Man one thing I have to say is that the titles of your videos are such a pleasant contrast to all the standard Japan bs thumbnails. Very nice, you choose topics that are actually interesting, not some generic stuff
It's like you knew I was moving to japan and didn't want to teach so made this video exclusively for me. I must purchase every affiliate item and join all the patreons.
I was thinking about the self sponsor one and after this video my hopes of mooving there skyrocketed, gonna look more into it thank you for the video, I love how easy it is to watch you
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel just wondering, is it different form the business manager visa? cause that has the requiremente of 5milion capital and 2 employees and I knew only about that one
@@v0idz Yeah, the self sponsor is mostly for freelancers who have a sole proprietorship and just work solo! Business manager visa is used for people who wants to start up a business in Japan with more funds!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel When did this visa came out ? I've checked in the last 3 months all the visa that are available, a few times even and couldn't find a self-sponsor/ freelancer visa that shows up on the list.
Don’t work for an eikaiwa or as an ALT. However, if you’re up to putting in the time to become high school level literate you can obtain a teaching license from a Japanese university and make 3 times what an ALT makes, have 40 paid holidays above and beyond your weekly 2 days off and 15 national holidays as well as a retirement package of around $150,000 when you retire. That’s the path I took, albeit it took 15 years of diligent study before I was accepted into a teaching licensing program at a Japanese university. I’ve been teaching in Japan for 30 years, 15 as an ALT, 15 as a full-time teacher. I absolutely LOVE my job. It’s the only job I could ever have said that about.
@@cadestrathern1260 You most certainly CAN take them and are encouraged to use them all up. Those you don’t carry over. As of 5 years ago MEXT remotely monitors teachers’ hours to ensure the updated labor laws apply. Those who coach sports clubs like baseball are compensated for overtime. Those of us who run other clubs go home at 5 and don’t work Sundays. We are allotted 2 days a week, Sunday and a weekday that changes annually. Mine was Friday the previous two years and Tuesdays this year. I run a youth ice hockey program outside of school. It’s my passion just as baseball is the passion of those who coach high school baseball. We don’t consider coaching work.
@@cadestrathern1260 Not only CAN you take them you MUST take them. There's no longer such a thing as "unpaid" overtime. All hours are digitally monitored by MEXT to ensure the updated labor laws are followed. Only teachers who run major sports clubs like baseball work on Sundays for which they are paid OT for the entire day. Those of us in charge of minor clubs do so once or twice a week...from 3:30 to 5pm. All teachers are allotted 2 days off a week. This is besides our mandatory 40 days off a year. Those 40 days don't include the 15 national holidays in Japan.
On my last 5-6 months in my Japanese language school, my classmates joked around how English is the worst job to have and how they were looking for jobs in their specific field of work. Then come the last 2 months before graduation, the same classmates are all scrambling around the internet looking to take any English teaching job, even if it’s was working in a daycare. Seeing as how I already had more qualifications and interviews, it was great. Now post-grad, I work and live in Japan with my wife. Life is perfect.
@@Jaev4 I had already worked as a conversational teacher throughout my two years of school. Then I also completed a 168 hour course for an English teaching license. That’s it. Having an approachable look and personality helps get your foot in the door
Thanks! This idea was crossing my mind these days. I returned a few days ago from a 21-day vacation in Japan. I know that vacations and living in Japan are very different things, but I wanted to know, and this video is a starter.
I came to Japan on a working holiday visa 10 years ago and have not left since. Never taught English and never will. 10 years later still just absolutely going with the flow living here. Never gets dull
what was you're work visa for then? if not for teaching or IT? That seems to be all there is to do? I know you weren't doing ski resorts when you first came here, unless you had a long term Visa>
Well I was working ski resort in winter and during the summer I was working as a guide in Okinawa. In the summer I met my now wife. After my working holiday visa left to go south east Asia and came back as a tourist and as a British I can get 6 month tourist visa then I change to spouse visa after that
@@mountainswell appreciate the reply , work visa for guide a ski resort nice. Wait a 6 month tourist visa a Brit? I'm American and can only get 3? how did you pull that off? Spousal visa
@@SakeJoe Actually there is a special visa for Ski Instructors at Ski resorts due tot the need for foreign workers. Easy visa to get and dont need a degree. Just need Ski Instructors certificate. Yeh British people can get 3 month tourist visa and can extend another 3 month in country, very easy to do. I guess each nationality has different deals. Yeh i got married to Japanese a few years later and am currently on Spouse visa. Applying for Permanent Residency this year
@@SakeJoe Also..... I been doing Ski seasons my whole 10 years in Japan, thats how i make my money. Last few years i stopped working to concentrate on my own business during the winter
thank you for this info! i've been researching casually and all i see is people who went through the jet program or have a degree w years of experience and now your vid found me! great and concise video, very helpful insight
This was INCREDIBLY helpful! Ive worked from home for years! I need to see if I can do this with my company or go back to freelancing again. Thank you!!
