Hello all, I just graduated from high school in the US and I’m in the process of planning my trip to Kyoto to stay for 6 months. I’ll want to be able to get a part time job while staying there to pay for living and also language classes (most of which I’ll try to pay off before hand). What sort of steps do I need to take in order to be able to work? I’ll also be traveling with one other friend who isn’t planning on studying but still wants to work part time, so I’d also like to know the steps to take if one wasn’t a student.
4 comments
I assume you are going to enrol to a Japanese language school. That means you will have a student visa (given the school will sponsor you). Then you can apply for job permit which will allow you to work 28 hours per week while school is in session and up to 40 hours per week when the school is in break. Application for job permit costs some money so keep that in mind. Keep in mind that you need some Japanese proficiency to find a part time job. Generally around N3 level.
As for your friend, if he is not going to be a student like you, I assume he will be on a tourist visa. That means he can legally stay in Japan only for 90 days and cannot legally work. There is no alternative for that.
For 6mo it’s not worth a part-time job. This is more /r/movingtojapan but I can tell you most jobs won’t brother with someone who’s going to bail in ~6mo plus you have to remember that it takes 2-3mo to receive your first paycheck. So say you found a job a month after arriving, you wouldn’t get your FIRST check until about month 4 or 5 out of the 6 you plan on staying. Not worth it at all.
Lot of language schools that deal with 6mo courses actually don’t offer student visas that permit work anyways and just expect you to renew your tourist visa in country if you’re from one of the countries that allows that or to do a tourist visa run to Korea to get another 3mo tourist visa after your first one is used up. Just an FYI.
As for both of you (but more importantly your friend), you need a visa that permits work. Working without a work visa (or visa that permits work) is illegal. Working on a tourist visa is illegal. Working for free in exchange for services/room/food is also illegal on tourist visa.
Also where will you live they don’t rent to foreigners btw it’s very costly and you’re only 18
Sounds like you might be better off doing the workaway thing. I’ve met quite a few people here who come, spend 6 months or a year working part time. Everyone I’ve talked to has liked it.