Hi,
I wanted to ask if someone has experience with visas for visiting researchers at Japanese universities or research institutes. My situation is as follows: I work for a German university (and have German nationality). During a potential stay at a Japanese research institute, I would continue to be normally paid by my employer in Germany. Everything is still in an early planning phase with no Japanese institute or university contacted yet, but the duration would likely be about 2-3 months.
I found some information online, e.g., by RIKEN ([https://www.riken.jp/en/careers/newcomers/visa/index.html](https://www.riken.jp/en/careers/newcomers/visa/index.html)). According to the RIKEN page, going there as a “visiting scientist” under the visa exemption is possible for “staying short-term for **unpaid** research activities”, but “**externally funded** researchers conducting research activities at a RIKEN laboratory without RIKEN employment status” must instead apply for a “Researcher” visa.
Does someone know whether continuing to be normally paid by their foreign employer actually counts as a reason why one would not be eligible for a visa exempted short-term stay at a research institute in Japan? The RIKEN page is a bit unclear about what “externally funded” means, and I would find it confusing that business trips while continuing to be paid by a foreign employer would have a completely different status. I was not able to find a lot of information supporting this online.
2 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Visiting Researcher Visa**
Hi,
I wanted to ask if someone has experience with visas for visiting researchers at Japanese universities or research institutes. My situation is as follows: I work for a German university (and have German nationality). During a potential stay at a Japanese research institute, I would continue to be normally paid by my employer in Germany. Everything is still in an early planning phase with no Japanese institute or university contacted yet, but the duration would likely be about 2-3 months.
I found some information online, e.g., by RIKEN ([https://www.riken.jp/en/careers/newcomers/visa/index.html](https://www.riken.jp/en/careers/newcomers/visa/index.html)). According to the RIKEN page, going there as a “visiting scientist” under the visa exemption is possible for “staying short-term for **unpaid** research activities”, but “**externally funded** researchers conducting research activities at a RIKEN laboratory without RIKEN employment status” must instead apply for a “Researcher” visa.
Does someone know whether continuing to be normally paid by their foreign employer actually counts as a reason why one would not be eligible for a visa exempted short-term stay at a research institute in Japan? The RIKEN page is a bit unclear about what “externally funded” means, and I would find it confusing that business trips while continuing to be paid by a foreign employer would have a completely different status. I was not able to find a lot of information supporting this online.
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Honestly, the HR department of the institute you’ll be visiting will handle all of this, and will have their preferred way of handling it. Unless you are planning to go somewhere that’s never had a foreign visiting researcher, it’s really not something worth worrying about at this point.