I absolutely cannot thank you enough for this video. I plan on taking a working holiday for a year in Japan, and I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how I would go about trying to live in Japan permanently if I decided I wanted to continue living in Japan. Then, I saw the part of your video on the self sponsor visa and lost my mind. I'm already working freelance as a video editor earning over 2mil yen per year. Obviously, I'm going to need to do more research into it to figure out if it will work for me, but having those two pre-requisites down already has me very excited for my possible future in Japan! Edit: I do have a follow-up question based off some of the research I've done. In the places that I've looked for information on this visa, they seem to pretty heavily imply that the main company I freelance for has to be Japanese, but the company I mainly work for is American. Whilst they don't outright say that is the case, they certainly imply it by saying that the company has to stamp their inkan on one of the letters. I just wanted to know if I would be safe to go down this route even with my main client being American?
Awesome! I did my working holiday visa and paid tax on all earnings, and the work I did during it was as a freelancer with only foreign (to Japan) clients. I recommend, along with an immigration lawyer, to figure out a plan where you can make a Japanese some proprietorship, using the lawyer as sort of a guarantor, and apply for the self sponsored business visa at the same time. This is what I did, but many years ago so some things might have changed. You could also try to get an on-site job editing for a Japanese company during the working holiday and try to get a full time contract with them as a spring board into residency, as many people do with teaching english. Once you got a business visa sponsored by them, it's easy to make the sole proprietorship and pivot into a self sponsored one. But going directly from working holiday to self sponsored business visa is doable, but hard. So I completely recommend hiring an immigration lawyer for it! Best of luck!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel I really appreciate all your help with researching and writing out that information for me, it's helped a lot! I think my plan now is to try and get in touch with an immigration lawyer before I go to Japan on the working holiday to get the knowledge of everything I'll need to do during that holiday to put myself in the best position, hopefully without having to take on extra work since my current client is already a 40 hour work week on average. Luckily I do have the added advantage of the client I work for being the owner of an indie 3D anime animation studio with plans to set up a studio in Japan over the next year or two, so if that works out I imagine he should be able to grant me anything I need in terms of sponsorship through that business. Thanks once again for the help!
Oh hell yeah this is legit. I have very good friends that want me to stay in japan, I already have a place to live and everything. I was tripping out about a work visa thinking wtf am I supposed to do about that. Little did I know, until I watched this video, about the self sponsored visa. I already work remote as a freelancer making well more than 2mil yen. Welp there goes that problem already! Thanks!
To be fair, it's hard to search for something you don't know exists. Anyway, Japan is half the reason I'm doing a university degree now in hopes that I can ease the job hunting process (besides, I didn't want to do my old job anymore so it evens out).
@@Acatia2 I am a returning college student at the age of 29 majoring in Japanese language in hopes of being able to land a job in Japan after I graduate, but I am also specifically interested in JSL and teaching the Japanese deaf ASL so they can have a better chance communicating in the states
I traveled to Japan for the first time 2 months ago. It was very cool, and I'm interested in working there for a year or two to see if I can stand the paperwork and regulations. I have no degree, but I've been working 6 years since I graduated high school. I'm well on my way to becoming an engineer. I'm considering applying as a civilian engineer in the US army in Japan, but I want to reach N2 and focus on building my finances first. I'm going to take the N3 exam this December. Depending on how my career and finances go, I might hit N1 before I try to work in Japan. Until then, I'll probably just travel to Japan as a yearly vacation.
New subscriber. I’m 38 this year and dream of coming to Japan. I have kids and want to wait until they are a little older before bringing them, but I work for an international company and we have offices in Tokyo. It’s something I hope to rotate through eventually.
Thank you finally someone who talks about other possibilities than Teaching English or Working Holiday visa because as 34 yo man who is from non english speaking country and is not rich there is very little possibilities and i honestly though it would be imposible but person should never stop reaching for his dream right?
I’m 28 now, moved to Japan at 22. I regret not seeing a video like this. I did English teaching through one of the big eikaiwas. While JAPAN itself is beautiful and I enjoyed LIVING there. God I hated working there. I hated the children , I hated the work hours. In work by 12 PM , at home 11PM Tuesday-Saturday. I literally lived for the weekends and even though I was in Japan that’s no way to live. Wish I just visited instead and did a working holiday visa in South Korea.
Thats brutal mate . I did a 3 year working holiday visa and could only work 20 hours a week legally 5 to 9 months to fri but for some reason OT didnt count so if i needed extra cash i did this often earning more than the FT guys . Stole students for private’s then had plenty of time to surf and snowboard.
@@rimsha- yer mate when i first went in 94 i got 18 months then went back in 97 and got 18 more 2 wh visas because back then many Japanese wanted to come to Aus but not many Aussies wanted to go there so to even up the numbers they gave you another one.
Hej! Intressant video. :) Its funny that RUclips recommends a lot of how to move to Japan etc videos for me but hey I’m here for it lol. It’s great to see! I’ll subscribe to your channel. :) greetings from Sweden
I did a working holiday visa in Japan back in 2007. I met my wife at the English conversation company we both worked at. From my experience, 1.5 to 2 years is generally the time it takes for people to know if living and working in Japan is right for them. I have friends that still live and work in Japan now since 2007. Like myself, I also know people that realised that after 2 years they were no longer interested in living/working in Japan. Some of my friends knew they didn't want to stay but still stayed for a few more years before they found a different job back home / other countries. In my case, I had enough teaching conversational English at my private company. I couldn't do that now that I'm 35 with a family to support. My wife and I are fairly happy working in my home country. We have more opportunities here than if we stayed in Japan.
