Hello, I currently live and work in New Zealand and I am looking to move to Japan to work there and be with my significant other.
I have a final remote interview with a company in Japan in a couple of weeks and I am fairly certain that I will receive an offer.
The issue is, my current company would prefer it if I was able to stay with them for at least another 6 months while they find my replacement. They also said that they can allow me to work remotely from Japan in the last two months.
Ideally, I would like to keep working for my current company for the entire 6 months, and in the last two months I’d like to work for them from Japan on a visitor visa as they said. And then when my work finishes with them, I’d like to start with the Japanese company on the work visa.
Is this a plausible possibility? Would I be able to ask the Japanese company in my interview: “can I delay my start date by six months, at which point you would have organised a work visa for me?”. I’m worried that asking this might be too demanding and they might just look for other candidates.
Also, if this isn’t plausible, are there any other avenues I can explore to be able to continue working for my current company for the next six months while still securing my opportunity with the Japanese company I’m interviewing for?
Thank you.
2 comments
> I’d like to work for them from Japan on a visitor visa
That would be illegal. It might be possible on a Working Holiday visa if that’s available to you.
>and in the last two months I’d like to work for them from Japan on a visitor visa as they said.
***DO NOT DO THIS***. Working on a tourist visa is illegal.
Also: You cannot switch from a tourist visa to a working visa while in Japan. So you would have to return to New Zealand anyways in order to process the visa.
>Would I be able to ask the Japanese company in my interview: “can I delay my start date by six months, at which point you would have organised a work visa for me?”
You certainly *can* do this. Is it advisable? Hell no. While companies hiring foreigners from abroad generally have a bit more flex in terms of start dates due to the need to do CoE/visa stuff, asking for a six month extension to your start date is ludicrous. Doubly so because you’re not asking for an extension due to logistics (like selling your house or whatever), but rather so you can continue to work for your current employer.
Like I said, you can try. But I cannot imagine you’ll have any success. Best case they say “No. Take it or leave it.” More likely they’ll decide you’re not committed to the new opportunity and retract the offer without giving you a chance to reconsider.
>are there any other avenues I can explore to be able to continue working for my current company for the next six months while still securing my opportunity with the Japanese company I’m interviewing for?
How much do you like sleep? And bureaucracy?
Say you take the job in Japan while also committing to work your current job as well. You would need to apply for permission from immigration to work for a non-Japanese company. If your current company pays as much or more than your Japanese job that application will be denied. If the current company requires as many or more hours than your Japanese job, the application will be denied.
Even if you *did* manage to get permission, how are you going to handle working two full-time jobs? There’s only a few hours difference between Japan and NZ, so it’s not like you could work one job as a night shift.
Frankly your core problem here isn’t “moving to Japan”, it’s career advice/development: You need to decide whether you want to give your current employer 6 months notice. Which, frankly, is ludicrous. It’s ridiculous that they would ask, and it’s ridiculous that you would even consider giving it to them, or that you would consider going to such extreme lengths to accommodate them.
They are going to get 1-3 months of lead time due to your CoE processing. That should be more than enough for any reasonable employer.