"New School, New Hurdles-What I needed to go to private instead of public?"



These hurdles represent the stages I went through from turning in my documents, to waiting over an extended period of time, to finally getting the flight confirmation and heading out to the UAE.

Ok. So received my job offer to teach English and accepted it. Now, it was time to get down to business collecting the necessary documents to make everything official for visa purposes. Since I was going through the private sector, guidelines and expectations for documentation more than doubled. Instead of only needing my degree and certification attested, I had a number of items I had to send to Proex to get attested:

1) An experience letter showing at least 2 years of teaching (I got my previous employer to complete an employment verification letter)

2) My high school diploma and college degree

3) Transcripts from both the high school and university level

4) My police clearance (I had to go through FieldPrint online and make an appointment to get my fingers prints scanned and a background checked completed. I got my results back via email and pdf file the same day)

I also needed a copy of my passport, 2 letters of recommendation, a medical clearance (I got a generic physical from the doctor's office), a statement of my total years of experience both in the UAE and in the states, a completed MOE Self introductory form (this was emailed to me from the school), and at least 10 passport photos that I would need upon my arrival.

Having my Proex documents attested was a complete hold up: 1) I had to quickly come up with about $500 to get them done and 2) the turn around for receiving them was around 2 weeks. But I was able to get the funds and email everything to the ProEx coordinator; my wait time ended up being less than two weeks.  

During the wait of getting my documents back, it was time to finally break the news to close family and friends. I also used the opportunity to have fun in my city and spend quality time with loved ones while once again making arrangements for my daughter's schooling and living accommodations. I decided to withdrawal her from her school in Columbus  and have her start fresh in Conyers where she would be with her dad. Time was moving quickly as I had to make arrangements while dealing with other personal matters. I grew anxious in the process hoping that this go around, it wouldn't be a repeat disaster of an offer being rescinded. I had to put all of my trust in God and remain faithful.