I’m a US citizen here on a MEXT scholarship. I’m interested in some internship programs in the US.
**What I’ve gathered:**
If it’s a remote internship, I can participate while in Japan, working up to 28 hours.
If it’s in person, I can arrange to go, but won’t receive scholarship money for months spent entirely abroad.
​
**What I’m wondering about:**
If I participate in person, am I still bound by the 28-hour work limit while in the US?
Given that I’ve lived in Japan for 5+ years, will a US company have headaches of some sort, like with tax status? Does this change depending on whether I do the work in Japan or the US?
If anyone has done something like this, let me know how you set it up.
1 comment
Hey, I was on a similar scholarship, but essentially had the same rules as mext. Did a similar thing, worked out.
If you participate in person, you are not subject to the same rules. Because you’re American and your visa corresponds to activities in Japan.
Uhh tax statuses shouldn’t really matter. Once again, you’re a citizen of that country so you’re not bound to follow JP law within those borders.
When I did this, I probably did it in the stupidest way possible and didn’t check anything or say what I was even going back to the states for other than to my supervisor, so kudos to you for at least asking.
Only when I got back and fully explained the situation to my scholarship committee did they say and I quote “well, you already went and did it…but we wish you would’ve checked with us”
I would check with JP finance as well. Those peeps would be able to correct any errors in this for the tax portion.
Happy studiez dude! Internships are a good sign you’re on the right path. Congrats🫡