I completely agree that around 2 years of living and working in the country will give you plenty of experience to decide if you want to keep staying or not. One small thing I've noticed after 8 years is that as my Japanese improved, my social interactions and general joy of staying improved as well! All in all, it's good to give a place a decent chance, which some people don't! Too many people struggle with the language and proper integration (as well as not knowing more about the culture besides anime and video games) which unfortunately ends with people giving up and leaving 3-6 months in.
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel Absolutely agree! Another thing as well that we had discussed was where we would raise kids. We considered living in Japan, but ultimately decided to raise them in my home of Australia, because we wanted them to be able to freely express themselves. Maybe once they've finished school and are are on their own we might consider living in Japan.
it says on a working visa you can’t apply if you’ve had one in the past - if the maximum tenure is 12 months how would we be able to stay for 1.5 / 2 years to find out? :)
@@LukeE94 I’m from Australia so our WHV were 18months instead of the 12 months offered to other countries. In the case of working visas, I’m not entirely sure if they are issued in 12 months periods, so you are able to extend them provided an employer is happy to sponsor your visa. My original comment was more in relation to people having work visas instead of WHV.
Another great video, thanks! This has become my favorite new channel. It's refreshing to hear honest and real reports of how things are out there. Fucking honestly funny too! And keep the rants coming.
I worked in a host club, as a Norwegian/English teacher, yakuza paper company, mountain guide and furniture flipper.. the sky is the limit being a white farang gaijin in Japan-land!
@@jackxavier_expatlensi did it for 6 months 6 days a week mate 11 pm till 6 am . Pissed every night , yakuza, she males and ruzzian girls . Burnt out then went to boring old english teaching and it was office ladies , grannies and school kids. I wouldn’t recommend hosting but i got this job in Syderney with airfares, accommodation, 150000 yen and free rice!! So at the time i thought it was great for a 24 year old surf bum ??
Think I will give this a try. No degree, non-English-speaking (but good) passport, and over 65. Lived in Japan (for 3 years) in the early 1970s, been back a few times. OK in Japanese back then.
Hm, I don’t get it. There is no such thing as self sponsored visa in Japan! I’m freelancer and only two official way that I know is business manager visa and highly skilled professional. Can you please provide any link to the details about that self employed visa?
I've explained it in detail to another comment here. Basically a self employment visa is a standard working visa where you function as your own guarantor/sponsor.
So gutted I didn't do the the holiday Visa when I was younger. Lucky enough to have visited 5 times now but I would like to try live there but I am knocking on 38 now. maybe just stick with the holidays
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel couldn't afford to get to Japan until my late 20s. Still be a dream but I don't have a university education and work in oil and gas in Scotland so no transferrable skills when you've worked your way up a ladder. I live in hope 😂 I always feel at peace in Japan and it is my happy place.
Hey dude, I can't find the self sponser visa you are talking about? When I google it there is many articles saying that such a visa doesn't exist. Where do I apply and what is the name please?
It's basically a nickname for the visa. The way most people do it is to do the working holiday visa first and while on the working holiday you work your own freelance online job as usual and establish a sole proprietorship in Japan. Self sponsorship of a work visa requires you to have minimum ¥250k per month. I've seen that there are some visa sponsor agencies who can sponsor your work visa for a fee, but I don't know if it's in a gray area in the eyes of immigration. jobs.guidable.co/en/articles/work-life-in-japan/self-sponsored-japanese-visa-how-to-sponsor-your-visa-if-you-work-freelance-or-part-time Best of luck my dude
0:30 So you need to have studied in a school from the US or UK? In the list you showed there it only says you need to have citizenship from an English speaking country and doesn't specify anything about the degree. I have dual citizenship (Romanian and American) and English is my native language, I am currently trying to get into a college here in Romania and move to Japan and become a teacher once I finish. Would my application be rejected just because I finished school in Romania even though I have US citizenship and speak natively? I also had an English exam in my last year of high school and got the highest possible grade all across, along with a certification, if that counts for anything. I'd really appreciate if anyone could give me some information about this.
Native English speaker in Japan's view for a visa means 12 years of schooling in English, in an English country (elementary school through high school). You can take the degree elsewhere as long as you complete the bachelor's. They use the "college degree as a minimum" to filter out who gets the visas, and most English teachers I've known here do not have a degree in pedagogy/teaching. You'll be fine with your plan if you wanna teach!
Man just came across your video… had me laughing, very informative, I’ve been In Japan for 7 years Married to a Japanese woman, been an English Teacher for way Toooo long! If it wasn’t for them Pesky kids my life. Would be like a holiday in Hawaii! Got yourself a new subscriber
Back in the 1970s, there was this young guy who came to Tokyo to learn Karate, and obviously did a bit of English teaching on the side. Someone suggested he go to university in UK. So he signed up and during the summer and winter holidays he flew to Tokyo for some 10 weeks, taking over a friend's free-lance teaching schedule while he went on holiday, earning enough to finance his studies/travel. This continued; BA, MA, PhD, black belt 5th dan. Because of the confidence he projected, he was frequently taken for a member of the faculty rather than an undergraduate student. Moved back to Japan, became professor with tenure at a top Japanese university in Tokyo. Asked to conjecture how his life would have turned out if he'd never come to Japan: "I'd have probably ended up in prison." Recently left Japan, took the University's retirement lump sum and ran. Invested heavily in Crypto, made a bomb. Thus now able to afford his previous life style. The moral of this story: Britain drains your confidence, but you can re-invent yourself in a brand new culture. Jack, the Japan Alps Brit
It actually strange that the US is not on the list for working holiday since we actually use to own part of Japan. 13,200+/- usd is actually really low per year it would be challenging not to make that much a year. Do you need a sponsor for that visa or is just show them your tax return for 2 years ?
