Hello.
Let’s assume I could live off my earnings as a day trader, without being hired by a company. What kind of visa would allow me to do that in Japan? And what documents do I need to apply for such visa?
I tried googling it and I also looked on official government websites, but I couldn’t find any clear information or guide. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
FYI, I already live in Japan with a working visa. I’m working as an engineer.
12 comments
There’s no clear information because there’s no clear answer. You can’t simply sponsor your own residency status in Japan doing whatever work you please – there’s no such visa.
Not sure GEOs support self-employed individuals, but that might be a route worth looking into is starting your own business isn’t an option.
A spouse, PR, LTR are the only status of residence that would allow you to do what you want to do.
Unless you had Japanese ancestry, there’s no such visa.
Get PR or Spouse visa and then you can do whatever you want in Japan.
Thats tough. You’d likely need to set up a company and apply for the business management visa.
I always find it amazing that there are actual successful day traders!
Same visa as someone without a job
Further to others’ excellent responses:
Are you astonishingly wealthy?
As in, you pay more in taxes than what normal people receive in gross salary?
If so, you can probably discuss this over dinner with Ken “The Emperor’s Executioner” Saito.
Normally, there’s no visa type for this type of work, but if you have the funds, then it’s likely that some sort of accommodation might be reached.
Since you already have a status of residence here:
1. Create a company anywhere else and set it up as your trading business.
2. Hire yourself, pay yourself, report this income to Japan and pay taxes on it.
3. Change your status of residence once you have two years of tax paid. You’ll also need proof you have savings as a backup plan.
You’ll get one-year visas until you don’t and when you walk away with a 3-year apply for PR. (Hopefully you didn’t miss any tax, health, or retirement payments since that’s a requirement for PR.)
The main reason you don’t want to create a KK here is because market access is crap and corporate capital gains are crap, but that’s another option.
Beyond trying to find a suitable visa, be mindful of the high tax rate. And depending on your residence status and your country of citizenship, you could face double taxation. And your loss harvesting might not be clear cut.
Given the risky nature of day trading, I would recommend picking a country with more favorable taxes, day trading rules and market access. All of those hurt your ultimate return which means you have to beat the market that much more.
It can be done, but Japan would not be my preferred country to rely on day trading for sole income.
Wsb gang
You do know how much the Japanese government rinse you with crypto related taxes right? 🤭🤔
Why not get a job that pays whatever but no overtime and has health insurance and provides the visa, then day trade during your off time until you get PR?