The importance of TEFL qualifications

When I received my first employee visa in 2018, I wasn’t asked to prove that I held teaching qualifications in order to work legally in Colombia. All I needed was a valid passport and an employer willing to provide a few documents. Is such a lenient approach a good idea? You be the judge of that. Anyway, there are signs that this policy is now a thing of the past because more and more visa applicants are asked to produce degrees or other documents.

Let’s get something important out of the way right at the beginning. Backpacker teachers have a bad reputation in Colombia. This refers to unqualified people delivering low-quality lessons for a while and then moving somewhere else. There is nothing wrong with travelling and volunteering; however, asking for money from your students is frowned upon in that situation.

Even if you have no qualifications whatsoever, you may be able to find someone who would like to employ you. Please, don’t be that person. Put yourself in your students’ shoes: the Colombian public education system is not renowned for effective English classes, so many people pay extra money to learn the language. It is really important for your students’ careers; many of them wish to study or work abroad. They deserve to be taught by someone who knows what they are doing. Some employers don’t care about their students and they will hire anyone whose only qualification is being able to speak English. That doesn’t mean it is okay to participate in that terrible practice. Try to be a good teacher. You owe it to your students.

Do you need a degree? In theory, you don’t need one to get a visa, but it is highly recommended to have at least a bachelor’s degree. I understand that you can be a good teacher without a degree. I also don’t think that everybody with a Bachelor’s degree in Modern Languages automatically knows how to teach. It has more to do with your status. You may teach English to someone who has already finished their Master’s and is now working on their PhD. If you teach children and teenagers, their parents may ask you for your qualifications. Having no degree could lead to some awkward conversations in those situations.

Again, I suggest that you look at it from another point of view. If you wanted to learn Spanish, would you pay for classes with a random Colombian whose only qualifications are being a native speaker and finishing high school? I guess not. That is why having a degree is important. If it is related to education and includes teaching practice, you are ready to apply for a job.

Even if your degree isn’t related to education, there are options to get qualified as a teacher. Many people opt for online courses. You can find some ridiculously cheap ones on Groupon and apparently they are good enough to get a visa in many Asian countries. To be perfectly honest, I don’t see why you should take that kind of course. How can clicking through some online content prepare you for teaching real students in a classroom?

Some online courses are quite expensive and they will undoubtedly teach you something. However, I still don’t think that a course without assessed teaching practice represents a good investment. I would recommend buying Jeremy Harmer’s book The Practice of English Language Teaching instead. Another point to consider is that the best-paying employers won’t even call you for an interview if your only qualification is a theory-based online certificate.

If you are serious about teaching, you should take a course that includes teaching real students and getting feedback from a qualified tutor. The most recognised ones are CELTA and CertTESOL. Basically, they are four-week preparation courses for teachers in which you give classes and receive constant feedback on your performance. Obviously, such a short course can’t transform you into an amazing teacher. What it can do, though, is equip you with practical techniques to survive your first job. When I observe other teachers, I can instantly tell if they have taken a CELTA course; and I mean that as a compliment.

Both CELTA and CertTESOL are standardised and externally assessed, which means that it doesn’t matter where you take them. You can find a course close to your location here: CELTA, CertTESOL. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, these qualifications can now be obtained fully online as well, which is a good option for those interested in teaching online.

The good news is that Colombian employers recognise both certificates. Even if you have no teaching experience, having a CELTA or CertTESOL can help you avoid the pitfalls of being offered only terrible positions (and there are plenty of them in Colombia!). Your students will appreciate that as well because both courses produce teachers who try to make their lessons as learner-centred as possible.

A word of warning at the end. There are some in-class courses, some of them taking place in Latin America, which claim to be a CELTA equivalent. Those courses may actually be really useful, but the problem is that they aren’t externally assessed, so nobody really knows how good or bad they are. You may then end up having to explain what the course was about during a job interview and that is not a position you want to be in. The British Council and International House won’t accept that kind of certificate. It may seem unfair, but that is the way the ELT industry works. Taking those courses is a risky decision, especially considering the fact that some of them are even more expensive than CELTA.

► If you enjoyed this blog post, I recommend that you read More Than a Gap Year Adventure, a collaborative book aimed at those who wish to have a long-term career in our profession.

How to obtain an employee visa in Colombia

If you wish to work as a teacher in Colombia, you need to have a valid work visa. If someone wants to hire you without appropriate documents, walk away. A school that is willing to break the rules and employ you illegally will probably make your life miserable in other ways. Seriously, it’s not worth it.

Disclaimer: This article is based on my own experience. The requirements and processes may change in the future. Make sure to check Cancillería’s website before starting the process. You can also contact the visa office directly and ask for more details.

Fortunately, Colombia has a reasonably easy visa process, especially when compared to other popular TEFL markets. If someone is telling you that you need to use a visa agency, they just want your money. You can enter the country as a tourist and talk to potential employers. When you find a full-time job, you will have to apply for an employee visa (M – trabajador) using your and your employer’s documents. The electronic application, which is available both in Spanish and English, can be found here.

I recommend that you click through the application to see what is required. At the beginning, you fill in the form with your personal data. Then you are asked to upload a photo, which doesn’t need to be professional; one taken at home with a cell phone is fine. After that you have to upload two pages from your passport: the data page and the one with an entry stamp. Finally, you need to attach an apostilled degree or work certifications demonstrating your experience. Please note that those documents need to be translated into Spanish by a certified translator and Cancillería has the right to ask you for additional documents. You can find the official requirements in Article 74 of Resolución 5477.

Let’s continue and see what your employer has to do. First, they have to fill in this form, which you have to sign. It contains personal data and information about the job. Then they have to write a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explaining why they decided to hire you. A good employer will have a template for that. Sometimes you may be asked for your contract, but that is not necessary in the first stage. The company also has to provide bank statements from the previous six months to prove that it is legitimate.

Again, nothing difficult at all. If an employer is telling you that the visa process is very lengthy and complicated from their side, they are talking nonsense. Some job ads even go as far as stating that only candidates with a valid visa will be considered; that means only foreign residents or those with a partner visa can apply. I really don’t understand that because the requirements are quite simple. They just need to provide you with three documents that could easily be issued in thirty minutes. If that represents a huge obstacle for a potential employer, they aren’t someone you want to work for, and I recommend that you look for a job somewhere else.

When you get the documents, you have to upload them to the form and pay an application fee. Various payment options are available; click here for current prices and information on payment methods. You will then receive a reply to your email within 30 days. In my experience it usually arrives much faster. If your application is approved, you’ll pay for the visa and receive a digital copy by email. Thanks to the 2022 visa reform, there is no need to get the visa stamped in your passport anymore. As you can see, the whole process of obtaining a work visa is really straightforward.

In addition, I think you should complete the application by yourself. I made the mistake of allowing an employer to do so on my behalf, which resulted in a botched application that meant I had to spend an extra week in Bogotá. If your details are given to an incompetent HR employee or a work experience kid and they mess up the application, you are the one who pays the price. For example, I have seen my name misspelled in several different ways by people who had a copy of my passport. You don’t want someone like that to be in charge of applying for a crucial document. If your future employer insists on filling in the application, you should be in the same room to double check that it is done correctly. It is better to be safe than sorry.

Remember that you can start working only after your visa has been issued. Your employer’s name will be stated on the document and you can’t work for anyone else with that visa. It will be valid for the duration of your contract, but only up to the period of three years. When it expires, you will have to ask for a new visa again. That is also true for your ID (cédula de extranjería), which you need to apply for within 15 days of getting your visa.