Hello all,
Been really strongly thinking these past few years about making a move over to Japan for at least a couple years. My main concern/hangup about this is regarding employment. I never finished my degree (only completed 1 year). I know that there is ordinarily the immigration requirement to have a bachelors degree, but I believe I qualify for a child of Japanese national visa (former dual citizen), which is my current plan of entry. Since I shouldn’t have any issues getting the visa granted, my main concern is the difficulty of finding a decent job in my field without a degree, and also regarding my earning potential in Japan. I have never lived in Japan long term before, but I know that the business culture tends to be more conservative than in the US.
I feel like going back to school doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense at this point. I’ll be 30 soon and have been working full time in the IT field for around the past 10 years. I am currently US based making around $70k a year. This would mean it should be relatively within reach to afford a 1LDK in central Tokyo assuming I was able to maintain my current income, but the main concern is if I’d have to take a significant pay cut or have trouble being hired in Japan. My current skill level with speaking/writing Japanese is not at a fluent level, but I have been working on that during my personal time. I would like to be at least at a near fluent level at the time I make the move. I don’t really think I would have time to go back to school full time while maintaining my current full time employment/career and saving up for the move.
Anyways, if anyone has some insight on this they can provide, it would be greatly appreciated. Cheers
6 comments
You should contact recruitment agencies in Japan to get a more realistic view of your employability and income potential.
How much listening practice have you been giving yourself? If you’re gonna make such a move I’d work on that asap.
Why don’t you work on getting the Child of a Japanese National Visa and then work remotely for the company you’re at now?
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You can apply for that visa as long as your parents are still in the Koseki and you can prove through birth records you’re their child. But depending on the generation you’re applying with. It’ll have different requirements.
You have one Japanese parent and one US parent?
If so, you were born with dual nationality.
Did you explicitly revoke your Japanese nationality?
If not, then simply dig out, or renew, your Japanese passport. You are very likely still Japanese.