Using English Teaching to Obtain a Professional Career Overseas

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Remote Jobs > Working Overseas > How to Get a Job Overseas and Obtain Residency and Citizenship Fast

If you’ve ever been serious about trying to find a job overseas, you’ve probably noticed the huge catch 22 that exists:

You can’t get a work visa without a job offer and you can’t get a job offer without a work visa.

So, most people give up on getting a job overseas - and that is the general idea.

However, there are a few ways into the country that usually always work:

• Paying to attend a university in that country

  • drawback: international tuition costs can be quite high

• Taking an “essential skills shortage” job they desperately need workers to do

  • drawback: typically require doctorate degrees or hard labor work

• Working for an international company that has an office in the other country

  • drawback: need a job in one country, wait for your position to open overseas, then get approval to relocate overseas into that position

But there is another way to get in, and that’s by Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). This option is typically available only if the country’s primary language isn’t already English, but the requirements for this option are much easier to qualify for, the work isn’t as tedious as the hard labor jobs, and it really doesn’t cost much money in comparison. Jenny, from our site, taught English in Japan for about 6 1/2 years, so we’ve written about what to expect from a TEFL job in the past.

In this article we are going to discuss how you can use a TEFL job to transition to a different, more professional, job in that country and then obtain residency, and possibly even citizenship, there. Enjoy!

Learn more about these countries with a customs and culture guide today!

Tom with one of his English language classes

Interview with an American Expat Living in South Korea

What better source of information than an actual expat on how they obtained their overseas job. An “expat” is a term that is short for “expatriate,” which is “a person who lives outside their native country.” We add in extra commentary to provide deeper amounts of information.

Thomas is a citizen of the United States that is currently working as a Global Content Management & Social Media Specialist in Seoul, South Korea.

1. Did you teach English abroad? If so, why did you choose to do that?

Thomas: I taught English for about four years in Korea, as well as for one year in Japan. I always kinda wanted to go abroad. I had traveled as an exchange student in high school and felt that getting out of the USA was something I wanted to do. My home town is known for insurance companies and banks... And I didn't really wanna work in either field.

2. Where did you choose to teach and why did you choose to teach there?

Thomas: In Japan, I was a student, so it was to pay for my classes. After graduation I decided to travel to Korea and it was the easiest and simplest way to get a visa and get my foot in the door.

3. Did you find the process of getting that position to be difficult?

Thomas: No, It was quite simple. The process is pretty straight forward and everyone along the way tends to know what to do, so it's just getting some paperwork done.

4. What requirements were necessary for your employment?

Thomas: A bachelor's degree as well as being from one of seven designated "English speaking" countries: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Ireland, South Africa, or New Zealand. Then you get your fingerprints and an FBI background check and you're good to go. If you're not from one of those countries originally, but spent high school and university in one, you can get the visa too.

Added information: These requirements are fairly typical in most countries, however many also require a TEFL certification in addition to those requirements. For example, in Europe, most other Asian countries, and in Latin America it is fairly common to need a TEFL, but a bachelor’s degree is not typically required in Latin America.

“To get a visa to teach English in Japan, you’ll need to have a Bachelor’s degree. It doesn’t matter what your major was, but you do need to have a Bachelor’s degree and send a copy of your diploma when you apply for the visa. TEFL or TOEFL certificates are not required, I didn’t get one before going to teach, but if I were to do it again, I would look at getting a certificate with a program that taught lesson planning and required some hands-on practice. 

I noticed in my own lessons that after the first year of teaching my lessons got better. So while I did my best, I think having the training that a certificate puts you through would definitely help a lot.” - Jenny, Teaching English in Japan

5. How long did you teach English and did you return to your original country afterward?

Thomas: I taught for four years. I occasionally visited home, but I never moved back to my home country. Everything is Leagues easier to do, from finding jobs, apartments, and more, when you're in the country.

6. How did you transition to a different career while in that country? Did you need to leave the country or just apply while on your original work visa?

Thomas: While I was teaching, I was very active socially, and I networked with other foreigners in the communities. Even in teaching, this is how you find the best jobs. But even moreso if you're looking to get out of teaching. You've gotta know someone who works somewhere for a recommendation. I actually was visiting home when the opportunity came up for my job, but you don't have to leave the country.

7. Do you believe it would have been more difficult to get into the career you are currently in, in that country, without first getting a work visa by teaching English?

Thomas: It wouldn't have been difficult, it would have been impossible. Firstly, the position I got wasn't listed on any sites. There would have been nowhere to find it. A friend of mine messaged me and asked me if I was interested. So by having been in-country and having met the people I had I got the opportunity.

8. Have you obtained residency or citizenship in the country through this process

Thomas: Yes, I have permanent residency, and will apply for dual citizenship within the next few years.

