Hello. I’m an American living in Nagoya.
A year and a half ago my wife wanted to teach in Japan for a year to see what life here was like. It was just on a whim, but I obliged. Initially I thought it would be too difficult, but to our surprise we both love it and want to stay here for a while longer.
She was given an instructor’s visa for 3 years (ending 2025) and I was given a dependent visa for the same length of time. Initially I couldn’t work at all, but I went to the immigration office and got a stamp on my zairyu card that allows me to work 28 hours a week. I applied for a farm job and got it.
The thing is, now I want to work full time, but I’m not exactly sure how to do it. I don’t have a degree because I mostly worked with my family’s business or did blue collar work back in my country. Is there a way for me to transition into getting a visa that allows me to work full time?
Sorry if this is a dumb question, I’m new to the whole living abroad thing.
4 comments
Basically you need to change your status of residence- this is called [在留資格変更許可申請](https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/applications/procedures/16-2.html). What SoR you will be changing to depends to what job will you be going for. Unfortunately for the most common work-related SoR (engineering / humanities / intl service) you’ll need either a bachelors’ degree, or if I remember correctly, 10 years of work experience, so it might be a tad bit difficult…
Your lack of a degree will be your biggest hurdle. Except for very few exceptions that you are unlikely to fall under, a degree will be the minimum requirement.
Without a degree or relevant experience it will be difficult to obtain a work visa. And that is only the 2nd hurdle. The 1st hurdle is you actually need a job offer, for the work visa
>I applied for a farm job and got it. The thing is I now want to work full time
Just to clarify, is your OP about working full time at this farm? If so then there is not even a work visa available for that (apart from the working holiday visa)
Rather more on the complicated side, but you could consider starting a company and getting a business manager visa. It requires some money to invest, but it doesn’t require a degree — but experience in the field does matter.