quickest certs sufficient for Taiwanese visa requirements

[tictacziptie]

TL;DR: I need to get some form of US certification that (a) fulfills (even minimally) the state certification requirements for a Taiwanese visa; (b) can be issued within two months; and (c) I can complete from Hong Kong.

Hello,

Through a friend I got the principal of a pretty well-established, international school in Taiwan to look at my CV. Word came back that she'd be interested in hiring me to teach literature in their secondary division, but she says she can't now because the Taiwanese government will issue visas to foreign teachers only if they have certification in their home state/country. And I have no certification.

A few questions then:

- What exactly counts as a state-certified 'teaching license' for the purposes of securing a Taiwanese visa (or in general)? Would this include a substitute license or an initial/preliminary license?

- Can anyone offer advice on the quickest certification program that would meet the visa requirements, even minimally? I'd be grateful for ballpark estimates of how long it takes for certification to be issued after all the requirements have been met and all paperwork submitted.

- Are there any programs that meet these two conditions (sufficient for a visa and available quickly) that I can complete entirely online?

The options I'm aware of are NJ EC and MA Preliminary license, as I can take all of the required tests and EC's online course in Hong Kong. Would these work? I looked into UT APT, but the Hong Kong police force doesn't offer fingerprinting service, so I'm not sure how I would be able to facilitate the background check.

My background: I just finished my PhD in English literature, which is how I got to know the friend (a fully certified teacher) who works at the school in Taiwan. I have lots of experience teaching at the university level and informal experience tutoring international school kids in Hong Kong. I doubt any of this experience would help me get a license.

My plan is to get the quickest certification possible so that I can take this job and then spend next year completing a program like Teach Now or Teacher Ready (or any other program that leads to a more recognized and complete certification). Does this sound reasonable?

Thanks!

[tictacziptie]

Follow up for the benefit of future searches: processing time for the MA preliminary certificate is 1-2 weeks. For the New Jersey Certificate of Eligibility it's 6-8 weeks.

[PsyGuy]

A Teaching credential meets the definition if it authorizes the holder to provide instructional services appropriate to the setting of that inscribed on the certificate in the regulated primary and secondary education setting in the holders generally regarded location of domicile.

It would not include a substitute, relief, supply teaching "permit". It may include credetial bearing the terms among others designations including inital and preliminary. There are three generally regarded and accepted levels or grades of professional educator credentials these are Entry, Professional and Advanced. A professional credential is defined as a credential that authorized the holder to provide appropriate instructional services in the regulated education settings of the regulatory authority for the region. Such a certificate must meet two conditions: 1) It has no deficiencies, restrictions or limitations within the subject and age level inscribed. 2) It must be either renewable in perpetuity or permanent without requiring renewal.
A credential that authorizes the holder to provide instructional service but does not meet both of the above two conditions is an Entry grade credential. A credential that meets the above two conditions and significant additional requirements (an advance degree for example) is an Advance grade credential.

A number of programs meet these requirements:

1) UT offers a level 1 APT credential (entry grade) upon submission of an application and evidence of a a bachelors degree and successfully passing the appropriate PRAXIS exam. It takes about 6 weeks, and is valid for three years but may be renewed.

2) NJ offers a CE (Certificate of Eligibility), a lifetime (entry grade) credential that requires no renewal or PD requirements. However you would need to travel to NJ to complete the requirements and the process is pretty slow once they are completed. About 6 weeks.

3) MA will issue you a 5 year preliminary (entry grade) credential with an application, bachelors or higher degree and successful completion of the MTEl exams (which would require travel to MA). Application time is about 3 weeks.

4) MI (Missouri) has a doctoral path that requires no EPP/ITT program and issues an initial (professional grade) credential upon application and successfully passing the MEGA exam (would require travel to MI). Processing time is about 3 weeks.

The MI credential is a professional credential, there is no reason to complete the Teach Now or Teach Ready. You can renew the MI initial credential indefinitely.

