, you might be able to get a working holiday visa, being an Australian citizen

he is an austrian citizen, you know, the european country

Hi anrakushi,

Ok - I think Ill look into doing a TEFL course if I go it alone - Ill just have to see if I can get a year ticket (flight) or something. So what Id like to do is go to a part of Japan which isnt a massive city - somewhere there are some mountains to climb and forests also somewhere to snowboard if possible. Do you do outdoors stuff? Is Hyogo prefecture a good place for that sort of thing?

Thats good advice about the money - I can live pretty simply so thats good!

The whole of Japan is mountains so in reality wherever you are there are mountains not far away.it is also not very far from most places to go to a ski field but then again it all depends on if you want the best ski fields or not.
I enjoy surfing, skateboarding and Australian Rules Football (which i was lucky enough to be able to play in Osaka)
I'm a country boy in Australia and i'm used to travelling so what I consider a small trip you might consider a big one. Hyogo has plenty of nice nature and you can travel to Osaka and Kobe which are both big cities. I'm not sure what ski fields are like as I unfortunately didn't get to go while i was there (something i need to make amends for when i return to Japan)
what i suggest you do is looking into city population sizes, make a list of some of the bigger regions where you might have more luck getting a job. then look them up on google earth and see what is around them. you can see how close to the ocean, how mountainous that particular area is etc.
The thing about smaller places is there are less people going there for jobs. so look for places in travelling distance to a large city where you can base yourself while job hunting.

here i am again, apparently i liked this forum better than i thought.

i am happy to see that i am not the only one thinking tenchu is a wee bit off.

now, on to ur questions even though anrakushi has given very good tips.
what will help u on paper is to try to emphasise ur south african background (do u have citizenship?). this will help u get through the first obstacle when contacting any language schools, it will also be a help for the school when they sponsor u for a visa. the golden rule concerning visa is that the farther u get from a big city, the easier it is to get a visa, not saying that u can't get a visa in tokyo with ur background.

TEFL and similar certificates (it's all about certificates here) are good to have if u want to try for some of the more respectable language schools. again as i think anrakushi mentioned it is in no way required.

hyogo-ken and nature, yes it is a good place. look toward the sea of japan and u will find mountains and snow in the winter. while the season is shorter and the resorts not as big as the ones in nagano or niigata, there is still plenty of snow. hachi-kita kougen is fairly well known in kansai region.

hopefully this is some help even though some is just repeation from what anrakushi has already said. oh, and yes u can come here without a visa, but u might have to leave the country to actually get the visa (a two or three day trip to south korea).

good luck!

Changing your visa status can be done within Japan. It is in South Korea that work visas can not be attained within the country.

I see your reputation precedes you on this forum...

If you haven't got anything constructive to add (see other's posts for examples) perhaps you could find another outlet for your racial hang-ups?

Thanks.

Really, I think that all you can do is just give it your all and try it out! The worse that can happen is that they'll tell you no, they aren't interested in hiring you.

@Tenchu: Why not? :3 People have dreams, wether they can justify them or not. If he wants to go, he should try! It doesn't mean it's going to work perfectly, or that it'll work at all, but at least he won't regret not trying. Right?

Don't come to Japan without a working visa. Very bad idea and you will suffer as you have to let go great opportunities just because you don't have a visa.

You may not know this, but the biggest English school in Japan, Nova, went out of business not so long ago and simply there are more people wanting teach in Japan than the rest of school can take.

So even you come to Japan, there would be very little chance that you get a teaching job right now because most English schools recruit teachers overseas. Many schools have offices in London so I suggest you to check them out and see if they have any positions for you.

If English is not your first language, then you should forget about big schools cos they won't hire you most likely. Try places like Gabba if you just want to come to Japan with a working visa. But you would soon find out that you can't make enough money to survive in Japan. Many gaijin bars hire foreigners as bartenders so it is risky but you could do that.

Anyways, secure your job first and then come to Japan. You could always come to Japan for 3 months and leave. 3 months is long enough to enjoy Japan without going through drama if you have money.

Good luck!!

while nova closing down is an issue that was some months ago now and those teachers would have had to of move on by now to other jobs, korea/china/taiwan or returned home. from the ones i know of they had very little money so were forced to go home as at that time job hunting was hard.

now nova didn't close down because of lack of demand for english schools from students. i know the english school i was working for part time was looking to expand in feb last year as they knew nova was in big financial trouble and likely closing down back then. so new schools pop up and teachers are needed.

most schools don't hire from overseas, that is complete rubbish. only the big few do so. all the smaller ones hire from within the country.

