Hello, everyone. I'm a university instructor currently residing in the People's Republic of China, and I'm in a bit of a strange situation. My current employer, which is a university in China, waited until the very last minute to tell most of the foreign staff that their contracts were not being renewed. As a result, I applied for other university jobs in China, and I got accepted into a really good one.
However, after taking the medical check that is required in China to process my work permit for that university, I found out that I have syphilis. This has made it basically impossible to find a job in China. I've heard success stories of other people getting their residency renewed with treated syphilis, but from what I've heard from recruiters and other schools, it basically will never be approved by the government, even though my condition is treated. The university I was supposed to work at dropped me when I showed them my medical report.
Fast forward a few weeks after I figure that out, and I started applying to jobs in Japan because I really want to stay in East Asia. I have a degree in Japanese, so I feel like it would be pretty easy to adapt. I also have a degree in applied linguistics, specifically focused in language teaching and 3.5 years of experience between teaching in the US and China. I just got a pretty good job offer today for a school in Japan, and I was sent the documents that I have to fill out in order to get my COE.
Here's the main problem: my visa in China expires on July 1st, and my COE likely will not be done processing by that time. So here's my plan: I was going to move my belongings and myself right before my visa expired to Malaysia, because they have 90-day visa-free entry for Americans, and wait while my COE being processed.
But that comes with another problem: because I will no longer be a resident of China, I will not be able to go to the Japanese consulate in Beijing to apply for the visa. So what I was planning on doing is using a visa agency in the United States to transport my passport and other relevant documents to the consulate in Detroit because that is the jurisdiction I fall under in the United States based on my residency in Ohio.
I think this is a really good plan, and I think it's the most feasible one in my situation because I don't want to waste thousands of dollars going back to the United States to apply for the visa in person once my COE is done then fly back. I just want other people's honest opinions on this plan or if you think there might be a more feasible option. I budgeted it out, and it just makes the most financial sense for me. I'm certainly not struggling financially because I saved up a ton of money working in China, but I know Japan is going to come with a lot of startup costs and I don't want to deplete my savings too much. If you've ever had any similar experiences or have opinions on this plan, please let me know.
I also heard that the Japanese embassy in Thailand accepts non-resident visa applications, but I still need to contact them to confirm. I feel that rumor is pretty unlikely tbh.
by Creammaxxer