USA is not on the working holiday list because it is a reciprocal visa and as far as I know, USA don't offer a working holiday scheme to the Japanese. 2m yen per year is relatively low, and on the lower end. If you state that you want to live in a big city like Tokyo, they might require more since the cost of living is higher. Self sponsor visa works if you can show 2 years of income from a remote position / freelance and that you expect steady work of the same level after moving, preferably contracts with clients showing deadlines throughout the first year
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel Also where is the livestream of Shibuya Halloween like every other Jtuber did they run out material for your costume ;) Grats on 1k when you get it. Thanks very useful video
i live in switzerland and thought that i can make me a lot of money. In my job i make things with computers and i would be no problem for Homeoffice. So, can i get a working visa if i homeoffice for switzerland, while living in japan?
what is the self sponsor visa called specifically? I can't find any info on it. I own rental properties that provide me with enough income to live remotely in Japan, would this be applicable under this type of visa?
Search the mofa site for a 'business visa' or 'work visa' . Usually, a busines or work visa gets 'sponsored' by your employer or through a long term (6m-1y) contract with a Japanese client. There are ways to sponsor this yourself or through and immigration lawyer (kind of a gray area where the lawyer will 'sponsor' you).
great video, very helpful. i thought English teaching was basically the only path there. i do wanna teach english in japan tho, cuz im fluent in japanese and english and always wanted to see what if its like anime. but this a good back up
Now there's a Digital Nomad visa for Japan. It's only for 6 months and you have to have a salary of 10,000,000 Yen (~$70,000 USD) per year, but it's an option.
Oooooo very helpful and timely😂 so as a SP freefancer, do you have to be registered with some special site in Japan to prove that you are a freelancer? You just provide them that documentation one time? Lol this sounds like it would be more fitting to my situation
To go that route, you need to set up a sole proprietorship in Japan (immigration lawyer will help) then show you've earned the minimum cap (2-3m yen per year) for 2 years ✌️
I'm reading about the self sponsor visa and it seems to specifically require contract work for Japanese companies. It doesn't work if your clients are based outside of Japan.
In my experience, if you Pivot from a WH or Study visa it's not necessarily required to have Japanese clients. But if you're moving for the first time and want to self sponsor a business visa you'd need either a guarantor (immigration lawyer) or one Japanese client with a 6 month contract, which can be easily done if you're a designer/linguist/programmer and other sought after freelance skillsets.
I'm not doing anymore since salaries are ridiculously low for teachers so I've decided to work in municipal office as a interpreter and to be honest they payin almost 3 times more than teachers. In my opinion best choice is Toeic ( 800 or 850) than you will find interpreter jobs around 350000 400000yen which is quite good
haha all good. Like painting walls, window frames, doors etc for maintenance. I cant find any information about such job in Japan like it doesnt exist. Only found a youtube channel from a company in Yokohama prefecture Kanagawa. But besides them, no results. And nobody even mentions manual labor in Japan at all.
As a qualified native teacher (how we gaijin generally get referred to these days in Japan, rather than the old “foreign teacher”), I took a step down in pay and a few steps up in workload to come from my high school English teacher post in Canada to an Eikawa in Japan. 260, 000 a month and a subsidized apartment. But the tax was less and there was more time to gather private lessons. Now it’s 25 years later and the pay has gone down, and the Eikawa industry has shrunk substantially. Tax has gone way up and the yen is worth much less. Private lessons have dried up or people aren’t willing to pay $50 an hour for one. I would NEVER recommend anyone come to Japan to teach English. Unless…. It’s for a year or two and you don’t desperately need the money and you want to travel in your time off. Then…. It might work for you
True! Unless you have a passion for teaching, an ALT or eikawa job will function as a stepping stone into residency which you then pivot into either IT, scouting or localization. And if you really want to teach as a career, going for a university position would be the main thing. I've known many native teachers the years I've lived here, and most quit after a year to live somewhere else. It is what it is!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel about the stepping up part, point taken! it would be a good stepping stone. I am a tenured university teacher with 21 years experience and it's okay. the pension and retirement package is pathetic. but the independence and creative control is decent. And I agree with you 100%--I have known many native teachers who come and leave. Perhaps the majority. Most because of the passive discrimination and pressurised society I would think.
This almost sounds too good to be true! Really awesome video, I'm really glad I stumbled on it, but I'm having a hard time trying to learn more about this self sponsor visa. Reddit and other content creators make it seem like this isn't even a real thing, do you have any links to articles/official requirements/applications etc where we could read up more on this?😃
Hell yeah! Self sponsor visa is just another name for a work visa through self employment. When you get a work visa here, the employer guarantees your salary, so this is just a work visa where you function as your own guarantor. Too early for me to grab links, but I've replied with several links to several people in the comments if you wanna dig around for it. Otherwise, the Japanese mofa (ministry of foreign affairs) should have a lot of info as well as many immigration lawyer sites (who actually offer a service where they will be the 'sponsor' for the first year). Good luck!
