Gap year ski instructor courses

[IcyFox]

My 17yr son wants to do a gap year in Japan as a ski instructor we've been looking EA and SIA but have also seen Alltracks mentioned, has anyone used any of these companies - any to recommend or avoid??

My DS did SIA in Austria a few years ago. He had a great time and worked the whole season in Austria after passing his exams.

Following, my 16 year old has his basi level 1 and is determined to take a year out and ski instruct but I'm thinking this won't be enough? He seems to think it will "there's loads of ski resorts I've just got to find one job", love his optimism.
@bagelsandlox does your ds speak german?

He speaks some German - has German GCSE and did a Goethe Institute course the summer before his ski season. But some of his mates did not speak any German going in. I think they had to learn some basic vocab for the exam.

They did all have EU passports though - not sure you can get around that one.

Yeah he doesn't have an EU passport! Still he's y12 so time to figure out if it's feasible anywhere

Working as an instructor in Europe without a EU passport is close to impossible, particularly for a newly qualified instructor with little or no actual experience. There are indeed lots of ski resorts but access to work in these resorts, as an instructor or as a bar worker, liftie, chef, DJ, driver etc. is now very difficult for British passport holders. It is actually easier for instructors from Argentina to work in Europe than it is for Brits because Argentina has a Young Persons' Working Visa agreement with a number of EU countries.

Japan is a possibility and the companies that OP has already found specialise in organising this - for a price. Canada is also an option - a Working Holiday Visa is required for work, but it is possible to do a ski instructor course without actually working, and this does not require a WHV (but does require enough money to pay for the course and the accommodation and food etc. afterwards).

There is a great forum for skiers and all things ski related - snowheads.com - where the topic of instructor courses and working visas etc. is discussed on a number of threads.

@bagelsandlox
would your sone recommend using SIA? The forums are so overwhelming, I know it costs more to use one of these programs but it feels like a "safer" way of doing

@IcyFoxYes, it was a good experience and they seemed to be a very professional organisation. It was not cheap, and he was not terribly well paid during his season (in fact he picked up some evening bar work to make some extra cash). But he had a great time and I’m not sure he would have sorted an instructor job out on his own, so no regrets!

SIA has a good reputation in Austria - I'm a qualified instructor and I know several of the coaches who teach on SIA courses in Kaprun/Zell am See.

As you can read on the SIA website, there is no job guarantee for non-EU citizens unless they come from a country that has a Working Holiday Visa agreement with Austria, which the UK does not have.

As for the OP's question about working in Japan, according to the SIA website this is possible as long as the young person is successful in obtaining a WHV for Japan. Another important point is that the instructor course has to be successfully completed and the final exams passed, which requires a good standard of skiing before taking the course.