Hi everyone, just looking to get some advice about my current situation.
I went to Japan for the first time last year. To better understand the culture and ask basic questions before the trip I ended up chatting with a woman I met on FB who is Japanese. We talked for 6 months and I’m happy to say we met up and totally hit it off. I went back again not too long ago for a whole month to spend time with her and better see the country. She will be visiting my country in about a month to visit me. She really would love for me to move to Japan for us to be closer/together, but I’m facing a few barriers.
I have a great job/career and I would hate to leave them. Working for them in another country wouldn’t fly sadly.
I don’t have a degree, but I’ve been in the IT world (20+ years) dealing with Networking, Linux, AWS and even programming. I don’t speak a word of Japanese except the most common ones. I would have to sell everything I own to make this move, but for the right person that is not an issue.
Looking into visa’s and I would prefer to have a job to go to upon moving. I read a number of posts and the prospects don’t look good unless you are conversational level in the language (N3+) and have a degree. I also read that going on a spouse visa is another bad choice because if things don’t work out, then your practically kicked out of the country. If I was in my early 30’s then making a choice like this wouldn’t seem so bad, but when your pushing 50 in a few years you don’t get the wiggle room like you did before.
The only option I see is going on a student visa for a year to properly learn the language. That means being unemployed during that time and I got to say I’m not a fan. Doesn’t guarantee a job in the end as well. Some will say why doesn’t she move to my home country. She has a good career as well as a child and elderly parents whom are in a bad way, but she wants to look after them, which I find admirable.
by sudoTalon