Job Discussion Forums

[Rooster_2006]

What is the minimum number of teaching hours to get a regular working visa and teach in Japan?

10? 14? 20? 25?

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

I think it's amount of (not under the table) pay (and if it's less than 250,000, probably status of employer), not number of hours worked.

[Rooster_2006]

[Glenski]

Strictly speaking, there is no "minimum salary" for a work visa. People seem to believe in the myth that it must be 250,000 yen/month, but that is not true.

Part-time work cannot qualify for a work visa, and part-time work is officially anything less than 29.5 hours per week. The labor laws ( http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laborinfo/library/documents/llj_law1-rev.pdf ) describe various ways to work (monthly working hours average system, flextime, just to name 2), so it depends on that in part. I would go more by the official 29.5 definition than by salary.

Realize, too, that a job may be posted as full-time (or not at all, with the employee's assumption that it is FT), but an employer may report only your classroom hours to the authorities. If they are less than 29.5 hr/wk, he is not obligated to offer you shakai hoken (a sleazy but legal way out so far) and make his obligatory 50% copayments.

If you want to work part-time, here are the options:

1. Have a work visa for a year, then self-sponsor. You'll still have to prove to immigration you make a certain (undefined and variable depending on region's standard of living and on immigration office) minimum wage.

2. Student visa (with special permission) ONLY permits PT work.

3. Dependent visa (with special permission ONLY permits PT work.

4. Cultural activities visa (with special permission) ONLY permits PT work.

5. Spouse visa. Work as much or as little as you can afford to.

6. Permanent Resident status. Same as #5.

7. Working holiday visa (applies only to certain nationalities and age groups).

8. Trainee or internship.

9. Intracompany transfer visa, maybe.

10. Specified visa (designated activities). Case by case situations.

[Rooster_2006]

Okay, so reading over what you guys have said:

It is not possible (or at least not legal) to get a working visa if you are shown to be spending less than 29.5 hours in the workplace. I'd assume this means general hours, not just teaching hours, because 29.5 teaching hours is a lot. Therefore, if I want to work less (say, <20 hours spent in the workplace per week), I'm going to have to self-sponsor after working full-time for one year.

Now, I'm doing the math here:
Minimum wage to maintain your self-sponsored visa (read it in another thread): 200,000 yen
Standard pay these days for part-time block classes: 2,000 yen an hour
= 100 hours a month, or 25 teaching hours a week (also full-time, just like normal work visa)

Umm...
Okay, so I can go with an Eikaiwa and teach 25 hours a week or be self-sponsored and teach 25 hours per week. Either way, I'm working exactly the same hours.

Is there another option that hasn't been listed here that allows me to teach <20 hours a week and still have a regular working visa (not a student visa or WH)?

I mean, really, I live very frugally and hope to be in the countryside, and don't think I need 250,000 yen a month. I'd gladly work 3/5 the hours of a normal Eikaiwa teacher for 150,000 a month. I value my free time. Is that just not an option?

And...
Working Holiday: not an option, I'm American
Spousal Visa: not an option, no way I'm jumping on the unhappily married boat
Student Visa: worked on a student visa in the past, been there, done that, and it sucks because tuition is expensive and you are busy and go into a huge cesspool of debt
Permanent Residency: would be great if it were an option, but getting it would require ten years in Japan
Other Activities Visa: forget it, they're not going to make an exception just for me

Any ideas, folks?

[Apsara]

[G Cthulhu]

[Rooster_2006]

Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my original post, I'm willing to teach full-time for the first year, but after that, I'd like to go part-time.

So it sounds like I can do part-time if I self-sponsor after the first year on gigs that exceed 2,000 yen an hour.

For example, if I find enough gigs that are 3,000 yen an hour, that's about 15 hours of teaching per week to meet the 200,000 yen requirement for the self-sponsored visa. 15 hours a week is what I'm angling for.

How do I raise my worth as a teacher to a reliable 3,000 yen an hour? With things like transportation bonuses, 15 hours a week of 3,000 yen/hour an hour could exceed 200,000 yen a month.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

[Glenski]

[Rooster_2006]

Glenski, thanks for your advice.

I actually am a teacher right now (and have been since 2007) so I know very well the difference between teaching hours and working hours. In extreme cases (I'm thinking Hess in Taiwan where I'm working right now), teaching hours can be only half the number of hours you spend on the job -- there is transportation, lesson prep time, grading homework, attending unpaid company functions, etc. There's really no need to explain the difference. I know the difference between actual hours spent and teaching hours from my experience in Korea and Taiwan. In both countries, it seems like total time spent on job-related things is twice the number of teaching hours.

Let's take my job at Hess right now. Even when I get my motor scooter, it'll be a 1.5-hour commute a day (45 minutes each way). 1.5 hours for lesson prep for four hours of lessons, 30 minutes to grade homework, and the end result is nearly 40 hours a week for a job with 20 teaching hours!

When I see these contracts for 25 hours of teaching a week, it scares me because there's no way I want to spend 50 hours a week actually working when the homework/lesson prep/company functions/transportation time is factored in. How am I supposed to learn Japanese, work on my Internet-based freelance programming business, and have free time for things like exercise when I'm doing six days a week at an Eikaiwa? THAT is why I'm looking for something more part-time, like 15 teaching hours a week. And it sounds like if I self-sponsor and get some lucrative PT work, I might be able to meet my 15-hour-a-week goal.

It sounds like my best bet is to string together part-time work after my first year (full-time for the first year) and after that, be self-sponsored and get some lucrative part-time jobs (like at companies) that pay 3,000 yen or more. That would allow me to meet my goal of 15 hours per week teaching time. I don't want to do any more than that.

As for what I can live on, that's really up to me.

In Taiwan, they say "you need 6,000 NTD to rent a tiny ya fang with no bathroom." Well, I rent a tao fang WITH a bathroom for 3,500. They say "you can get a good meal for 100 NTD" -- my last meal cost 40 NTD. People tend to waste money. I'm good at NOT wasting money. I'm introverted and don't go out a lot. I think I could survive on 150,000 yen a month, yes.

Anyways, thanks to the people who responded in this thread. I think it's pretty clear, I should self-sponsor after my first year, get a couple or a few part-time contracts at somewhat high-level places that pay 3,000 yen per teaching hour or more, and that'll allow me to get by on 15 teaching hours per week. I can do the prep at home, so effectively the only time I spend "at work" will be 15 hours. Sounds like I've found a solution.

[Apsara]

[Glenski]

[Bread]

In a matter related to some of the posts in this thread:

I worked in Japan before, but I left in March 2007. If I get Kokumin Kenkou Hoken now, is it gonna be expensive or cheap? How's it calculated? I seem to remember it being the income from the last two years, is that right?

[Glenski]

Kokumin kenko hoken is based on your salary in Japan from the previous year. I'd say if you've been gone since 2007, you'll start out at square one again. That means the first year will be 2500 yen/month or so, and then the next year depends on your salary and location (for standard of living), your age (under 40 is cheaper) and the number of dependents. A rough estimate is that after your first year, it goes up tenfold.