Hello everyone,
I’ve been doing some research and I usually see the other way question asked many times (getting a job AFTER attending school) but since my ultimate goal is to land a job in Japan (IT, 5+ years work experience, Japanese N3, 35M, not from the US) I thought on starting to apply to jobs who offer visa sponsorship.
I ask this question because since I’m currently in the process of applying to a language school (already asked a question in this sub regarding that) but I still thought on applying to jobs, now I don’t take anything for granted, but suppose I get accepted to school and if by any chance I happen to get a job offer while either waiting for my student visa to be issued or to arrive to japan:
1. In case of the former (waiting for student visa to be issued) would it be possible for the company to start the paperwork to issue a work visa, would there be any issues (for a second leaving ethical implications aside, I know by this stage the process has already costed school time and money in this scenario, but also it would have costed me money)?
2. In case of the latter (waiting to arrive to japan to start school) would it be possible to start the process of changing from student visa to work visa while still attending school? (also supposing there are no issues with schedule).
As far as I’m aware changing from student visa to work visa process is close to getting the student visa in the first place, also I do want to get some job interviews both to get used to them again (as I haven’t gone through and interview in a long time, at least not with me being the perso interviewed) and with hopes of maximizing my opportunities (let’s just say I have it already quite clear when it comes to living in japan which is why I’m willing to go this far).
Not really sure if I’m overthinking things (which I tend to do all the time, sorry if it’s the case here) I just don’t want to burn any bridges or to mess things up, ultimately while I do plan on applying to jobs if the best would be for me to postpone it a little bit will then wait, or on the contrary if I should instead just aim for job hunting and not attending school at all I’ll focus on applying before considering enrolling to school (but then again I would have lost a year of catching as school application in case I have to later on)
2 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Job hunting before arriving to japan on a student visa**
Hello everyone,
I’ve been doing some research and I usually see the other way question asked many times (getting a job AFTER attending school) but since my ultimate goal is to land a job in Japan (IT, 5+ years work experience, Japanese N3, 35M, not from the US) I thought on starting to apply to jobs who offer visa sponsorship.
I ask this question because since I’m currently in the process of applying to a language school (already asked a question in this sub regarding that) but I still thought on applying to jobs, now I don’t take anything for granted, but suppose I get accepted to school and if by any chance I happen to get a job offer while either waiting for my student visa to be issued or to arrive to japan:
1. In case of the former (waiting for student visa to be issued) would it be possible for the company to start the paperwork to issue a work visa, would there be any issues (for a second leaving ethical implications aside, I know by this stage the process has already costed school time and money in this scenario, but also it would have costed me money)?
2. In case of the latter (waiting to arrive to japan to start school) would it be possible to start the process of changing from student visa to work visa while still attending school? (also supposing there are no issues with schedule).
As far as I’m aware changing from student visa to work visa process is close to getting the student visa in the first place, also I do want to get some job interviews both to get used to them again (as I haven’t gone through and interview in a long time, at least not with me being the perso interviewed) and with hopes of maximizing my opportunities (let’s just say I have it already quite clear when it comes to living in japan which is why I’m willing to go this far).
Not really sure if I’m overthinking things (which I tend to do all the time, sorry if it’s the case here) I just don’t want to burn any bridges or to mess things up, ultimately while I do plan on applying to jobs if the best would be for me to postpone it a little bit will then wait, or on the contrary if I should instead just aim for job hunting and not attending school at all I’ll focus on applying before considering enrolling to school (but then again I would have lost a year of catching as school application in case I have to later on)
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Japanese immigration requires that an individual wishing to reside in Japan have a primary purpose that requires they live in Japan. This primary purpose can be something vague such as to live with a legal spouse or to reconnect with ones documented Japanese heritage. This primary purpose can be specific, such as coming to work for a specific company or coming to study at a specific school.
If your primary purpose changes after you have arrived in Japan (you are no longer a student, you no longer work in a specific career) then you must inform immigration and request to change your status (if needed).
If your primary purpose changes before coming to Japan, then your application is no longer relevant and you need to withdraw it before starting a new application for the new intended purpose.
So if you apply for a visa to attend Japanese language school, get a job, and decide to withdraw from the language school you certainly can.
If you are in Japan at this time you’d need to apply for the change of status. This would require an explanation as to why you are withdrawing from classes (assuming you have not completed your program). You would not be legally allowed to work until you have recieved the change of status, which usually takes a few weeks.
If you are not yet in Japan when you decide to withdraw from the Japanese language school then you would need to withdraw your application and return your CoE (if issued) and visa (if issued). You would then need to restart the application process from scratch for the new status.