How do I get a work visa or student visa for Japan? Do I apply for both? -

I m thinking about studying abroad in Japan, as well as getting a job there. I d like to know all there is to know on obtaining a work visa or student visa. Do I apply for both?

If you do get a student visa, then once in Japan you can apply for permission to work a limited number of hours. A lot of Chinese on student visas were cheating the system by working full time without attending school, so the Japanese authorities are VERY strict about checking up on this kind of behavior. You ll need a lot of savings or supplemental income because the limited work you can get on a student visa will not be nearly enough to pay for your living expenses and/or tuition. To get a student visa, you have to be accepted by an exchange program or directly by a Japanese university. To get a work visa, you need a Bachelor s degree and you have to be hired by a company in Japan. In both cases, you need to get the visa before you come to Japan. You can t move to Japan first and then start thinking about schools or jobs. --- Edit: Go ahead and listen to Joe B and do it the illegal way. I dare you to do it. I even know a guy who tried it. He ended up getting arrested, spent 4 weeks in a rat-infested prison cell getting accosted by J-cops constantly (with no lawyer or phone call), and got charged $20,000 in legal fees plus his deportation costs. Fun! Oh and while you re at it, if you re going to be breaking the law anyway, you should bring lots of drugs into Japan and make some money and friends that way. And we wonder why Japanese think foreigners are criminals? A big, gigantic thumbs down to Joe B and criminals like him who give the honest, hard-working and law-abiding foreigners in Japan a bad reputation.

I m going to go with Jim and Joe on this. It s standard practise to come to Japan on a tourist visa and get a job. When your work visa comes through you have to leave the country for a night to change status-usually Seoul. In your case the best thing might be a pre-college student visa. Register with a Japanese language school and you get the visa which allows you to work part time. Immigration does want to know if you are bona-fide student that attends class-but they don t follow people around to check on how many hours they are working. In the case of language teaching, it s only contact hours that count in any case. You can switch from student to work visa without leaving the country.

To apply and acquire a Japanese visa requires several documents: * Passport * Completed application form for the type of visa you are applying * Recent and decent photographs * Your original return sea or air ticket or a copy of it for temporary visa category * Proof of sufficient funds for your stay such as your recent bank statement * Proof of accommodation and contact in Japan for temporary visa * Original or photocopy of your certificate of eligibility for the working visa category * Invitation or letter from the institution you are attending for your studies for the general visa category * Fee Additional Information You can do everything conveniently on the Internet. Simply go the website of the Japanese embassy or consulate in your country and look for the particular application form you need. You may submit them through various means. One way is to contact their call center and book for a roundtrip courier service. Another way is to submit these travel documents personally or through a representative at the center designated by the embassy.

You *can* change your visa from tourist to student visa, without needing to leave the country. My nephew did exactly that a few months ago. In his case, the school handled his paperwork, but he wanted to come early to visit as a tourist. Even the school thought he had to leave the country to change visas, but he simply went to the immigration office. You can also come here as a tourist and even tell immigration that you are here looking for work. There is nothing wrong with that at all. Before you work, though, you must have a work visa, or you could get into trouble. If you re not from the US, see if your country has a quot;Working Holiday Visaquot; agreement with Japan.

jettoblack is dead wrong. He keeps repeating the same thing: You can t move to Japan and then think about getting a work or student visa. The truth is hundreds, if not thousands, of people do exactly that every year. They show up as tourists and look for jobs that will sponsor a work visa. Of course, you don t tell the Japanese immigration officials at the airport that you are visiting Japan to look for work. If you do that, then they will send you on the next flight home. It s technically illegal, but a lot of people do it. Just google for it. There are a ton of websites that talk about it. ------ Edit: To the Original Poster: Jettoblack is crazy. The Japanese police will never throw a tourist in jail because of checking out a school or a job! That s nuts! If you really want to know the truth, call your local Japanese consulate. That is where you will get the right answer. There is a consulate in almost every major city in United States. They are the authority on this, not us. I called my local Japanese consulate in the United States and they told me that I could go to Japan to look for work, although they don t encourage the practice. Again, let me say, the idea that you will be sent to jail because as a TOURIST, you looked for a school or a job is completely nuts. The Japanese police do not follow tourists around to see if they are applying for schools and jobs. Think about it. If you are going to study, most Japanese schools would be glad to help a foreign tourist get the proper visa for studying at their school. There s nothing quot;criminalquot; about it. They want your tuition! Or if you are looking for work, as an American, you can now go to Japan on a 90-day tourist visa, find a job and a company to sponsor you, and get everything processed within Japan. The person below me is 100% CORRECT. Yes, you can tell Japanese immigration that you are looking for work. Many times they will let you in the country with no problem. I have heard this from numerous people. By the way, if people are telling Japanese immigration the truth (that they are looking for work) and immigration still lets them in the country, what does that tell you?