Mike111

Hi British Expats!

Ive just come back from a year in Canada on a working holiday visa and Im hoping to go to Japan later this year on a working holiday visa as well.

Can anyone confirm that, like the working holiday visa granted for Canada, I have 1 year from the date of issue to enter the country and then the 1 year visa actually begins?

Im going traveling again in just over a month and won't be back in the UK until November and I believe it takes a week to process after visiting in person so time is of the essence for me!

Many thanks, Mike

vietzay

Mike,
try asking japan emb in canada, there are many issue about visa, however, i saw this post is for almost 2 year ago, you may live in japan now, share more for new comers

ggboy01

Hey Mike
You're exactly right, you get 1 year from the date of issue to enter Japan, then you can be in the country for 12 months from that date.

boobooski . com have lots of free information about applying for your visa and general info about doing a Working Holiday in Japan.

Sometimewoodworker

Why not try the Japanese embassy website?

Or this Working holiday visa

Working Holiday Visas, valid for a period of one year from the date of issue, are issued to persons who satisfy all of the following requirements:
Be British Citizens who are resident in the United Kingdom
Intend primarily to holiday in Japan for a period of up to one year from the date of entry
Be aged between eighteen (18) and thirty (30) years both inclusive at the time of application for a Working Holiday Visa
Be persons who are not accompanied by children
Be persons who are not accompanied by spouses unless those spouses are in possession of a Working Holiday Visa or otherwise
Possess a valid passport and a return travel ticket or sufficient funds with which to purchase such a ticket
Possess reasonable funds for their maintenance during the period of initial stay in Japan
Intend to leave Japan at the end of their stay
Have not previously been issued a Working Holiday Visa
Have good health

Jamie17

Hello all,

I applied and received a working holiday visa in 2010. However due to family illness I had to return to the UK after 6 months. I'd love to go back and try it again and finish the year, but I don't think I'm eligible to apply a second time.

Has anyone ever heard of a visa being issued on compassionate grounds!?

Thanks.

BritInParis

I think it's highly unlikely if you have already travelled to Japan and validated the visa.

Jamie17

Yeah, that's the distinct impression I get! Bugger it.

Sometimewoodworker

If you wish to visit Japan again you will get 3 months on arrival which can be extended by another 3 months.

Most European travellers are not asked to provide proof of funds or return tickets, though immigration officials can always ask for them.

When I came to Japan I started working then changed my visa status, British citizens do not need to leave the country for that. My employer told me to wait until my visa was a month from expirey then go to immigration.

I don't know if the process has changed but that was the usual way, few people came to Japan with a visa that officially permitted work, almost everyone found a job then got the correct visa.

I am talking about western nations citizens not those from the Middle East or Asia.

I am not suggesting that anyone should flout the law, I am just giving historical information.

BritInParis

I worked in Japan for a year and had my visa issued by the Japanese Embassy in London before I went. This was possible as the interview process had taken place in the UK. I had to apply for a multi-entry permit separately in order to be able to leave and return to Japan for a holiday but I understand that requirement has been done away with now.

Jamie17, who were you working for? Depending on the company your former employer may be able to sponsor you for a work visa.

Jamie17

Was that a working holiday visa you applied for?

I was working part time at a bar (Shibuya Hobgoblin) & teaching English privately. As it was on the working holiday visa I didn't need sponsorship. I doubt very much they would sponsor a work visa.

I understand that finding a job out there while you are on a tourist visa, then switching visa status once the employer will back your certificate of eligibility is 'fairly' common.

But in an ideal world I'd want something like a self sponsorship visa so I could continue teaching privately rather than for an employer. I work as a freelance cameraman in the UK and, while I realise I wouldn't get the same volume of work in Japan, I wouldn't want to rule that type of work out either.

Don't really know how to progress :/

BritInParis

I had my Christmas lunch in the Shibuya Hobgoblin one year. Can't say it was up to much but at least they tried. Retreated to the Hobgoblin in Roppongi and got hammered with a random Norwegian chap but I digress.

I was working for a company that supplied ALTs to Japanese state schools. The company itself was a rum lot but it did give me an instructor visa for the year which I could use to switch companies or teach privately if I needed to. I was also offered work almost at random whilst there. The manager of the Footnik pub in Osaki offered me the assistant manager job after I had drank in there maybe three times on the basis that I was British, had worked in a pub previously and could speak a modicum of Japanese.

Shopping yourself around for these types of gaijin jobs might prove fruitful but I wouldn't start work until I had the correct visa in place. A brother of a friend of mine had similar cameraman experience to you and ended up going from an English teaching job to producing promotional films and the like for a major Tokyo university. It would require you to take a chance and turn up on a tourist visa to look for work though.

Alternatively line up a job from the UK ahead of time but I suspect that would limit you to just teaching English for some fairly ropey outfits. Rather than tying yourself down like I did maybe someone like Gaba would be a better bet? There you can set your own timetable.

Nicky2303

Do you have a degree? Most teaching companies will require that as a minimum in order to sponsor a working visa.

Jamie17

Spent a few evenings in the Ebisu Footnik! Good place to watch the footy

Yeah, I've always shied away from the big 'ropey' organisations. I have a BA Hons degree from the university of Leeds, some teaching experience, have basic/intermediate level Japanese and buckets of 'Genki' so I didn't have much trouble finding teaching work at smaller schools and private teaching last time I was out.

This time round I would be seeking out part time teaching positions (seeing as teaching privately as self employed seems a visa impossibility), to leave time to explore camera options. But would a small English language school be arsed with sorting out a work visa for a part time position? Isn't it a massive hassle for them? I'm also not sure if I could do other work on that visa either, or if I'm tied to only working for the organisation that sponsored me?

Could you tell me a little more about your Instructor visa? Was it arranged before you arrived or sorted while you were there?

Thanks for the input all :-)

*Some additional information... If I do decided to take on Japan again, I would have one or two places I could stay for a while, plus some funds to keep me fed and watered for a couple of months if all went tits up!

SushiFan

Correct. The laws related to immigration and visa have changed a lot last year. It indeed used to be that a visa and a re-entry permit were considered two separate things. Under the new system are they combined: if you have a visa then you automatically have a re-entry permit. You can leave Japan for up to one year and return to Japan without losing the visa.

Some other visa related rules and laws have changed as well, so a thorough investigation is advised when considering to apply for a Japanese visa.

Sometimewoodworker

Sorry for the delayed reply, I've only just read your post.
To be sponsored for a visa you must have a contact for ¥250,000 per month/¥3,000,000 per annum. Most schools will provide such a contract but will not guarantee to pay the monthly amount as you will be paid for the work you do. Many schools will get you to start working for them then give you the paperwork, as a British citizen you will not have to leave the country to change your visa status, many other nationalities do have to do that. It is your responsibility to know the visa conditions, your school may not know them or give inaccurate information, immigration will help and have accurate information, they will even answer the phone in English and give correct information.
It is immigration that requires the degree as one of the conditions for issuing the kind of visa you want. my experience is that if your paper work is accepted with no comment you will get the visa extension.

If you decide to continue beyond a year you will have to provide tax returns for national tax and local tax. Immigration does not always insist that your income has met the minimum requirements.

However I would not think that they will be very impressed with too low a declared level and tax paid in the first year.

After several years of visas one year my previous years income was ¥1,500,000. I still got my annual renewal. YMMV