Hello everyone,
My husband and I are keen to move to Japan to live for 1 year with our toddler. Our initial plan was for him to be posted to Japan by his company, but that plan is fizzling out. We’re now thinking of doing a 1-year sabbatical instead.
​
We’re specifically eyeing the “Specified visa: Designated activities (Long Stay for sightseeing and recreation)” visa, and understand the requirement to have 30m yen. We also note that this specified visa does not allow for a dependent child to accompany. We already emailed the embassy in our country, and while they were kinda vague, they did seem to imply that we can apply for a dependent pass for our toddler after we have obtained this specified visa. So after all our research, we do still have some questions:
1) We intend on applying for a COE, and our friends (Japanese nationals) will help us with that. I guess my question is, how long does it normally take for a COE to be processed? We have a goal to move in Oct 2024, so we’re working backwards to see when we should kickstart the process. I read on this sub-forum and other places in reddit that it seems to take a while, so I’m now questioning if giving 3 months for this is long enough.
2) For the 30m yen, does anyone know if it needs to be cash holdings, or will they accept other proof (e.g. government bonds, treasury bills etc?)
3) This is applicable only after we’ve gotten the visa. We have the means to sustain ourselves in Japan for 1 year, and have no intent to work. To save the hassle of opening a bank account, we will most likely bring over some cash at the beginning, and also occasionally withdraw some as and when needed. The bulk of our spending will likely be on our own credit cards back home. However, we will still be receiving income in the form of rental income of our flat back home, and possibly also some dividends. Since we’re essentially long-term visitors, are we subjected to any taxation on this income if we don’t remit it to Japan during the 1 year we’re there?
4) Again, after we’ve obtained the visa, I presume that while we will receive a residency card, it would be difficult to rent a flat when we cannot explain to the landlord that we’re unemployed? And that we don’t have a bank account for the payment of the monthly rent? I guess our options will be limited to possibly just serviced apartments where foreign credit cards are accepted?
​
Please do poke holes if you see any flaws in our plan. If this doesn’t work out, then we will most likely have to consider getting jobs just to get a working visa to Japan. But we would prefer to enjoy our sabbatical and spend our time just travelling around Japan for that 1 year. We don’t intend on staying longer than a year, so as much as possible, we would love more free time to explore the country.
​
Thanks in advance!
2 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Inviting comments on our plan (and if it’s viable!)**
Hello everyone,
My husband and I are keen to move to Japan to live for 1 year with our toddler. Our initial plan was for him to be posted to Japan by his company, but that plan is fizzling out. We’re now thinking of doing a 1-year sabbatical instead.
​
We’re specifically eyeing the “Specified visa: Designated activities (Long Stay for sightseeing and recreation)” visa, and understand the requirement to have 30m yen. We also note that this specified visa does not allow for a dependent child to accompany. We already emailed the embassy in our country, and while they were kinda vague, they did seem to imply that we can apply for a dependent pass for our toddler after we have obtained this specified visa. So after all our research, we do still have some questions:
1) We intend on applying for a COE, and our friends (Japanese nationals) will help us with that. I guess my question is, how long does it normally take for a COE to be processed? We have a goal to move in Oct 2024, so we’re working backwards to see when we should kickstart the process. I read on this sub-forum and other places in reddit that it seems to take a while, so I’m now questioning if giving 3 months for this is long enough.
2) For the 30m yen, does anyone know if it needs to be cash holdings, or will they accept other proof (e.g. government bonds, treasury bills etc?)
3) This is applicable only after we’ve gotten the visa. We have the means to sustain ourselves in Japan for 1 year, and have no intent to work. To save the hassle of opening a bank account, we will most likely bring over some cash at the beginning, and also occasionally withdraw some as and when needed. The bulk of our spending will likely be on our own credit cards back home. However, we will still be receiving income in the form of rental income of our flat back home, and possibly also some dividends. Since we’re essentially long-term visitors, are we subjected to any taxation on this income if we don’t remit it to Japan during the 1 year we’re there?
4) Again, after we’ve obtained the visa, I presume that while we will receive a residency card, it would be difficult to rent a flat when we cannot explain to the landlord that we’re unemployed? And that we don’t have a bank account for the payment of the monthly rent? I guess our options will be limited to possibly just serviced apartments where foreign credit cards are accepted?
​
Please do poke holes if you see any flaws in our plan. If this doesn’t work out, then we will most likely have to consider getting jobs just to get a working visa to Japan. But we would prefer to enjoy our sabbatical and spend our time just travelling around Japan for that 1 year. We don’t intend on staying longer than a year, so as much as possible, we would love more free time to explore the country.
​
Thanks in advance!
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>We already emailed the embassy in our country, and while they were kinda vague, they did seem to imply that we can apply for a dependent pass for our toddler after we have obtained this specified visa.
The first thing to bear in mind is that *generally* you can only apply for a dependent visa ***after you arrive in Japan***. Which is obviously not ideal here, given that you probably don’t want to leave your small child behind.
Also: Pretty much *all* of the documentation available for this particular visa type explicitly says “no dependents”. And embassy staff are actually ***not*** immigration experts. They’re bureaucrats who handle immigration paperwork. It’s a subtle but very important difference.
Before you go too far down the rabbit hole on this plan you need to get absolute, explicit confirmation on whether or not it’s possible to bring your child with you. This is “consult an immigration attorney” territory. If you can afford this particular visa you can absolutely afford an attorney consultation.
>We intend on applying for a COE
AFAIK you don’t actually need a COE for this particular visa. But there’s not a lot of information available on it. Again: Your best bet is an attorney consult.
>For the 30m yen, does anyone know if it needs to be cash holdings, or will they accept other proof (e.g. government bonds, treasury bills etc?)
Going to sound like a broken record here (but I’m not doing it to be snarky): Attorney.
For ***most*** visas that require financial support (Student visas and working holiday visas) they require liquidity. Cash money.
But again: There’s not a lot of published information on this visa. I would imagine that they *might* be a bit more flexible as to what is considered “savings”. But at the same time I would also imagine that time-locked investments like bonds and T-Bills won’t be acceptable.
>are we subjected to any taxation on this income if we don’t remit it to Japan during the 1 year we’re there?
That’s correct. That sort of income falls directly into the much-misunderstood “foreign sourced income” exemption. Things get a bit more complicated if you remit it to Japan, but if it stays abroad it should be fine.
Worth asking your attorney about it when you consult them, though. (I swear that’s the last time I’ll mention the attorney)
>I presume that while we will receive a residency card, it would be difficult to rent a flat when we cannot explain to the landlord that we’re unemployed?
You presume correctly. Though you might be able to work something out if you offer to do something like pre-paying the rent up front.
>Please do poke holes if you see any flaws in our plan.
Honestly you’re probably the first person who’s come here talking about this particular visa who *doesn’t* have major flaws in the plan.
I think the only “flaw” is the dependent issue. Mind you, I don’t think that’s *your* fault. Nor do I think that the person at the embassy knowingly gave you bad information. This is not a commonly used visa type, nor is there a lot of information available. I imagine that their thought process was something like “Uh… I’m not sure, but every *other* visa type allows dependents, so…”
Definitely consult with an attorney (ok, I lied) to sort out what the exact rules are.