Legalize Your Papers Before Traveling Abroad As An ESL Teacher
Once you have started planning for moving out of your country to teach English as a TEFL teacher abroad the first thing you focus on is legalizing your teaching documents. Online TEFL courses or TEFL/TESOL courses will fetch you great English teaching abroad but at the same time, you must be aware of the norms of that country along with the documents you need to produce there.
The days, when only passport and birth certificates were enough to legalize your job abroad, have passed away. These days, ESL teachers have to produce multiple documents to get authorization to teach English abroad. Every country has a different set of rules and thus documents required vary from one school to another. Let's talk about the basic documents that you need to set the journey.
Your university degree, TEFL/TESOL certificate, clean criminal background check, and prior teaching experience (if any) are the documents demanded by schools and countries. If you're aiming for teaching a niche market like teaching Business English or Teaching Young Learners, you can always go for TEFL certificates in these niche sectors.
Legalizing your offline or online TEFL certificate will ensure your VISA approval for teaching jobs abroad. In many countries, TEFL certificates have to be authenticated by the government body to fetch English teaching jobs in those schools. For example, a EIU endorsed certificate (our accreditation) would be authenticated at the Chinese/Vietnamese Consulate in London. ESL teachers must submit their papers to the local notary to confirm that those qualifications are not forged or fake. A notary public is a person who has the authority to certify the authenticity of documents.
If you can get an apostille stamp on your documents it will be beneficial for you only. An apostille stamp is an upgraded version of a notary where your document gets legalized internationally. If you are planning on teaching abroad in China (on the Z visa) or Saudi Arabia, you will need to complete this additional step, whereas for Chile or Taiwan this step is not mandatory. The legalization of documents must be done in the country where the document originates.
Documents are proof that your qualifications are legal. Being an English teacher who wants to teach English abroad to non-native English speakers, it will be your responsibility to give produce evidence that all your documents are not fake. Your TEFL certification course should be given a legal signal from the government of your nation and thus you can be able to teach in-person TEFL or you can also teach online.
Job search becomes easier when you have all the required documents and you can apply as soon as you come across a suitable one. Your TEFL qualifications are the primary requirement for an ESL job and an Advance or Diploma in TEFL certification will give you an edge. Besides, having prior teaching experience along with TEFL/TESOL courses will rank you higher than your competitors.
