So, I’ve been a ghostwriter for a while now, which has afforded me a great deal of freedom in how I write and where I write from. I have meetings every other month or so with my editor as my only real “anchors,” but even those can be scheduled fairly easily. It has left me with a few wild hairs in regards to doing crazy things I never thought possible before, and moving to a foreign country while writing is kind of tops on that list.
I was wondering how feasible an application for an artist’s work visa would be for me? I’ve looked into some areas—namely, remote work—and see that it’s pretty much a non-starter. But, *apparently,* “literature” counts under the artist’s work visa? Would ghostwriting even meet those requirements, or is Japan looking more for the more “legitimate” kind of literature?
From what I’ve been able to suss out, I would need to obtain some materials that support my claim as an “artist” from my clients, but is there any significant hurdle beyond that? I would assume proof of sustainability would be a big part of it? I’m halfway through a ten-ish book series currently, and I wouldn’t submit the application till after I had landed a new series (which, my editor has *sort of* already been floating my way, so fingers crossed), but would that be enough?
I guess my question is: What’s the feasibility here? Would it be so much hassle as to make it not worth the trouble or even downright impossible? Or can I start really looking into this? Beyond the application, are there any hurdles that I should know about if I should move forward at all that I haven’t already seen in the articles I’ve been going through?
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This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Is an artist’s work visa worth pursuing?**
So, I’ve been a ghostwriter for a while now, which has afforded me a great deal of freedom in how I write and where I write from. I have meetings every other month or so with my editor as my only real “anchors,” but even those can be scheduled fairly easily. It has left me with a few wild hairs in regards to doing crazy things I never thought possible before, and moving to a foreign country while writing is kind of tops on that list.
I was wondering how feasible an application for an artist’s work visa would be for me? I’ve looked into some areas—namely, remote work—and see that it’s pretty much a non-starter. But, *apparently,* “literature” counts under the artist’s work visa? Would ghostwriting even meet those requirements, or is Japan looking more for the more “legitimate” kind of literature?
From what I’ve been able to suss out, I would need to obtain some materials that support my claim as an “artist” from my clients, but is there any significant hurdle beyond that? I would assume proof of sustainability would be a big part of it? I’m halfway through a ten-ish book series currently, and I wouldn’t submit the application till after I had landed a new series (which, my editor has *sort of* already been floating my way, so fingers crossed), but would that be enough?
I guess my question is: What’s the feasibility here? Would it be so much hassle as to make it not worth the trouble or even downright impossible? Or can I start really looking into this? Beyond the application, are there any hurdles that I should know about if I should move forward at all that I haven’t already seen in the articles I’ve been going through?
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From my very limited understanding of the artist visa, it would be impossible to get unless you had something like events hosted by a reputable organization. Anecdotal, but the only folks I met here on an artist visa had an artist in residency position with gallery shows and artist talks lined up. They were sponsored by a museum. I only mention this because I doubt you’ll get any first hand accounts of someone who obtained an artist visa on this sub.
If you’re really set on living in Japan, maybe consider going to school here. You can work up to 28 hours on a student visa. If you don’t speak Japanese, it’s worth putting the time into studying it. I’m also not sure if their is an income cap on student visas.
That said, after the year or two of Japanese studies, you’d need to get a different kind of visa to stay in Japan.
Generally speaking the artist visa is very much in the “If you have to ask…” category. As in “If you have to ask if you qualify, you don’t”
In your case, you unfortunately absolutely *will not* qualify. As a ghostwriter you’re not producing work under your name, which is kind of a key factor. As u/fkdjapanlife mentioned: It’s for people with galley showings, residencies, etc. It’s not for “working” artists, which seems to be the category you would fall into.
In order for Immigration to approve a request for someone to come and live in Japan, there needs to be a “primary purpose” for why that person must be in Japan.
This can be something like “to live with my spouse” (dependent, spouse) or “to reconnect with my Japanese heritage” (ancestor). In the case of a status of residence tied to employment, there needs to be a domestic employer. For an artist, there would need to be something in Japan in specific. A specific commission that you’re coming to work on, a specific exhibition that you’re coming to perform. A specific series of speaking engagements or book signings, etc.
So as an artist you can’t unilaterally decide that you want to come and live in Japan.
If you can afford it though Bali is gorgeous:
https://bali.com/guide-to-moving-and-living-in-bali/digital-nomads-bali/
>What’s the feasibility here?
The “feasibility” is about zero, but just for shits~*n*~giggles, you could go through the many previous threads here about getting an “[**artist visa**](https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/search?q=artist+visa&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all).”