The Price of JET - Money
Hey everyone, Hannah here again.
Due to recent events, and the fact that we're down to a little more than one month till we leave (yay!) I thought I'd talk a little about everyone's favorite topic: money. JET is a program that allows you to earn a full-time wage while living in Japan, which is great, but you need to remember that you won't be seeing any of that money until about a month after you've arrived in the country. So you need to be able to make some preparations, and be aware that you're going to need some start-up money before you get to Japan.
First off are the applications and paperwork. This is way before you get to Japan, but once you're accepted into the JET Program, there's lots of paperwork. And that means there's also lots of fees. For example, to go to Japan through JET (and probably other programs as well) you need to have an FBI background check done. My group was advised to apply for this check in February, which seemed a little odd since nobody was going to know whether they had even gotten into the program until May. But the reason behind it is the background check can take something crazy like 13 weeks to process. To send in the form, you need fingerprints taken, which means you should go to a police station to get fingerprinted. Of course that's not free, and neither is the FBI background check. Then you also have to file some tax paperwork (which also has an associated fee), get your photos taken multiple times for visa applications and other things (again, gotta pay for that), apply for an international drivers license (not mandatory, but a good idea despite the $20 processing fee), and then you have to mail all this paperwork around (of course, not free either). So before you even get to Japan, you'll need some money to get everything squared away.
A little more on the FBI background check here. That 13 week processing time is a killer, especially since you have a deadline to have that background check in, and the FBI can't tell you anything about the progress of your application until about week 11 (keep in mind these time frames are subject to change, these are just the time periods I had to deal with). When mine finally got processed, a couple weeks before the deadline, I was informed that my fingerprints were illegible and they couldn't process the background check. Again, deadline is looming. When that happens, you need to get a state background check done as a place holder, and apply for another FBI background check (more fees for all!). Well the state background check wasn't going to arrive on time for me due to 3 weeks processing time and because my nearby stations only do fingerprinting at random times, like every other week. I talked to my consulate and they made Tokyo aware of the situation so that everything would be smoothed over, but needless to say I was still a little panicked about it (even though I have been told that some people are currently working in Japan through JET and never got their background checks back for whatever reason).
I talked to my consulate and finally decided to go to an FBI channeler (THIS IS NOT ALWAYS ACCEPTABLE SO CHECK WITH YOUR CONSULATE). These are special companies, usually used by businesses to screen hiring candidates, that have the authority to access the FBI database and also take fingerprints. Their processing time? A week. The fee? All told, $85 for the fingerprinting and application processing (expedited shipping costs more, which I did). It was a lot of money, but I got my background check and sent it to the consulate, only 2 days after the deadline (if you go this route, the background check has to be a physical copy, not electronic, which is why I had to drive to another state to get it done). It was stressful to say the least, but I decided the fee and channeler was worth it rather than doing the state check and another FBI check with no guarantee of success.
There, that little rant out of the way, back to money! JET offers a suggestion for how much you should have before coming to Japan, and it's about $5000. Yeah, that's a lot, but you won't necessarily need that much depending on where you're living. Other JETs recommend $2000-3000 instead. This helps you with your first month of living expenses before you get a pay check, including buying food, furnishings for your apartment, rent, and key money (like a rental deposit only more expensive). How much you really need depends on your situation, so once you've been told your placement, find people who know the area or do some research on cost of living. I just found out my city today, and for an equivalent to a 2 bedroom apartment near the train station, it's only about $450 per month, so I don't think I'll need 5k. However another participant I know was told to bring that full $5000 because he was going to need to pay for 3 months of rent at once. It's stressful, but don't panic, just talk to your contracting organization, and they may be able to help with a loan to cover your initial costs.
How you raise this money is up to you. Ben and I aren't exactly in a situation where we can save up as we both work part-time jobs and commute a fair distance. Oh we tried to save up in the beginning, but a couple hundred a month wasn't really cutting it when medical or auto bills kept cropping up. We had some monetary bonds that we cashed in, and that covered some of our start up cash. We don't really own anything of value, so selling off our stuff wasn't going to help much. So in the end we decided to sell our car. Lets face it, we'll be in Japan for at least a year, and it won't be getting used. Selling the car was hard, but it got us pretty much to where we needed to be for starting funds.
If you decide to pursue teaching in Japan and need to save up money (and you're in a tight position like we are) it's good to assess what you have and what you need, and what you don't need or can replace later in life.
So bottom line: have some money BEFORE you get to Japan. It'll smooth over your applications and paperwork, and assure that you're not sitting in an empty apartment without food for a month when you get there.
