Job Discussion Forums

Rooster_2006 · Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 984

According to what I've read, once you've worked in Japan for at least a year on an English teacher's visa, if you have multiple jobs and a decent monthly income, you can self-sponsor.

This self-sponsor visa: is it only good for self-employed English teaching, or could I take on jobs in other sectors too? Let's say that I have three jobs -- two part-time English teaching gigs and one gig working at a ski resort. Is that illegal?

southofreality · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 579 Location: Tokyo

A friend of mine applied for and received one of these last month. He said that he had to choose a category and ended up going with the Specialist in Humanities visa because he's still teaching. I think the self-sponsor thing just means that you vouch for yourself; I don't think it's like PR, where you can do just about anything.

Of course, it's best to ask someone at immigration directly.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Your visa has its limits on what activities you are permitted to do. If you show a history of teaching jobs and want to continue, so be it. Add on some ski resort stuff, and immigration will probably stop you. For one thing, it's not teaching. For another, it's not all year work.

Don't sweat it much. You only need to show you are making enough to be above subsistence earnings. To some immigration officers, that's 180,000 yen/month. To others, it's higher. There is no set amount, and it may or may not behoove you to check with more than one officer where you do immigration business.