Job Discussion Forums

[Rooster_2006]

I heard about a Volunteer Visa for Japan, but so far, all I've been able to find is that it's available to British nationals.

British nationals account for approximately 0.92% of the world's population. What about nationals from the remaining 99.08% of the world's population, such as Americans (like me)? Can they get this visa?

I'd consider contacting the embassy or a Japanese immigration office, but I have a hunch the answer would be unreturned e-mails and maybe a few "we don't know, check with this other department." You know what I mean.

[Apsara]

I can't find "Volunteer" as a visa category on the MOFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) website, whcih supposedly lists all the kinds of visas available. Actually since you would need to apply through your embassy to actually get the visa if it exists, it is probably best to start with them- try phoning rather than emailing. Are you sure you need a special visa? I have heard of people coming here to volunteer on farms with WWOOF and they are able to do this on tourist visas.

Bear in mind that often special visa categories are reciprocal- like the Working Holiday Visa programme, which lets people from Australia, Canada, NZ, Ireland and a couple of other countries stay and work in Japan temporarily, because those countries extend the same privileges to Japanese nationals.

If there is indeed a Volunteer Visa agreement between Japan and the UK, it's because it's reciprocal, which is why other nationalities are not included- it's nothing personal.

[Rooster_2006]

Oh, I'm sure the visa exists, but it's looking more like it's only for British folks. I am so jealous of them. They get Working Holiday, this volunteer visa, six months without a visa in numerous countries, the ability to teach English in North Korea through the British Council (something I would LOVE to do), EU membership and the right to work in all the EU countries, et cetera! Oh well, I guess American citizenship is still a very good one to have, relatively-speaking.

The problem is that I would like to volunteer for more than three months in Japan. As a tourist, this means taking the Fukuoka <-> Busan ferry every three months for about $300 each trip. If I could get a volunteer visa, that would save me about $1,200 over the course of a year. I also have a hunch that at the second or third entry to Japan, they'd be suspicious about why I was going there and coming back. I mean, the last time I visited Japan, there was no reason to be suspicious (it was my first time there in over a year) but they gave me all sorts of hell at the port of entry for not having an itinerary, a hotel reservation, etc. Clearly, unlike Korea (which I leave and re-enter more often than I change my underwear) Japan actually cares about checking on foreigners to make sure they aren't suspicious. That's a problem for a non-standard activity like volunteering.