Due to recent events, and the fact that we're down to a little more than one month till we leave (yay!) I thought I'd talk a little about everyone's favorite topic: money. JET is a program that allows you to earn a full-time wage while living in Japan, which is great, but you need to remember that you won't be seeing any of that money until about a month after you've arrived in the country. So you need to be able to make some preparations, and be aware that you're going to need some start-up money before you get to Japan.
First off are the applications and paperwork. This is way before you get to Japan, but once you're accepted into the JET Program, there's lots of paperwork. And that means there's also lots of fees. For example, to go to Japan through JET (and probably other programs as well) you need to have an FBI background check done. My group was advised to apply for this check in February, which seemed a little odd since nobody was going to know whether they had even gotten into the program until May. But the reason behind it is the background check can take something crazy like 13 weeks to process. To send in the form, you need fingerprints taken, which means you should go to a police station to get fingerprinted. Of course that's not free, and neither is the FBI background check. Then you also have to file some tax paperwork (which also has an associated fee), get your photos taken multiple times for visa applications and other things (again, gotta pay for that), apply for an international drivers license (not mandatory, but a good idea despite the $20 processing fee), and then you have to mail all this paperwork around (of course, not free either). So before you even get to Japan, you'll need some money to get everything squared away.
A little more on the FBI background check here. That 13 week processing time is a killer, especially since you have a deadline to have that background check in, and the FBI can't tell you anything about the progress of your application until about week 11 (keep in mind these time frames are subject to change, these are just the time periods I had to deal with). When mine finally got processed, a couple weeks before the deadline, I was informed that my fingerprints were illegible and they couldn't process the background check. Again, deadline is looming. When that happens, you need to get a state background check done as a place holder, and apply for another FBI background check (more fees for all!). Well the state background check wasn't going to arrive on time for me due to 3 weeks processing time and because my nearby stations only do fingerprinting at random times, like every other week. I talked to my consulate and they made Tokyo aware of the situation so that everything would be smoothed over, but needless to say I was still a little panicked about it (even though I have been told that some people are currently working in Japan through JET and never got their background checks back for whatever reason).
I talked to my consulate and finally decided to go to an FBI channeler (THIS IS NOT ALWAYS ACCEPTABLE SO CHECK WITH YOUR CONSULATE). These are special companies, usually used by businesses to screen hiring candidates, that have the authority to access the FBI database and also take fingerprints. Their processing time? A week. The fee? All told, $85 for the fingerprinting and application processing (expedited shipping costs more, which I did). It was a lot of money, but I got my background check and sent it to the consulate, only 2 days after the deadline (if you go this route, the background check has to be a physical copy, not electronic, which is why I had to drive to another state to get it done). It was stressful to say the least, but I decided the fee and channeler was worth it rather than doing the state check and another FBI check with no guarantee of success.
There, that little rant out of the way, back to money! JET offers a suggestion for how much you should have before coming to Japan, and it's about $5000. Yeah, that's a lot, but you won't necessarily need that much depending on where you're living. Other JETs recommend $2000-3000 instead. This helps you with your first month of living expenses before you get a pay check, including buying food, furnishings for your apartment, rent, and key money (like a rental deposit only more expensive). How much you really need depends on your situation, so once you've been told your placement, find people who know the area or do some research on cost of living. I just found out my city today, and for an equivalent to a 2 bedroom apartment near the train station, it's only about $450 per month, so I don't think I'll need 5k. However another participant I know was told to bring that full $5000 because he was going to need to pay for 3 months of rent at once. It's stressful, but don't panic, just talk to your contracting organization, and they may be able to help with a loan to cover your initial costs.
How you raise this money is up to you. Ben and I aren't exactly in a situation where we can save up as we both work part-time jobs and commute a fair distance. Oh we tried to save up in the beginning, but a couple hundred a month wasn't really cutting it when medical or auto bills kept cropping up. We had some monetary bonds that we cashed in, and that covered some of our start up cash. We don't really own anything of value, so selling off our stuff wasn't going to help much. So in the end we decided to sell our car. Lets face it, we'll be in Japan for at least a year, and it won't be getting used. Selling the car was hard, but it got us pretty much to where we needed to be for starting funds.
If you decide to pursue teaching in Japan and need to save up money (and you're in a tight position like we are) it's good to assess what you have and what you need, and what you don't need or can replace later in life.
So bottom line: have some money BEFORE you get to Japan. It'll smooth over your applications and paperwork, and assure that you're not sitting in an empty apartment without food for a month when you get there.
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