Some English schools do hire people with no college degree as it's just a baseline requirement for most. If you're from a native English speaking country (US/Canada/Aus) this is the prime stepping stone to get in and start here. ... Or hail Mary marriage to some random Japanese person 😂
Hey fatty, fellow fatty here. Great video my guy and some solid advice. I have been wanting to visit Japan for the past 20 years! Now at age 40 I actually am considering buying investment property and moving there within the next five years if everything goes well. Having been working hard towards my goal actually. I would not want to live in central Tokyo, but an hour or so away would be great.
I'm not a freelancer but i have a company (my own company with other business partners) and i work fully remotely. Do you think i can get a Self Sponsor? I wonder what's the process to do it...
im from iceland and i did 1 year exchange to uni, 1 year holiday visa and 1 year work visa and now Im on my 2nd year of spouse visa lol. living in edogawa city(tokyo)
Have been pondering being a tutor like Aristotle to a rich house, ofc dune will be attempted do tutoring how to play it correctly is indeed a worthy expense and expensive
@JustAnotherJapanChannel damn that sucks but I kinda understand 😔 But damn my dad was born in Mexico, so if I couldn't get in from America, I was kinda hoping maybe I could get some Mexico citizenship to weasel my way in but that road was blocked too 😅
Not but very recommended, but it can give you a competitive edge, now especially sense the field is being taken by others, companies look for those who have more skills on that field
I think it's worth noting, you still need a main employer to sponsor the "self-sponsor" visa. It's also worth noting that there is no such thing as a "self-sponsor" visa. It is not a visa category and so it technically doesn’t exist.
It's worth noting that the colloquial term is "self sponsor visa". The visa category is "working visa" where you function as your own sponsor instead of an employer. This can be done by using an immigration lawyer to set up your business/sole proprietorship where you "employ and sponsor" yourself
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel Even those have major caveats. Setting up a business requires some hefty funds to start with, no? Last time I checked, to register as a sole-proprietorship that still requires a person to have one of the following: either be a citizen, married to a citizen, have permanent residency, have a holiday working visa (with no restrictions until the visa expires), work permit with a signed contract with a Japanese company. Right?
Many schengen countries (like my home country Norway) as well as US and Canada can get 90 days x2 (180 days a year). Many other countries has one month or less, it really depends where you're from or what kind of passport you have!
I have been researching this topic. For a number of years now and the self-sponsor visa has come up quite a bit. But it is my understanding that the self-sponsor visa doesn’t technically exist. When I was researching it years ago it seemed to be a continuation of your existing visa based on having multiple employers this time rather than one. For example last year you worked for a school, then you got 3 or 4 other part time jobs and they would continue your humanities visa you would have got from your main school but now it’s multiple schools so you need a self sponsor visa. It is also my understanding that you continue the same visa that you was already on. So in your case it was a working holiday visa so maybe they just continued the conditions of your working holiday visa like some sort of extended working holiday? As far as I am aware you can’t just come straight to Japan on a self sponsored visa right? You already have to have a Humanities, or instructor or in your case working holiday visa to self sponsor? it doesn’t seem that you can simply have clients in Norway and use that to sponsor yourself in Japan is that right?
Self-sponsor visa is basically being able to 'vouch' for yourself, or being able to pay for your own business visa. That's where the minimum ¥200-250k criteria for it comes from. You are right, you can't just up and sponsor your own visa before you move from your own country. Immigration will then be like "why can't you just be where you are to do your business?". The way around that is to either get a Japanese client with a 1 year contract for your freelancing business, move, then ensure you earn the minimum after the contract is done, so you can sponsor your own business visa. They did not extend my working holiday visa, as it has a salary cap as well as a work cap. You can only work max 6 months out of the year on a WH visa. After that, an immigration lawyer can easily show you how to apply for a business visa where you are your own guarantor (or as people call it by slang - a self sponsor visa)
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel wow that's interesting. I didn't know you couldn't work mor than 6 months or that it was salary capped. i worked almost every day of mine. mind that was almost 20 years ago now. I actually just heard about something called the strartup visa {next video i watched after this} but essentially if you have a reasonable business plan you can join a Japanese accelerator from outside the country and you'll be given up to 1 year (depending on the length of the accelerator) to make it viable business and transition to the business administrator visa.
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel Yeah so i hear, so taht makes it alot easier for me, and i will work on getting an N2 level of japanese to open more doors down the line. Also seems alot easier to start businesses in japan compared to where im from.
Let's say you start freelancing late into the year, but still keep your 9-to-5 and the combined income from both your job and freelancing make it over 2 million yen. Does that count, or does it have to be 2 million yen of specifically freelancing income? Also is it 2 million yen before or after income tax? Also is it 2 years as in January-December(or April-March since it is Japan), or a period of 24 months? Sorry to spam you with questions, but as someone preparing to go for working holiday next year and live off of freelance work while on it, having a clear path beyond that one year is very interesting.
From my understanding, the 2m yen a year minimum needs to be from freelancing only, as that is how they gauge if you can make enough at minimum to sustain yourself per year. Beat of luck!
Just to be clear: for the freelancer visa you must already be in Japan, correct? Otherwise why did they create the digital nomad visa where you need 10 million yen a year?
