Teaching ESL in Asia; is it possible anywhere, especially Japan, without a BA?

[himalayas2]

hello,

i'm a long time member on gaijinpot, but first time here. you said that you have placed members with only diplomas and tefl certs in japan. how? i have two associates degrees, a fair amount of experience teaching esl(worked at showa women's institute in boston and at broome community college decker lab) as well as a good deal of proof reading experience. i have done this for bae platform systems, lockheed martin, rockwell collins and suny binghamton. i was told, even by nova, that there was absolutely no way to be able to work in japan without a ba. i know you can get a specialist in humanities visa without a ba, but those are few and far between and when i went to see immigration in osaka, i couldn't get them to tell me one way or the other if i qualified for one, even though i have three years experience teaching ESL.

in addition to this, i grew up in sapporo and can speak japanese. maybe not as well as a friend who has lived there for twenty years and is indistinguishable from a native speaker on the phone(loved the shock in the pizza store worker's voice whenever we ordered and until he said his name they hadn't realized he was a gaijin), but quite well enough to live an everyday life there.

at this time i am trying to find a way to go back to school to get a degree in anything for the sole purpose of being able to work in japan.

if you know a way to be able to work there and not have to go back to school, not have to get a ba, i would really appreciate your input.

thank you for your time

[Antonio]

You need to apply for a Humanities visa for 1 year only. First time you wont get a 3 year visa. The 3 year visa is only usually offered after having a 1 year visa.

Just put in your application with the diploma and TEFL certificate and see what happens.

I've had success typically with Australians that don't have a Bachelor's degree. We just say the Diploma is equivalent to the Bachelor degree according to the Australian Qualifications Framework. So far so good.

Somewhere else in this forum I came across others also getting their visa based off a diploma and TEFL certificate.

The only way to find out is to apply and see how goes. Having a good school behind you also helps very much. You must have a school to support your application. The school will need to lodge their records too along with your visa application.