Three Asian and Gulf visa and salary schemes circulating online this week—in Japan, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia—either exclude African university degrees, require US$300,000 in capital, or quote a 2011 pay table.
For Ghanaian graduates and teachers—including the more than 60,000 teachers who completed the Ghana Education Service promotion exercise—checking primary government portals before paying agents can prevent costly mistakes.
Japan's 93-university J-Find job-search stay list
Japan's Future Creation Individual Visa (known as J-Find) was launched by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday, April 24, 2023.
Under the Immigration Services Agency's J-Find rules, qualifying graduates receive a "Designated Activities (Future Creation Individual)" status for up to two years to search for work, prepare a start-up, and take supplementary part-time jobs.
Applicants need a bachelor's, master's, doctoral or professional degree earned within the past five years. Their university must place in the top 100 in at least two of these rankings:
- QS World University Rankings
- Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings
- Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)
On the updated list current as of October 2026, 93 foreign universities qualify—led by campuses in the US (including Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Princeton and Columbia), the UK (including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and LSE), China (including Tsinghua, Peking, Fudan and Shanghai Jiao Tong), Europe, Australia and East Asia.
No university in Ghana or Africa is on the list.
Applicants must also hold at least ¥200,000 in savings.
Even as Japanese firms expand links with Ghana—with three Japanese companies bidding to build the Volivo Bridge—J-Find eligibility depends solely on where the degree was earned.
What this means for Ghanaians: Graduates holding degrees only from Ghanaian or African universities do not qualify for J-Find, though they can still apply for employer-sponsored Japanese work visas or MEXT scholarships.
Ghanaians who graduated from one of the 93 eligible foreign universities within the past five years can apply in person at the Embassy of Japan in Accra, on Fifth Avenue Extension, West Cantonments.
The single-entry visa fee is GH¢1,364, based on Japan's ¥15,000 schedule. Payment is due only upon approval.
Kazakhstan's US$300,000 Golden Visa and 10-year residence permit
Recent viral posts about Kazakhstan have combined three distinct migration rules into a single story.
First, on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced regulations—effective 10 days after publication in May 2025—creating an Investor "Golden Visa" (Category A6).
Qualifying requires investing at least US$300,000 into the charter capital of Kazakhstani companies or local listed securities, which allows the investor to obtain a residence permit for up to 10 years.
Second, Kazakhstan's standard 10-year Permanent Residence Permit (*Вид на жительство*) covers foreigners with legal settlement grounds such as marriage to a Kazakhstani citizen, former Kazakhstani citizenship, or approved specialist and investment routes.
Unless exempt (such as ethnic Kazakhs, former citizens born in Kazakhstan, or US$300,000 Golden Visa investors), applicants for the 10-year residence permit must prove solvency in a Kazakhstani bank equal to 1,320 Monthly Calculation Indices (MCI) per family member aged 16 or over, plus police, medical and housing documents.
Third, the tax exemption on foreign-sourced income cited online belongs to Kazakhstan's one-year Neo Nomad Visa (Category B12-1), introduced in November 2024 for remote workers earning at least US$3,000 a month outside Kazakhstan.
What this means for Ghanaians: Ghanaians who meet the US$300,000 investment threshold—or the US$3,000-a-month remote income rule for the Neo Nomad Visa—can file electronic petitions on Kazakhstan's Visa and Migration Portal after securing an invitation number.
Kazakhstan has no embassy in Accra; in-person consular filings and legalisation for Ghana fall under the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (`visa-addis@mfa.kz`).
Saudi Arabia's English teacher pay scale: a 2011 public-sector table
Posts claiming Saudi Arabia has just published a new 2026 salary scale for foreign English teachers are quoting a 15-year-old civil-service schedule.
The 11-tier table comes from the *Regulations for Non-Saudis Employment in Public Positions* issued by the Saudi HRSD Ministry and explicitly notes that its figures include the 15 per cent Cost of Living Allowance under Royal Order No. A/23 of 20/03/1432 AH—Wednesday, February 23, 2011.
Under that 2011 public-sector schedule, monthly basic pay and annual increments (capped at 15 years) are:
- 3-year teacher training certificate (or post-secondary Master's): SAR 4,830, plus SAR 175/year up to SAR 7,455
- Bachelor of Arts (B.A.): SAR 5,175, plus SAR 175/year up to SAR 7,800
- B.A. plus Diploma of Education: SAR 5,865, plus SAR 210/year up to SAR 9,015
- B.A. plus TEFL certificate: SAR 6,040, plus SAR 210/year up to SAR 9,190
- B.A. plus TEFL and Diploma of Education: SAR 6,385, plus SAR 225/year up to SAR 9,760
- Master's degree (M.A.): SAR 6,210, plus SAR 225/year up to SAR 9,585
- M.A. plus Diploma of Education: SAR 6,385, plus SAR 245/year up to SAR 10,060
- M.A. plus TEFL (or M.A. in TEFL): SAR 6,555, plus SAR 245/year up to SAR 10,230
- M.A. plus TEFL and Diploma of Education: SAR 6,730, plus SAR 260/year up to SAR 10,630
Today, most expatriate English teachers in Saudi Arabia are hired by private international schools, universities or technical colleges on negotiated contracts registered on HRSD's Qiwa platform.
What this means for Ghanaians: Qualified Ghanaian teachers with an attested degree, teaching licence or TEFL certificate and clean police and medical checks require a Saudi school or university to sponsor an Employment Visa (for which the employer pays the SAR 2,000 statutory visa fee in Saudi Arabia).
With a visa authorisation number, applicants in Accra submit biometrics and attested documents at the Tasheer Visa Centre at 17 Orphan Crescent, Labone, for processing by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia at 10 Noi Fetreke Street, Roman Ridge.
FAQ
Can a graduate of a Ghanaian university apply directly for Japan's J-Find visa?
No. No African university is on Japan's 93-university J-Find list, so only Ghanaians who graduated within the past five years from one of the 93 listed foreign universities qualify.
How much does Kazakhstan's Golden Visa cost?
Kazakhstan's Investor Golden Visa (introduced in May 2025) requires investing at least US$300,000 into Kazakhstani company charter capital or local listed securities.
Is Saudi Arabia's SAR 4,830 to SAR 10,630 English teacher salary table new in 2026?
That 11-tier public-sector schedule dates to Royal Order No. A/23 of February 23, 2011 (20/03/1432 AH), and most foreign teachers today are hired on Qiwa contracts and processed in Accra via the Tasheer Visa Centre in Labone.
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