Situation: I’m currently on a student visa and working part-time as a 2d animator at one of the animation companies in Tokyo.
I need to graduate next year, and I want to continue working here as an animator. However, most animation companies don’t hire animators on a 正社員 basis.
My company has multiple studios, some of them have 正社員 contracts, some of them don’t.
The studio where I am at doesn’t do 正社員 contracts, they generally do 業務委託.
They told me they would like me to stay and continue working with them, and I have two options:
1) I stay at this studio with all the people I know and at a very convenient location, but I have to make a 業務委託 working visa. Since the company is big, they can give a long term contract and I also feel like this can make things easier during the application screening.
2) I switch studios to another one that this company owns where I can get a 正社員 visa (after one year of training on a special visa and then taking an exam to be properly employed if I pass), but the place is super far away and on a train line that I dread. I will also part my ways with all of my colleagues.
This makes me want to bother and try to get a 業務委託 visa, but my university told me it’s practically impossible and also mentioned I need to invest around 500man to “set up my own business” in Japan if I want that kind of visa.
I looked it up on the internet but never found any info like that??
Question: what is necessary to get a 業務委託 visa and how difficult is it? Does anybody here have a similar experience?
Thank you.
6 comments
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What do you mean by 正社員 visa?
You’re getting your wires crossed somewhere. 正社員 or 業務委託 doesn’t matter. I mean most Eikaiwas hire as 業務委託 right? All that matters is the company sponsors the visa, can prove that they need you and that you meet the requirements of a working visa, and are hiring you at the same or better rate as Japanese counterparts. Is it more likely to be approved if it’s for a 正社員 position? Maybe? But overall this is not a requirement and the visas for those categories are not different.
Edit to add: There are a few different categories of working visa, but the one that would apply to you is 技術・人文知識・国際業務. The other ones are for more specific positions, like an instructor visa that only allows teaching.
> This makes me want to bother and try to get a 業務委託 visa, but my university told me it’s practically impossible and also mentioned I need to invest around 500man to “set up my own business” in Japan if I want that kind of visa. I looked it up on the internet but never found any info like that??
There is no 業務委託 visa, I think what the university was thinking of was a business manager visa. You’d have to incorporate a company with 500 man or something. You can, however, work under the Int. Humanities blah blah visa that most people work under. When I first came to Japan, I was hired under that contract/type of employment. The good thing about it is that you can expense all sorts of rubbish to reduce your taxable income. The bad thing is that it’s kinda unstable and that you’ll probably have to figure out all your taxes, contracts, and visa renewal procedures by yourself.
I’m not too sure about the do-it-yourself procedure, it might be better for you to go find an immigration lawyer or scrivener to help out with this. I just wanted to let you know that it’s possible to do this, because that’s how I came to work in Japan.
It’s definitely possible to get a visa on a 業務委託 visa. I was on such a visa for a short time.
The main potential issue: Most 業務契約 end in March and are for one year. Depending on when you apply for your work visa, your 業務契約 offer might have less than one year on it…in which case immigration will say they can’t give you a visa, since they need to see that you’re likely to be hired for at least one year.
In my case, I asked HR to extend the 業務契約, so they did – the first contract was for like 17 months, to the April after next. Visa came through straight away.
As others have said, there is no 業務委託 visa. You will still need to get a Visa in whatever category your work falls in, and the company hiring you will have you sign a 業務委託契約 which is basically a freelance contract.
As long as you provide all the other necessary documentation and your contract is for a decent amount of time, the government doesn’t really care if you are a 正社員 or a contractor.
I work on a 業務委託 contract as a freelance graphic designer. They sponsored my Visa, and the contract is beyond the minimum “salary” required for a working visa. I got a 5 year Visa for my position (although since the company is a very large respected Japanese company, that may have had some sway on the period of my Visa.)
This contract only requires me to work 3 days a week, so in addition, I do freelance graphic design, illustration, and translation outside of my contract, since that work also falls within my visa category. In addition, I get special permissions to do entertainment work, since entertainment work falls into a different Visa category.
The main annoyance as a freelancer is that you will need to do your own taxes and sign up/pay for National health insurance/pension.
It’s entirely doable though.