Hi!
I’m considering leaving Japan soon, and I have a decent cushion of savings. And I’ve made a few lifestyle changes that would survive on a smaller budget.
But I wanted to “take a break” from working full time jobs and do only part-time jobs for the next 6-8 months.
– did it affect your visa status in any way? (mine – instructor visa)
– I know there is a 3month unemployment rule in Japan, does it mean u have to be employed full-time or just any type of employment
– I googled a bit, but I do understand that I need to speak to immigration directly before I make a final decision.
I’m curious if anyone has done or is doing this.
Looking forward to see what everyone has to say!
7 comments
If you’re working part-time jobs as an instructor, you’ll have no trouble. If you plan to work other kinds of jobs, you’ll need permission from immigration.
Absolutely not a problem at all. I’m on a Specialist in Humanities visa working freelance now. Your income is only an issue when renewing – working part time *during* your visa with jobs that fall under your status is totally fine. And for other non-instructor jobs you might even be able to get special permission.
1. As long as your part time jobs are within the spec of your status of residence no problem.
2. There is no rule requiring you to be employed full time at any time, they care about your income being high enough you’re not a burden on society. And in fact looking for work is generally considered by immigration to be working within your status of residence.
You can’t work in a convenience store or a restaurant on a regular work visa if you mean that. Has to be within your visa category or you’d need to ask immigration for permission and they won’t grant it.
You can if it’s work in the same category though. For example translation on a humanities visa.
I took a trip to an Immigration office to interpret for a buddy of mine over this issue.
What immigration told him: He needs to have one job that secures him a ‘living wage’ for the area he’s living in to secure the visa. After that, it doesn’t matter as much for how many hours he works. This needs to be in a form of a contract with a steady pay rate and the company acting as an guaranteer.
However, when my buddy proved he had an offer, immigration gave him the, “Hmm… hmm…” treatment. Stuff like this starts getting into gray areas, and I think there was issue between the amount of money my buddy was offered versus the figure immigration deems as acceptable.
But, this was a few years ago at a probably different immigration office than where’d you go. So speak to them directly. Make an appointment, go in.
You can likely get permission from immigration to do part time eikaiwa type work on your instructor visa, or part time work as a translator. They won’t give you permission for more typical “バイト” type jobs such as working in an izakaya, conbini, or bento shop.
I’m currently doing that now. As long as it fits your visa type and you earn enough to survive, pay taxes etc. it’s fine.