That's not what I meant. When Nova closed down, other big schools didn't take teachers from Nova.

Yes, there are small ones out there but you have to understand that for Europeans with college degrees, making only $1500 is way too low and I don't see why people want to teach English for the pay.

Nova was paying something like $3500 and it was fine for most teachers who came to Japan for a short period of time.

Anyways, I still think people should think hard before coming especially when you can make more money back home.

why is everything about money? sigh... why do people think money before other things. people could want a good way to experience a different culture. others do it as a stepping stone, get into japan, do the eikaiwa thing, get your japanese level up then move into other industries.

yes i could be earning twice as much in australia in a graduate position but is that the life i want to live? no.

anyway nova paid in the between 220000 to 280000 yen per month from looking at their salaries a month or so ago. there is no way nova was paying 350000 yen per month which is roughly US$3,500. other places tend to pay between 190000 and 260000 with some paying above that.

As for NOVA staff lets not forget there simply weren't enough positions ready for them when it all went bust. many students lost a lot of money due to nova and may not have been wanting or ready to go to another eikaiwa. the other schools needed time after the collapse to understand the new demand from students and plan new schools, get them set up and running etc. these things have a way of repairing themselves but it takes time, and i would believe things would be starting to correct themselves now.

also considering my eikaiwa i did the part time work at had people from the owner right down to the japanese admin staff, no to mention the students themselves bagging not only NOVA but also their staff it is no wonder places weren't keen on taking all their staff. of all the students i went to university with in Japan that i talked about eikaiwa with, they all told me to stay away from teaching at Nova because they thought it was a bad place from their own experience.

i didnt quite get it
i did also decide to come japan for 3 month and after that time surely more..
but is that true what i did read you did say that :
''yes you can get a working visa when you are in japan'' is that means i have to find a job inside 3 months or just i can work for 3 months ? it is very important for me .. i ll look forward for the answers..

I think people want to know that they'll be able to afford staying there and able to pay for the necessities (food, a place to stay, transportation) not just getting by from paycheck to paycheck. I know I'd like to be reassured that I'll be okay if living in another country, and that my wages will be enough for the things I'll need.I'm sure a lot do, but I'm also certain that they want financial security, so that they won't end up going broke just to get the necessities.

Somebody Answer Please :)

the 3 months is a tourist visa, you need to get a working visa in that time.

SSJup81, no company is going to pay you so little you can't get buy because otherwise how could they keep the english teachers. I was disputing the fact about not even going to japan because the money is bad blah blah. not everyone cares about having lots of money. those of you who are used to spending and being typical consumers then you might have trouble on the lower wages but i think the salaries are more than enough to live and enjoy your time in Japan.

yes my friend thanks and i am asking :
is that possible to get working visa while i am in japan for 3 months ?


you said yes i guess but just a sentence so it isnt clear still its mysterious everybody says just a sentence like its not cool to ask about it :D
SHOULD I APPLY FOR WORKING VISA BEFORE I FIND JOB?
should i go and tell to the japanese consulant that i would like to get a working visa ?
because when you search for a job online most of em wants working visa permit so ..
(by the way im turkish so i dont need visa to stay in japan for 3 months..)

kenjouri, u can't apply for a work visa without having a job. a company have to sponsor u. now, there r different types of visas and some of them includes visas where u don't have to be sponsored by a company and still be able to work, but from what i have read on our previous posts they will not be applicable to u. (i might be wrong on this one). anyway have a look at this link for all the types.

linky linky

lastly, and someone will have to correct me if i am wrong, isn't there usually a minimum salary that the company that sponsors u have to pay, i/e/ 250,000 yen?

Now if only America was like that. Here I am, going on 27 years old, and I still can't afford to move out of my parents' home. Apartments are way too costly around here and seems that the subsidized ones are mostly for those on "assistance".

ok thanks my friend
my situation is very simple actually . a moving away story
i just want to do what i want to do right not not when i am 60..
i wanna come to japan and find a work there discover japan and live there.
im also calling the japan consulant of turkey but the phone is always busy anyway i did get good stuff to learn before i speak em .
so if i find a job while i am in japan for 3 months i can apply for working visa..
thats a hope and i ve gotta brave. any help would be great about it from people who are in japan i would like to get in touch with mature people :)