Job Discussion Forums

[Nomnom]

Hi all,
I arrived in Japan about two weeks ago and after some frantic job-hunting I have (thankfully) landed an ALT job in Saitama. (yay!)
I'm from Australia, so I came over on a Working Holiday Visa, but the guy from the ALT dispatch company who hired me said it would be better for me if I switch to a Work Visa (which they would be happy to sponsor me for) so that I won't be paying enormous amounts of tax (he said it's 20% for WHV and ~5% for the first year under a WV).
I've thought about it, and I think I'm ok with doing that (please tell me if you think I shouldn't for whatever reason), but my current problem is that I'm also applying to do one-on-one tutoring with GABA on top of the ALT job. The guy at my GABA interview said that I could still work for them under a Work Visa (Instructor) but I would also need to get a Work Permit, on top of the visa.
My questions are: Is that true? What is the difference between a Work Visa and Work Permit? What kind of work would a Work Permit allow me to do? Could I take on my own private students or do editing work with a Work Permit? Could anyone provide a link with some kind of official information about this stuff?
Thanks for your help.

[Apsara]

What the guy at Gaba will have meant is that to do eikaiwa work on an Instructor visa you will need to apply at Immigration for "Permission to Engage in Activities other than those Designated by the Status of Residence Previously Granted" (yes, the name of the permit really is that long!), because strictly speaking the Instructor visa doesn't cover eikaiwa work- full time eikaiwa teachers get a "Specialist in Humanities/ International Services" visa.

This permission shouldn't be too hard to get as it's still teaching work (as opposed to bar work for example), so it shouldn't bother Immigration.

Have you made sure your ALT employers will be ok with you doing other work? While they can't legally forbid you to do additional work, some don't like it and can be difficult about it.

I don't have the Immigration link for the forms for the "Permission to Engage..." any more unfortunately, but I'm pretty sure Glenski does. Otherwise just Google it- I have probably got one or two words in the name of the permit wrong, but you should still find something.

[Glenski]

[Nomnom]

Thanks, that's really helpful.

[G Cthulhu]