My visa and me!

Posted by Okamitengu on March 26, 2009

photo credit: jesse edwards

So you want to live in Japan. That’s fine for 90 days at a time (maybe 120 if you hold certain passports).

Let me just say, I am NOT a visa expert. I am still going through the process myself. But here are some of my thoughts on the whole getting a visa thing.

The first thing you need to do is work out why you are coming to Japan. Work is fine, if you have a job, your employer will help you get your visa sorted and away you go. But what about the rest of us poor schlobs! (or maybe just me!!)

Initially as I was planning on studying martial arts, I assumed a cultural visa would do. In some respects that was right. However, I have a child and soon to be wife.  Somehow I think we are going to need to eat. (: if it was just me I could live in a tent in the mountains and eat what us Aussie call “bush tucker” foraged food from the environment. But that is no life for a 3 year old boy and his city bred mother!

With research I discovered I could apply for certain dispensations to gain permission to work 20-28 hours a week on said cultural visa. That’s not too bad, would get us fed. Samantha, who has JUST turned 30, is still (just) eligible for a working holiday visa. So again, that allows her to work, but she MUST leave Japan after 12 months.

Also as mentioned in another of my rambling blogs, we want to invest in properties. There are some affordable houses in Japan, even today after the economic “crisis” Japanese houses are still better priced than Aussie houses. This investment is looking at places that will be rented out. So we would have an income. But … I wasn’t sure I could earn money from that on a cultural visa legally. Last thing I want to do is get ejected from Japan for a stupid mistake!! Ultimately I am applying for a working visa as an investor. I meet most of the criteria for that one.

That’s the big point really. If you want to work in Japan, you MUST meet the requirements of the visa for that job. The Japanese ministry of foreign affairs (mofa) has an excellent web site in English, I recommend you go look at that before deciding what to apply for. Don’t be afraid to ring the embassy or stop in for a visit, which is what embassies are for. That and bailing you out of prisons if you are an idiot. Oh and I suppose notifying your next of kin if….

The next big thing for us is getting married. I was quite happy to live defacto in Australia. A wedding to me personally is unnecessary. I’m not going to be more committed after a wedding. However, PAY ATTENTION. The Japanese DO NOT recognise deface relationships. Marriage is still the norm in Japan. A child born to an unmarried couple gets the mothers name. EEP!

So I have swallowed my pride and am now preparing a wedding. I would rather be married than have unknown difficulties in Japan explaining that I am not married but am Just like married, but not! Crikey I can barely say it in English.

Personally I have engaged a visa lawyer as I also have to register a company and other things of that nature. I recommend this for difficult visas, but from what I have read regular visa should be easily applied for on your own. Also note, some visa lawyers will simply try to get you into the office to make their money from you. Ask questions by email and see who answers. The guy I am going through has spent 4 months answering my 50000 emails in excellent detail. I feel confident he isn’t just looking for the bucks.

So … that will enable Sam to get a spousal visa, if I get the investor visa. Gryffy gets a dependant visa, and we all live ever after!  Or something.

Worst case scenario we go over as tourists and I apply for jobs. Be aware this is not strictly legal. You are NOT supposed to look for work on a tourist visa. If you are caught you will be held for an undisclosed period of time, then deported, and also banned from returning to Japan for between 5 and 10 years. This option isn’t ideal.

I have discovered from online job hunts however that unless you are actually in Japan when applying you can’t even submit an application for alot of positions. It is a little catch 22.

In short, research all your options. It took me nearly a year to realise I might be eligible for an investor visa. Use all the tools available to you. ESPECIALLY gaijinpot.

This website has pretty much answered every question you can ever think of about Japan. From visa, to internet, to getting a phone on or getting your rocks off!!

Research is the key.  The key to what is up to you.

Tags: coming to Japan, Matsumoto, Nagano, reasearch, visa

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