There are some other options, that have certain ethical implications.

[tictacziptie]

Thanks, PsyGuy. I've benefitted from your comments to other posts and I'm grateful to hear from you.

After looking into NJ CE and MA Preliminary, I ended up going with MA because it's cheaper (two MTELS around 125 each plus a 100 application fee, for a total of around 350) than the NJ CE (Praxis for around 150, online 24-hour course for 285, and application free of 190, plus old SAT scores, for a total approaching 700). MA is also faster (1-2 weeks processing time vs 6-8 weeks for NJ).

Also, I was able to complete all of the application requirements from Hong Kong, taking the MTELs at the Pearson professional center. I believe this would have been possible for NJ CE as well (Praxis at Pearson and the 24 hour course online via the Relay School of Education).

Missouri sounds like it would have been a better option. The MEGA website links to Pearson for scheduling, so I probably could've taken that test in Hong Kong too. I'll probably end up getting this cert after the MA preliminary expires.

Do you know if the Missouri doctoral route cert can lead to QTS?

[tictacziptie]

@PsyGuy (and anyone else), I have a few more questions:

Would the Missouri doctoral route qualify me for QTS? What about the MA Preliminary?

I've heard you say that the MA Preliminary is effectively a lifetime cert if you never teach in Massachusetts. The website suggests that the the cert is valid only for five years and is non-renewable.

Thanks!

[PsyGuy]

@tictacziptie

You would have been able to take the PRAXIS as well, and the 24 hour course online.

The MA preliminary (entry grade) credential will not qualify you for QTS (nor would the NJ CE credential), the MI initial (professional grade) credential will very likely qualify you for QTS.

The MA preliminary credential is valid for 5 years of "employment", if you never teach in MA you will never use up that time, and it will never expire, effectively being a lifetime credential.
I would hesitate about breathing easy however, there is talk in MA about reassessing their certification scheme and simplifying their system.

[helloiswill]

You can teach at a public school in Taiwan with only a substitute licensee from the states.

[tictacziptie]

@PsyGuy,

Thanks for the clarification. Definitely going to to the Missouri route should the time come to upgrade from MA Preliminary.

@helloiswill

Have you actually used a substitute license to get a Taiwanese visa? I've heard conflicting (mostly second-hand) reports.

[PsyGuy]

@helloiswill

The LWs position is at an IS not a DS (public school).

@tictacziptie

As far as visas are concerned you dont need any type of credential to get a TW work visa, there are many ETs in TW teaching ESOL who dont have anything except a degree, some of them dont even have degrees, they have 1 or 2 years post secondary certificates in various fields, and they all get TW work visas. The requirement for applying for a residence visa (work visa) is a work permit (among other reasons) and TW doesnt recognize different sub categories of "Teacher" (education); professors, teachers, instructors all fit into the same category of work permit. You can get a work permit as a teacher with a bachelors, masters, doctorate, teaching credential, ESOL certificate, etc. Getting a license to teach in municipal DSs in TW has another step, but as an IS they can hire whoever they want as long as they meet the minimum requirements for a work permit, which a doctoral degree meets (and so does a bachelors degree).

Whatever the requirement/issue is that your friend/principal discussed with you, its not a visa issue. Lots of expats with far lessor qualifications and credentials than you have work permits and residence visas (work visas) and they dont have professional educator credentials.

[helloiswill]

@psyguy

Isn't it common for countries to have the same visa requirements for international schools as their own public schools? I'm genuinely curious about this. I would find it bizarre otherwise. As far as I know, in Taiwan, you should be able teach at an international school with just a state substitute license - a credential that is much easier to procure than full licensure.

[PsyGuy]

@Helloiswill

Short answer: No.

