Job Discussion Forums

[gemini22]

I have a few interviews coming up with GEOS and Nova Group.
I want to bring my boyfriend to Japan with me.

Do I need to tell them this at the interview; is that going to hurt my chances of getting the job?

Do they even need to know if they are offering single accommodation?

Will places like Nova even hire someone in this situation, who can't live in the dorm style apartments?

Issue #2
He doesn't have a degree. We have money saved up but I don't think we can swing these border runs because of the flight costs. Can he just hide out for a year or will they tell him he can never come back after we leave? What is the worse case scenario?

Seriously, do I have to marry him to take him with me? Seems like a bad reason to get married, but is that the only way to make this happen?
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[SDSUMarcus01]

[kdynamic]

Marrying him will make everything about this situation easier. As long as you're happily married that is.

[rai]

Well, everything will be easier except the "two people trying to live off of one person's eikaiwa salary" part...

And how is she gonna explain why her hubby can't get his own visa, and needs to live with her in a company apartment? I don't think it's possible to keep it a secret...

Wait'll he gets a degree, or come by yourself, I don't see any scenario where you could support two people on eikaiwa wages (especially 'cuz he'll need money to keep himself entertained all day while you're slaving away).

[PAULH]

Dont want to break it to you, but you will need to have his name included on the lease if you are in a company apartment. If you are married they may not even let a spouse stay in company apartments, let alone a boyfriend.

It will soon be very clear whether or not you have someone living there and in some cases you will have Japanese office staff living in the same building.

[in_japan]

I once approached NOVA with my girlfriend. They were happy to give us jobs and our own apartment to live in in Tokyo.

That being said, we had degrees. However, NOVA do offer part-time positions to people without degrees. I'm not sure of the exact details but its worth checking out.

We didn't actually accept the NOVA positions so I can't offer much more feedback.

[PAULH]

[Apsara]

If he did succeed in hiding out with you for a year he'd be a serious overstayer and could be detained for several weeks before being deported and banned from returning to Japan for 5 years or so. That would then cause problems for entering many other countries. Even overstaying your visa by a day has caused people here all kinds of problems.

Years ago my boyfriend saved enough money to spend 6 months in Japan with me- he had to leave when his first 90 days were up of course, and then when he came back in a month or so later he was interrogated and asked whether he planned to work in Japan and if he had the funds to support himself travelling in Japan, which he did, and he showed them. After an hour or so they let him in, but some people are put back on a flight home. I was working for Nova at the time but living in a gaijin house so it was no trouble to have him move in with me.

As another poster said Nova will put you in a group apartment (I wouldn't call it a dorm, it's two or three people sharing an ordinary apartment) if you are single, and couples, married or not, they usually try to place in their own apartment, but only if both are working for Nova.

[PAULH]

My advice, for what its worth, is to consider a long distance relationship. He cant work here without a visa, wont have much money and will be cooped up in a shoebox like apartment( about the size of an average bedroom) and he will be hiding like Anne Frank from the Nazis.

Travel and sightseeing will be out of the question on one salary as domestic travel is expensive.

perhaps have him come out and visit you every few months for a week at a time. Visitors are usually OK. Maybe get your own apartment and he can come out for short stretches during the year.


Set up IM, email or Skype so you can talk with each other. The above poster mentioned overstayers.

the penalties for overstaying here are severe. and at the very least he may be looking at up to a week in detention center i.e. jail and then forcibly removed from the country. that means being put on a plane in handcuffs and led around on a rope.

[Willy_In_Japan]

If you are on a Visa working in Japan, and marry a foreign national of a different country than your own, what are the rules for being able to have your spouse live in Japan with you?

[johanne]

If you have a work visa your spouse, regardless of their nationality, can get a dependent's visa. This means he/she can live in Japan as long as you do and if you fill out some paper work he/she can work up to 20 hours a week and earn about 1,000,000 yen a year (I'm not sure of the exact amount, but there is a limit and it's not that high). Of course, he/she can also work for cash teaching privates.

[PAULH]

[gemini22]

That was very helpful. So he could work for Nova if he has one year of college? I am new to all this and didn�t know the penalties for overstaying a visa were so bad! I had a job offer in Korea yesterday, maybe I check in with that forum to see what this situation would be like there.

I really love him and I would like to marry him someday. I have already been married once and I am enjoying the all the independent decision making opportunities these days. Not that he would take that away, but from my experience, you can never be sure.

So basically what I am hearing is that even if I married him I still would not make enough to even enjoy being in Japan. I could be hanging out in my apartment back home. Thanks everyone!

[rai]

But, but , but, what does he DO? How can he come to Japan to just hang out for a year?????

By the way, Visa stuff is MUCH more difficult in Korea. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your non-degree holding BF is going to be dead-weight if you want to live abroad...

[PAULH]