9. What advice would you have for someone who wants to land a professional job abroad but is having difficulty getting a work visa?

Thomas: Boots on the ground. Everything is so much harder when you're far away. You have to cold call employers, employers are worried about if you will ever even arrive in the country, if you will be able to adjust to living abroad, if you're able to hold a job in a foreign country... Being in the country is 9/10ths of the battle. Many jobs won't even look abroad to hire. Companies like Google or Samsung might hire engineers from all over the world, but smaller companies or non global conglomerates might not have the wherewithal to recruit abroad, and even if they want to they might not know how to get the visa, and so having an employee who is in the country or already has a valid visa can help.

Additional information: Interestingly, Hawaii operates the same exact way - even if you’re already a US citizen. They generally will not consider someone as a potential employee if they don’t first have an address in Hawaii and a local phone number as many candidates who don’t already live there end up leaving within a year or never even come out in the first place. This is why it is common for businesses not to consider hiring someone who is not already there with “boots on the ground.” It’s also another reason why Teaching English in that country is a great first step. It shows the employer that you’ve already been approved for a work visa and that you already have experience in the country and must be comfortable with the culture because you are attempting to stay.

10. What advice would you have for someone trying to get residency or citizenship in a foreign country?

Thomas: You've gotta see if you're going to be a fit first and foremost. Lots of people fall in love with a country from far away. They dream of living somewhere, read accounts of people, watch vlogs and read blogs... But as my grandfather always used to say, "There's only so much you can teach a virgin with pictures and words. Some things just need to be experienced." There's always sides to things you don't see online. Once you're there and you've seen first hand... Then you can begin the process in earnest. And then you realize, that basically no country wants you to get citizenship or residency. There's a lot of barriers up between you and residency for you to hurdle.

Additional information: Before we started traveling the world, we considered only moving to Italy. When we actually made it to Italy and spent 40+ days there, we decided that - while it was a very beautiful country - it wasn’t for us. We can’t imagine how we would have felt if we had moved there permanently without exploring, and living there for a short time first.

11. Prior to taking that job, did your work visa require you to complete a certain period of work, like 1-year or so, with the company you originally got the work visa with?

Thomas: When working on any employment based visa, your legal status in the country is explicitly tied to your work. If you quit or are fired, you lose your legal status to stay in the country. Teaching contracts are a year long, and you generally will need to complete the one year contract before you could switch visa sponsors. You can switch earlier but it requires employer approval, which is not required for your employer to give to you.

12. Do you know what process your current company had to do to hire you while using the work visa that you obtained by teaching English? If so, what was that process?

Thomas: Well, my current visa is a marriage green card, so it's unrelated to my work :)

But prior to getting married I had switched off the English teaching visa (E2) and onto the working professional visa (E7).

The process is quite similar to any other working visa sponsorship. If you're already inside the country from teaching, however, it's a lot easier. Some paperwork filled out, some paperwork from the company, someone takes it to the immigration office and switch the sponsorship over. That's it. Outside the country is a longer process involving visa issuance numbers and embassies.

13. Was the process difficult for you to get your employer changed on your work visa? What was that like?

Thomas: Nope it takes about 30 minutes, the hardest part is commuting to the immigration office and waiting for your appointment.

14. How often do you need to renew your work visa?

Employment sponsored visas are generally 1 year renewals.

15. Are there any other requirements to obtain permanent residency? Citizenship?

After five years on a employment visa, or if you meet certain thresholds, you can apply for personal permanent residency, which is a 2-3 year visa, depending on your work history/tax payment.

There's about 30 ways to get permanent residency... You can for example invest $500,000 in a business, but if you're a normal poor person like myself, there's a points based visa system, a time based system (the aforementioned 5 years), marriage, or even bloodright if you have a parent or grandparent who is a citizen.

Citizenship is a bit harder and few people actually bother to take it.

Thank you so much, Tom, for answering all of these questions - you have been super helpful!

NOTE: If you’ve found Thomas’s information to be helpful to you, please simply say “Thank you” in the comments section at the end of this article!

TEFL: The Gateway to Working Overseas

Spending 120-240 hours learning how to be a better teacher can end up being a transferable leadership skill as well, so getting the certification and spending a year teaching English abroad really can be more than a way into another country. However, once you are there, it completely opens up the door to being able to land a career doing whatever else it is that you love doing - just in that country. There’s no reason that you need to stay where you are - the pay from teaching English overseas is more than enough to cover your expenses while abroad, plus you’ll be able to have the time of your life. Who knows, maybe you’ll love it so much that you’ll want to keep doing it, or jumping from one country to the next each year.

Do you have any additional questions for us or Tom? If so, ask them in the comments section below and we’ll be sure to answer you!

Learn more about these countries with a customs and culture guide today!

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Jenny exploring Japan while Teaching English there

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