▢ I don't meet any of the options above.
That’s also not an issue, in fact, many people do not meet any of the options outlined above. So here are some things that you can do that might help you regardless of your situation.
▢ Option 1: Obtaining a visa through a Japanese spouse
Some of you reading this might already be married to a Japanese National. If you are, then that’s great. You have an easy path to gaining a visa to live and work in Japan. We are working on an in-depth article for those with a Japanese spouse visa. Please read on to see if you might be interested in other visas!
If you have a spouse that actually already has a working visa, you still have a chance! You can apply for the Dependents visa. Here’s some in-depth information on the Dependents visa in Japan. Be aware though, this visa type limits you to working 28 hours a week, which means that you would be unable to work full-time. We recommend exploring below to see what additional visa options you have.
▢ Option 2: Specified Skills Work Visa for Japan
Sometime in recent years, Japan realized they had some labor shortages across the nation. They introduced the Specified Skills Work Visa. This visa was designed intentionally to attract foreign workers to work in some of the areas that have a shortage. The official name for this Japanese visa is the Specified Skills work visa or tokutei ginou 特定技能 visa in Japanese.
Here are the 14 industries that are in need of foreign laborers.
- Agriculture industry
- Aviation industry
- Cleaning buildings
- Construction industry
- Electronics and equipment industry
- Fishing industry
- Food and banquets (restaurants)
- Food and drink manufacturing
- Hospitality (hotels, etc)
- Industrial machinery
- Materials industry
- Nursing field
- Shipbuilding
- Vehicular maintenance
Here are some differences between the Specified Skills Visa and the specialist in humanities and international services mentioned above.
- You need a minimum of an N4 level of Japanese language proficiency or even higher (N3+) depending on the industry.
- One really good thing about this visa is that you do NOT need a university degree to attain a specified skills visa.
The years of work experience required of the specialist in international services has been reduced for those who qualify for a specified skills visa in Japan.
▢ Option 3: Does your job offer you a chance to make diplomatic ties?
If yes, that is great. Japan, among other countries, can offer you a diplomat visa for diplomatic missions to the country. This obviously isn’t the easiest route to take for most people.
- Ambassador and Diplomacy Staff
- Military and military-civilian contractors
▢ Option 4: Does self-sponsoring your own visa sound feasible?
This option is very hard but it is something that a select few can do! Please read on and do further reading just in case you are applicable!
You will need a lot of money or an interesting business idea to attract investors to sponsor your Japanese work visa.
- Entrepreneur - You need 5,000,000 yen in your company’s bank account
- An Investor
- Start Up Visa - Similar but an alternative to entrepreneur visa
For normal work visa holders in Japan, you can renew your visa if you make more than 190,000 yen monthly doing freelance and part-time work in Japan with a self-sponsorship visa. This will need to be proved so talking to a lawyer is always advised.
There haven't been any cases that have been heard by me of tourists or students self-sponsoring their own visas. If you are in this case, your best option would be to invest your time pursuing the Entrepreneur visa, investor visa, start-up visa or quite simply finding a company to extend or change your visa.
▢ Option 5: You are a part of or are learning under an organization that has a recognized “master” of a subject.
- For this one, I’d like to introduce the Cultural Activities Visa. Let’s start with what a recognized master means.
A recognized master is someone who is renowned in their field to be a master of that field. For example, master blacksmith, master painter, or a master in martial arts. This visa aims for you to be a part of the few students that a master takes on and you aim to learn about the language and culture through the field.
Many spend their time on this visa doing martial arts or art-like activities.
You may also be interested in:- Religious Activities - Many Mormons come from the US to Japan.
▢ Option 6: Those of you with beautiful cheekbones or who are talented may want to apply!
This visa is reserved for artists and entertainers. You can see more here: Entertainer visa. You do not need a University degree. Not many have chiseled jaws, beautiful smiles, and picture-perfect physique but a lot of people do!
Actually, the standards in Japan are slightly different and you might find that you get type cast a lot. A few foreigners that live and work in Japan on their respective visas will often moonlight in a modeling agency. This is very different from actually being on this visa but it's still worth noting. You might even get sponsored by the company too!
