Tubby Beaver 209 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 TBH its not the best time to be looking for jobs as the biggest eikaiwa, NOVA, is currently in the midst of self destruct and it looks like they will fold, so there will be 5000 teachers out of work and looking for jobs. I'd take what you can get to get into the country and then look from within when u are here. BTW I thot that you had to apply for your visa from your home country so if u came on just a tourist visa and wanted to change so u can work, I thought that u had to go home?? Not sure like but I'd make sure b4 coming over. Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 TB is correct. You have to apply for a working visa from abroad. You won't be able to find a job and apply for change of status if you are here. Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Let me add. If you get sponsored (while abroad) and get the working visa, then it belongs to you and not the eikawa. Depending on your contract, you are perfectly free to change jobs, as long as you respect the conditions. That means you can start at eikawa A in city B, and then jack it in and move to eikawa C in city D. Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Sorry for a triple post, but I want to be more explicit. The trick is to both get sponsored work. It doesn't matter where or how far apart they are. Once the visas are in your passports, they are yours. You don't need to start the jobs. You are free to move to where you want to go and look for work, as long as you respect the conditions of the visa. Link to post Share on other sites
me jane 0 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 That's right soubs but the visa isn't actually issued until you arrive in the airport (you just get some other paper from the J-embassy in your home country which tells the airport guys you are entitled to a visa). Then when you have your visa and get to the city you are going to live in, you have to apply for your foreign registration card at the city hall(for which you need a job and an address). It takes two weeks to be issued so I think it would be easier to work for at least 2-3 weeks in the company you come over with. Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 My visa was issued by the Perth branch of the Japan consulate. It was in my passport before I left Australia. Should I have chosen to stand up soubriquette (haha), there was nothing she could have done to stop me. Link to post Share on other sites
me jane 0 Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Sorry Soubriquet, I got it wrong - first you get the certificate of eligability and then they give you a visa (in your home counrty) but according to the UK J-embassy website "immigration status and period of stay to be granted are decided by the Japanese immigration authorities upon arrival". That must have been what I was thinking of - the actual stamp which says how long you can stay. Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Thanks me jane. The main points stand, that you have to outside Japan to receive the visa, and once you are here the visa belongs to you, not the eikawa. You are free to move jobs and as long as you abide by the visa conditions, in no danger of having canceled. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 I know of a job opening in shirojiri right now. It comes with an apartment as well. That is about 1.5 hours to any good skiing in the Nagano Area. This job is off the Radar at the moment. There are very view teaching jobs in Ski towns. Those jobs are coveted by the people already based in the area. Most of those jobs are also JET jobs as well. Tohoku isnt a bad spot to look at either. Link to post Share on other sites
skelonas 0 Posted October 14, 2007 Author Share Posted October 14, 2007 You actually can change your visa status from tourist to work visa while still in the country- this has changed from previously when you had to go to S. Korea to apply. The ahole school that wanted a single American male was planning on bringing me over at the end of this month, and would help me change my visa status once I arrived- they confirmed that they had done this with a couple of teachers this summer. I've read this other places as well. We'll probably be coming over in December with visas for jobs starting in February, unless we find something better first. We want to arrive in Sapporo mid December to ski and job hunt through January. We're kind of concerned about how to handle the visa issue if we're able to find something in Sapporo/Nagano. If we never actually work for the company that originally sponsored our visa, would it still be valid for that year, or would we have to cancel it and reapply? Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Personally I think its a bit out of line to get someone to spend their precious time getting you a visa and then just flick them off after a few weeks. Therefore, how about telling the other school you ditched your girlfriend so please give me the job? Then you wont feel bad when you chuck them after a few weeks for somewhere else. Link to post Share on other sites
me jane 0 Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Of course it is out of line, but that's the way things work in the chain school Eikaiwa industry. Employers laugh at labour standards law and do what suits them and their companies. In that kind of atmosphere why shouldn't teachers also be looking out for themselves? I agree that it wouldn't be the thing to do at a small school who would be putting a lot of faith in the teacher fulfilling their side of the contract. Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Originally Posted By: skelonas If we never actually work for the company that originally sponsored our visa, would it still be valid for that year, or would we have to cancel it and reapply? It would still be valid as long as you abide by the conditions. The point I'm making is that even if you start out with something that is sub-optimal, you can always change positions later. The visa is yours, not the eikawa's. Some have been known to threaten employees with loss of visa to enforce loyalty, but they don't have that power. If you go to the Japan forum at Daves esl cafe, there's a fair amount of discussion about visas, and there's a union dude who posts regularly about what is legal and what is not. Link to post Share on other sites
me jane 0 Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 I worked for an eikaiwa head office for a while and some do threaten to take away your visa but as Soubs says, it's nothing to worry about. An determined eikaiwa could in theory try to take your visa away by writing to immigration and telling them that they no longer sponsor you, what a terrible person you are and how they recommend that your visa is revoked. In reality this never happens unless you do something far more serious than changing jobs. It never happened while I was there. Even if the Eikaiwa did try it, the chances of immigration following it up without police involment are slim to none. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 There are some nasty people about. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 naughty teachers. Teaching treachery. Link to post Share on other sites
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