Japan (1 Viewer)

[morbidjoe]

I was wondering if anyone is planning to travel to Japan for Gap Year (2010) or has any experience with travel Visa's. I had a very specific plan for the next 3 years and upon researching the Japanese visa criteria recently i found they are blown to s**t. I have been studying Japanese language for the past year and was hoping that in June/July 2010 I would move to Japan and study there and work (I have a family friend who owns a fancy restaraunt who offered to help with finding a job [waitressing, bartending etc]) but after reading the Japanese Ministry of foreign Affairs i realised that it is much more complex than i previously thought. In order to attain a working visa you must be sponsored by a Japanese company that can prove that no other Japanese citizen can perform this job. So this only qualifies for people of high status in their careers or english teachers (and to be hired by an english teaching company you must have a bacholer degree, which i obviously dont have). Now, there are other visa's that allow you to work in Japan, this being a student visa (allows up to 20 hours of work a week A) not enough to earn a living B) You have to join a Language School or university that is recognized by the Japanese government and in order to do this you have to sit the Japanese University entrance exam which C) I am not smart enough to pass.) There is also the cultural visa which means you want to study an aspect of the Japanese culture (mine being language) but i am unsure if these are regularly given to undergraduate students and if they allow you to work.
SO... Thats the long story short. There are many more complexities to my dilemma but it would take me hours to type each one out so i was wondering if anyone has any experiece in this situation or could offer any tips.

 

[mitch179]

Yeah.... the Japanese visas are a complicated thing. There's pretty much visa types for every type of industry someone might work.

How long were you planning on staying there? Japan and Australia have the Working Holiday Visa agreement, meaning you can go there for up to a year and work, but you can't study, which is also what you are planning to do.

One thing you must also know, is that with the student visa, you are only allowed to work, if you obtain permission from the school and the immigration office.

That's about all the info I can give you. You could check out Immigration to Japan for more info, that's where I get a lot of the info, because living in Japan is something I would like to do, but I will definately be waiting until after I've obtained my bachelors degree and go for a job as an ALT. (Assistant Language Teacher)

GANBATTE NE!
Good Luck.

 

[rasengan90]

I am pretty sure that without a university degree you are limited to a 6 month visa.

 

[Hagaren]

There are various options and a GAP year is doable but really difficult unless you have financial backing and/or connections in Japan.

Working Holiday Visas are a good option.

I had a whole year planned with work accommodation everything but i pulled out.

If you have got any specific questions post them here and i will try to answer them for you... I've done alot of research in this area.