Long Answer:

First, a lot of ITs confuse immigration with whatever agency or ministry that regulates education. Most counties have only very broad categories of work visa status, such as unskilled, skilled, and experts. They may additionally have an "investor" category for those that are starting business. Even regions like Japan that do have more refined categories (status of residence) such as "international services", instructor, professor, etc.. Immigration has a lot of work to do for a whole country and accepts what an employer (IS/DS) submits. If a Uni wants to hire someone with a BA degree, as long as the requirements are met (first degree, application, valid passport, work permit, invitation letter, etc..) they issue the visa.

Second, the regulatory authority of education whether an agency or a ministry generally regulates its maintained/public DSs. Independent/Private DSs/ISs are generally self regulating and have much fewer restrictions and requirements on who they can choose to employ.

There are ESs all over Taipei, few of those ETs have professional credentials, and they have residence visas. TW doesnt have a whole lot of work permit categories and education related work permits all come from the same ministry.
Thats really the issue, its not immigration or the visa, its the work permit and the MOE and there is a lot of flexibility. If this principal really wanted the LW even if they didnt have a professional educator credential the IS could hire them as a ET or a professor and just assign them to a literature class.

[tictacziptie]

@PsyGuy

Interesting. The principal I dealt with genuinely seemed to be under the impression that a license was required. Maybe that's an internal policy she didn't want to violate and not, as I had assumed, a government requirement. I guess I misunderstood.

A lot of job postings from Taiwan for less established schools or public schools specify that visa sponsorship is available only for licensed teachers, which led me to believe that some form of certification was a government requirement.

[PsyGuy]

@tictacziptie

I have no doubt that your leadership/recruiter is sincere, there are a number of mitigating factors that could put greater restrictions on them. It could also be an internal policy or an accrediting policy (if they are an academy and issue national diplomas they likely have to comply with MOE requirements).

The position that an educator credential is required to work in the education sector and obtain a visa just isnt supported by clear and convincing degree of data, as there are untold numbers of ESOL ETs who legally live and work in TW without professional educator credentials, if the option of getting someone into the country is available to them (as an ET), than its available to anyone with a first degree, including you.

What it likely means is that the leadership either cant or wont expend the resources to get you a visa indirectly, and simply transfers the burden to you. If your successful great they saved resources, if not they lose nothing.

[tictacziptie]

@PsyGuy

Makes sense, especially the idea of transferring the burdensome aspects of securing a visa to the applicant. And I agree with your point that school administrators are smart and could get around any cert requirements if they wanted to.

Not to harp on this, but I'm still not entirely convinced that possession of certs is not officially necessary for working in a 'proper' school. I've been looking at other posts for all sorts of schools (public, private, and international), and they all have a sentence that says something to this effect:

"Applicants need to have permanent residence status, or need to hold teaching certification from the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, NZ, or RSA if an ARC [visa] is needed."

The way this is written seems to suggest that certification is necessary only for the purposes of visa sponsorship. That's the only reason I can think of for why they would require certs only for applicants who need sponsorship and not for those who don't have to deal with visas.

Other institutions (buxibans, learning centers, language institutes, etc) don't seem to have this requirement, which makes me think there may be a separate set of criteria for employment as a teacher in a 'real' school.

Either way, I have the MA certs all taken care of and I'm good to go. Thanks again for the insight.

[PsyGuy]

@tictacziptie

It has to do with an employer being able to qualify for employing a foreigner in the first place. The employer has to show the job cant be done by someone who is local. Thats why if you do have PR status you dont need credentials. One of the check boxes that gets the work permits approved is declaring that the job requires native English speakers.

There are additional criteria for "real schools" but a "real school" to the TW government is its municipal DSs (public/regulated DSs), they put ISs and ESs in the same category, neither of them are "real schools" as far as the MOE is concerned, they are just private enterprises/businesses/organizations providing educational and training services.

Thee are a number of reasons for wanting native English speaking ITs with professional educator credentials, but "to get a visa" so that one can enter TW just isnt one of them.