Freelancer visa, or more specifically a self sponsored business visa, indicates that you are going to stay in Japan longer which means paying taxes longer. The digital nomad visa is pretty new, but I'm very sure it has an expiry with no renewal since it's a nomad visa and not a settling one. The 10m a year to qualify might be because it'll benefit Japan to tax that kind of income while people are 'nomading'
That was interesting Fine for younger people like you but, I'm roughly twice your age. Therefore, it seems as if the self sponsored visa is my only real choice. Even though I've been speaking English my entire life, I never finished college. The same old story of life and family first. Now, I am widowed and need to fine someplace not as F'd up as is the USA. Japan is at the top of the list followed by Thailand, Vietnam or someplace else in SE Asia. I'm not wealthy but I can pass the financial requirements, with a little room to spare.
With the self sponsored Visa, do we have to have a job in Japan and earning money or can all the money sustaining our life in 'japan come from over seas, out of Japan? Thanks.
The initial visa is easier to get if you have a 6-12 month contract with a Japanese client, but this can be bypassed by paying a service to be your 'guarantor' the first year. After the first year you only need to show income amount and taxed amount at renewal! (I'm no expert so I'm stating what worked for me)
Working holiday won’t do me any good then as I’m 35 soon… I’m gonna visit for first time next spring, and then maybe one day I’ll move there. Maybe even going to consider a Japanese language course as a way in.😂 also best way to help me learn as I’m doing fuck all at home.
Been living in Japan 14 years with no college degree basic Japanese language level. It's hard. It's expensive. It's stressful. English teaching is low pay and has its challenges.
It is freelance/self employment, but immigration might ask themselves (and you) 'why do you need to be in Japan to do this'. It's very possible though, as income is income!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannelthank you for replying, I thought the same thing, but I wasn’t sure. I wanted to start a tutorial crochet channel and sell my patterns on etsy, but Wasn’t sure if it was considered freelancing
As far as I know, the only way is 'join the army and get stationed in okinawa'. But, there's a new digital nomad visa these days that might be for you. The easiest route for Americans who want to move here is to get a stepping stone job as a teacher (you just need to be a native English speaker) to get into the country. Once you're here, it's easier to find other jobs that will sponsor your visa.
It's not entirely true anymore that you need to be from a native English speaking country. There are plenty of non-native "English" speakers teaching in Japan. Go to a homepage of a school and check their teacher profile page, if they have one. Probably not native English speakers. Also, having a degree, well, that also seems to not be strictly enforced. As long as you have a work permit, you're set.
While true that you can get a teaching gig as long as you look foreign and have passable English, those places have pretty shit salaries from what I've seen. Private eikawas with good salaries prefer natives more and more these days
First you'd need to establish a company/sole proprietorship in Japan. After that, I'd suggest finding an immigration lawyer since it'll be pretty easy to self sponsor a visa with ¥20m a year, since Japan definitely would love a piece of tax on that and an immigration lawyer can make it happen fairly quickly
I knew zero Japanese when I first moved here! Having a good Japanese level before you move will help you get a job at a Japanese company much easier though!
I can't apply for any of these because I'm 51 years old and American. I can sustain myself financially no problem. I'm in Tokyo now for another month on a 3 month tourist visa but want to live here and freelance. So what can I do? too old to apply for any of these visa's
Thank you! Man, so many people ask me that, I should probably put my job in the about section lol. I do a combination of web dev and written SEO content for a particular niche through my own company.
I came across your video and it is very helpful. Japan has been my dream place to live im simce i was 14. Howeve im from a third world country so i can't apply for working holiday visa and even though my japanese is very good, I don't have a degree. I do want to move to japan when i make enough, money
Thank you! There are many people from places that are considered "third world" that get a different kind of visa to come and work at factories in Japan. Even in my little village, there's at least 50 people from southeast Asia and they are all working in the same place. Check if your government has any work exchange deals with Japan and use that as a springboard to other employment and longer stays in Japan. 頑張って!
Man one thing I have to say is that the titles of your videos are such a pleasant contrast to all the standard Japan bs thumbnails. Very nice, you choose topics that are actually interesting, not some generic stuff
Thank you, I really appreciate it!
It's like you knew I was moving to japan and didn't want to teach so made this video exclusively for me. I must purchase every affiliate item and join all the patreons.
😂😂 Glad it helps!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel For what it's worth too - I got a job in Japan lined up for my move in 6 weeks!
(In recruitment)
@@Toogoodxoxowas it a sponsored visa??
@@Toogoodxoxowhat job did you get?
I was thinking about the self sponsor one and after this video my hopes of mooving there skyrocketed, gonna look more into it thank you for the video, I love how easy it is to watch you
Definitely do it! Thanks man!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel just wondering, is it different form the business manager visa? cause that has the requiremente of 5milion capital and 2 employees and I knew only about that one
@@v0idz Yeah, the self sponsor is mostly for freelancers who have a sole proprietorship and just work solo! Business manager visa is used for people who wants to start up a business in Japan with more funds!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel When did this visa came out ? I've checked in the last 3 months all the visa that are available, a few times even and couldn't find a self-sponsor/ freelancer visa that shows up on the list.
Really good video! Super concise and straight to the point, with your own fun personality mixed in! A rare channel on RUclips with no clickbait!
