Visa Questions/ Teaching Position

Hey guys,
I was just offered a teaching position in southwestern Japan. They want me to come over as a tourist and work until my Certificate of Eligibility is ready and then go to Korea to get my visa. Is this standard? Could it be a scam? I willing to go and take a risk but is there anything I should watch out for? Do my credit cards work in Japan in order for me to get out if it falls apart?
Thanks in advance for your help.

It is illegal but not unusual for employees to start working while still waiting for their visa. Because it is illegal, I certainly don't recommend it.

The trip to Korea might or might not be necessary, because in some situations it is possible to change your "status from residence" from tourist to work without leaving Japan.

The above two practices do not necessarily mean that the offer is a scam. The worst that can happen is that the government find you working illegally, deports you and forbids re-entry in the future.

English schools in Japan tend to have a reputation of cheating their teachers of money. I'm not a teacher but I have two English-teacher friends and they were both cheated by previous employers.

If you're working with a tourist visa your school could just fire you at any time without paying you a single yen and there's probably nothing you could legally do about it. I wouldn't do it but you said you're willing to take a risk...

Is your school Y.E.S.? There was a hysterical girl from another forum who bailed out of the country because the working conditions at that school were worse than promised. She was working on a tourist visa, too. Sounds like a shady school.

I would be very careful if I were you.
As Uji states in her last sentence

The worst that can happen is that the government find you working illegally, deports you and forbids re-entry in the future.


Is that a risk you really want to take?

It's not very likely your credit cards will work in Japan either. As others have stated, it's not worth the risk.

I am not sure where the above poster got his/her information, but they are wrong. Of course your credit cards will work in Japan for purchases and at selected ATMs. You need to make sure that your credit card issuer knows you will be in Japan so they don't flag its use as possible fraud.

hi andrew. as long as you have the funds to support yourself and have an interest in japan then there is no reason why you couldn't give it a go.

as uji points out you can't work on a tempoary stay (tourist) visa, however in reality it is quite a common practice to work while waiting for the working visa to be processed. just remember that when you arrive at the aiport you are here to sightsee not to work.

while it is normal to leave the country and come back in on the new visa - you don't have to. i changed mine here last time and wondered why i had spent so much money in the past in these korea trips or trips home.

of couse your credit card works here. i have a master card which i can use at all post offices and all 7-11 convenience stores.

another poster stated that as you would be working illegally they may not pay you. actually the law still requires them to pay you even if you are working illegally. if you go to the labour standards office you will get paid. the school probably wouldn't want their name tarnished so the threat should be enough.

a final point if you feel the school may be dodgy is to try to find your own accommodation. if the school is involved with your housing, it can be an added stress if either one of you want to part ways. i hope that helped.

Thank you guys for all your help. I think I'm going to take the plunge and see how it goes. Should be exciting and a story to tell no matter how it goes.

I got my information from my son, who is in Japan currently. Yes, in major cities there are places where Western credit cards will work, but where my son is there are no ATMs which accept his cards. As the original poster is going out for a teaching position, he/she may not be in a major city, so should not rely on being able to use cards in ATMs.

As long as there is a post office with a Yucho ATM generally you can withdrawn money from anywhere in Japan.

There are small exceptions to this that make no sense for example: Bendigo (Australia) Visa Debit cards do not work. No idea why..

Personally I've never heard from anyone of a card not working and I've never ran into trouble up north in the country.

**, please inform your son that Western credit cards can be used at ATMs in post offices and 7 Eleven convenience stores across Japan to withdraw cash. 7 Eleven stores are found in large numbers in most regions of Japan. Post offices are even more numerous and available even in small countryside villages.

**, if your son is in an area that is so rural there are no post offices, that would be quite an unusual situation. If there are post offices around him, then he can most likely use his card there.

Most areas of Japan also have a 7-11 somewhere around, except small villages, as above. Sometimes it's not that a thing is impossible. it's just a matter of doing a bit more research,

His card is a visa card issued by a UK bank. According to the Visa website, it should work in Post Offices and 7-11 stores (we did our research) and he has a list of places where it should work. But he has tried half a dozen post offices and ATMs (so far not a 7-11 yet) and it has yet to be accepted. He notified his bank he would be using it in Japan before he left home, so that's not the reason. This is in the SW of the country.

It's been so bad I have had to send bank notes out to him as he was getting low on funds and won't be paid until next week. This was the only means I could find (and believe me I've looked) of getting money out to him. Unfortunately his J bank account is with the post office and it would seem to be a bureaucratic nightmare to do a BACS transfer from a UK account to his.

That is quite an unusual situation- I have not heard before of someone not being able to use a card that has the Cirrus, Maestro or Plus symbol in a PO or 7-11 ATM (does it have one of those symbols?)

In any case, it's not the norm- most people find that their cards work.

i can't understand why the post office doesn't work but i have a couple of suggestions: remember there is a limit which is set by your home bank - try withdrawing a smaller amount of money. also try withdrawing at a different time of day.

i remember down south especially in kyushu, i didn't find too many 7-11s - they had there own convenience stores.

It's not normal indeed but is possible like I mentioned :(

I bank with the same bank and my cards do not have the cirrus, plus or maestro symbols, but I have never had a problem using them in ATMs in Europe - haven't been anywhere else to try them. As I said earlier, they are Visa cards and according to the Visa website, they *should* work, but don't.

It's not a case of him trying to withdraw too much - he can't get past the PIN stage. It seems like a case of extreme bad luck. But thanks for the advice, folks. Hopefully it'll all be a moot point when his pay cheque arrives.

What is the length of his pin number? I recall that some people were having a similar problem caused by the atm requesting a pin number that was a different length than the one set to the card, and others had problems because their country's credit cards don't utilize pin numbers. Search around the forums but I believe the pin lenth is 4 digits, and if that differs from your son's card then he may be able to call up the credit card company to change it. While on the phone with them he should find out why he can't use his card to withdraw.

I just did a little more checking around and cirrus/maestro/star/other compatibility could also be the cause of the problem.

Concerning ATMs, all visa cards are not equal and may need to be linked into one of these systems to be accepted at the atm. However, if he got to the pin stage then that may not be the cause.

Still, the best way to figure this out is to call your credit card company and ask them.

His PIN is the standard four digits. However when I said he got to the PIN stage, what I meant was that he hadn't got as far as requesting an amount of money (previous suggestion he'd asked for too much) - his card is being rejected sometime around insertion /inputting PIN. He hasn't been in touch this week, so I can't confirm further.

I will suggest he emails the bank querying his problem, but if his pay arrives this week, his money shortage will be over anyway.

Many thanks!