Every post regarding this visa has a highly upvoted comment saying "it's basically slave labor" with "inhumane restrictions". But i'm struggling to understand what this means exactly. I'm thinking it's downsides are not so bad for me specifically but perhaps I am misunderstanding something. I would much appreciate you listening to my story and filling in gaps of my understanding.
So I understand the downsides of this visa being three fold. 1) You can only work in the very specific (probably not highly paid) field you applied for and 2) it can only last 5 years and 3) it does not lead to a permanent visa unlike the normal work visa which eventually does.
I'm considering this visa because I recently graduated from a language school and acquired N2 but have no bachelors degree. I would love to work in my chosen field of I.T. in which I have 4 years of work experience but a combination of not qualifying for a work visa due to my lack of degree and honestly just not being fluent enough yet to work in Japanese company makes that path impossible for me for now.
I passed the tests required to apply for the visa in a field I believe myself capable of, accommodation, which im picturing as working the front desk of a hotel (This counts as accommodation work right?) . I actually convinced a hotel to hire me a couple months ago but after meeting with their immigration lawyer he told me I don't qualify for a work visa after which I started researching the SSW visa.
My plan for the future is to finish my degree in Information technology, which over the years I have slowly worked towards on in an online school and have maybe 40ish credit hours remaining in as well as practicing my Japanese with friends and some self study. But I would love to be able to do this from Japan as during my time here I built a social circle and life that would not be waiting for me anywhere in America. I understand I would be living the life of a hopefully slightly above minimum wage worker in the meantime.
Am i misunderstanding something?
by PeacefulSummoner