Don’t work for an eikaiwa or as an ALT. However, if you’re up to putting in the time to become high school level literate you can obtain a teaching license from a Japanese university and make 3 times what an ALT makes, have 40 paid holidays above and beyond your weekly 2 days off and 15 national holidays as well as a retirement package of around $150,000 when you retire. That’s the path I took, albeit it took 15 years of diligent study before I was accepted into a teaching licensing program at a Japanese university. I’ve been teaching in Japan for 30 years, 15 as an ALT, 15 as a full-time teacher. I absolutely LOVE my job. It’s the only job I could ever have said that about.
Pivoting into university teaching is the right way for that career path for sure!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel I’m a high school teacher.
@@gordonbgraham lol 40 holidays but you can't take them, unpaid overtime work everyday of the week and bukatsudou on weekends, no thanks mate.
@@cadestrathern1260 You most certainly CAN take them and are encouraged to use them all up. Those you don’t carry over. As of 5 years ago MEXT remotely monitors teachers’ hours to ensure the updated labor laws apply. Those who coach sports clubs like baseball are compensated for overtime. Those of us who run other clubs go home at 5 and don’t work Sundays. We are allotted 2 days a week, Sunday and a weekday that changes annually. Mine was Friday the previous two years and Tuesdays this year. I run a youth ice hockey program outside of school. It’s my passion just as baseball is the passion of those who coach high school baseball. We don’t consider coaching work.
@@cadestrathern1260 Not only CAN you take them you MUST take them. There's no longer such a thing as "unpaid" overtime. All hours are digitally monitored by MEXT to ensure the updated labor laws are followed. Only teachers who run major sports clubs like baseball work on Sundays for which they are paid OT for the entire day. Those of us in charge of minor clubs do so once or twice a week...from 3:30 to 5pm. All teachers are allotted 2 days off a week. This is besides our mandatory 40 days off a year. Those 40 days don't include the 15 national holidays in Japan.
On my last 5-6 months in my Japanese language school, my classmates joked around how English is the worst job to have and how they were looking for jobs in their specific field of work. Then come the last 2 months before graduation, the same classmates are all scrambling around the internet looking to take any English teaching job, even if it’s was working in a daycare. Seeing as how I already had more qualifications and interviews, it was great. Now post-grad, I work and live in Japan with my wife. Life is perfect.
Life is perfect indeed! I'm living in Japan, married and getting paid in € so the weakening yen has been great lol.
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel Hi, I need a job in Japan. Please help me
What qualifications did you obtain to get a better English teaching job?
@@Jaev4 I had already worked as a conversational teacher throughout my two years of school. Then I also completed a 168 hour course for an English teaching license. That’s it. Having an approachable look and personality helps get your foot in the door
Hello how do I migrate
Bro, as a Norwegian gal who wants to work in Japan after I’m done studying, this is literally perfect
Let's go! 🇳🇴🇯🇵
Thanks! This idea was crossing my mind these days. I returned a few days ago from a 21-day vacation in Japan. I know that vacations and living in Japan are very different things, but I wanted to know, and this video is a starter.
I came to Japan on a working holiday visa 10 years ago and have not left since. Never taught English and never will. 10 years later still just absolutely going with the flow living here. Never gets dull
what was you're work visa for then? if not for teaching or IT? That seems to be all there is to do? I know you weren't doing ski resorts when you first came here, unless you had a long term Visa>
Well I was working ski resort in winter and during the summer I was working as a guide in Okinawa. In the summer I met my now wife. After my working holiday visa left to go south east Asia and came back as a tourist and as a British I can get 6 month tourist visa then I change to spouse visa after that
@@mountainswell appreciate the reply , work visa for guide a ski resort nice. Wait a 6 month tourist visa a Brit? I'm American and can only get 3? how did you pull that off? Spousal visa
@@SakeJoe Actually there is a special visa for Ski Instructors at Ski resorts due tot the need for foreign workers. Easy visa to get and dont need a degree. Just need Ski Instructors certificate. Yeh British people can get 3 month tourist visa and can extend another 3 month in country, very easy to do. I guess each nationality has different deals. Yeh i got married to Japanese a few years later and am currently on Spouse visa. Applying for Permanent Residency this year
@@SakeJoe Also..... I been doing Ski seasons my whole 10 years in Japan, thats how i make my money. Last few years i stopped working to concentrate on my own business during the winter
thank you for this info! i've been researching casually and all i see is people who went through the jet program or have a degree w years of experience and now your vid found me! great and concise video, very helpful insight
This was INCREDIBLY helpful! Ive worked from home for years! I need to see if I can do this with my company or go back to freelancing again. Thank you!!
Only just found your channel, but starting to be a fan already, keep it up!
Thank you for watching and the nice words! Lots of content planned this year!
This is super helpful, didn't even know the self sponsor visa exists. Thank you for this video, and the humour too :D
Great info & video, this gives me hope that I might work in japan too, in the future 😊
Nice!
Another awesome video thanks man
Thank you!!
I absolutely cannot thank you enough for this video. I plan on taking a working holiday for a year in Japan, and I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how I would go about trying to live in Japan permanently if I decided I wanted to continue living in Japan. Then, I saw the part of your video on the self sponsor visa and lost my mind. I'm already working freelance as a video editor earning over 2mil yen per year. Obviously, I'm going to need to do more research into it to figure out if it will work for me, but having those two pre-requisites down already has me very excited for my possible future in Japan!
Edit: I do have a follow-up question based off some of the research I've done. In the places that I've looked for information on this visa, they seem to pretty heavily imply that the main company I freelance for has to be Japanese, but the company I mainly work for is American. Whilst they don't outright say that is the case, they certainly imply it by saying that the company has to stamp their inkan on one of the letters. I just wanted to know if I would be safe to go down this route even with my main client being American?
Awesome!
I did my working holiday visa and paid tax on all earnings, and the work I did during it was as a freelancer with only foreign (to Japan) clients. I recommend, along with an immigration lawyer, to figure out a plan where you can make a Japanese some proprietorship, using the lawyer as sort of a guarantor, and apply for the self sponsored business visa at the same time. This is what I did, but many years ago so some things might have changed.
You could also try to get an on-site job editing for a Japanese company during the working holiday and try to get a full time contract with them as a spring board into residency, as many people do with teaching english. Once you got a business visa sponsored by them, it's easy to make the sole proprietorship and pivot into a self sponsored one. But going directly from working holiday to self sponsored business visa is doable, but hard. So I completely recommend hiring an immigration lawyer for it! Best of luck!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel Thanks ahead of time, that really means a lot! I'm looking forward to seeing what you manage to figure out!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel I really appreciate all your help with researching and writing out that information for me, it's helped a lot!
I think my plan now is to try and get in touch with an immigration lawyer before I go to Japan on the working holiday to get the knowledge of everything I'll need to do during that holiday to put myself in the best position, hopefully without having to take on extra work since my current client is already a 40 hour work week on average.
Luckily I do have the added advantage of the client I work for being the owner of an indie 3D anime animation studio with plans to set up a studio in Japan over the next year or two, so if that works out I imagine he should be able to grant me anything I need in terms of sponsorship through that business.
Thanks once again for the help!
Oh hell yeah this is legit. I have very good friends that want me to stay in japan, I already have a place to live and everything. I was tripping out about a work visa thinking wtf am I supposed to do about that. Little did I know, until I watched this video, about the self sponsored visa. I already work remote as a freelancer making well more than 2mil yen. Welp there goes that problem already! Thanks!
👌👌
I'll forever regret not knowing about the under 30 working holiday visa. Fingers crossed I'll be able to manage something when I finish my degree.
Same I was so annoyed with a few famous jtubers that use the program but never mentioned it until like a decade later
To be fair, it's hard to search for something you don't know exists. Anyway, Japan is half the reason I'm doing a university degree now in hopes that I can ease the job hunting process (besides, I didn't want to do my old job anymore so it evens out).
@@Acatia2what your degree? (I'm a college student as well & want to change my major so I ask everyone ab their degree 😭)
@@lumii903 translation. Mind you the recent year seems to have fucked me over on that decision. You?
@@Acatia2 I am a returning college student at the age of 29 majoring in Japanese language in hopes of being able to land a job in Japan after I graduate, but I am also specifically interested in JSL and teaching the Japanese deaf ASL so they can have a better chance communicating in the states
I traveled to Japan for the first time 2 months ago. It was very cool, and I'm interested in working there for a year or two to see if I can stand the paperwork and regulations. I have no degree, but I've been working 6 years since I graduated high school. I'm well on my way to becoming an engineer. I'm considering applying as a civilian engineer in the US army in Japan, but I want to reach N2 and focus on building my finances first. I'm going to take the N3 exam this December. Depending on how my career and finances go, I might hit N1 before I try to work in Japan. Until then, I'll probably just travel to Japan as a yearly vacation.
Smart way to do it!
I like your humor, keep it up man
New subscriber. I’m 38 this year and dream of coming to Japan. I have kids and want to wait until they are a little older before bringing them, but I work for an international company and we have offices in Tokyo. It’s something I hope to rotate through eventually.
Thanks for the view and sub! To have the opportunity to maybe work at their JP offices some day sounds amazing!
In the meantime, I’m studying the language and grammar to help improve my chances.
just stumbled upon your video and I find it absolutely hilarious!
Most useful piece of information I think was just around the 4:19 mark 🤙🏽
Thank you finally someone who talks about other possibilities than Teaching English or Working Holiday visa because as 34 yo man who is from non english speaking country and is not rich there is very little possibilities and i honestly though it would be imposible but person should never stop reaching for his dream right?
A dream stays a dream only if you stop going for it!
“Hello Work”is not a company but a govt. agency.
Well Stewart, looks like I have to pull out the 'English is not my first language' card on that one dawg
Don't forget you don't need a TEFL certificate to get on the JET programme, as the programme has little connection to teaching.
I’m 28 now, moved to Japan at 22. I regret not seeing a video like this. I did English teaching through one of the big eikaiwas. While JAPAN itself is beautiful and I enjoyed LIVING there. God I hated working there. I hated the children , I hated the work hours. In work by 12 PM , at home 11PM Tuesday-Saturday. I literally lived for the weekends and even though I was in Japan that’s no way to live. Wish I just visited instead and did a working holiday visa in South Korea.
Thats brutal mate . I did a 3 year working holiday visa and could only work 20 hours a week legally 5 to 9 months to fri but for some reason OT didnt count so if i needed extra cash i did this often earning more than the FT guys . Stole students for private’s then had plenty of time to surf and snowboard.
@@lucasgamezzzvincent1642 hi, I’m confused since usually the working holiday visa is for a year? Thanks
@@rimsha- yer mate when i first went in 94 i got 18 months then went back in 97 and got 18 more 2 wh visas because back then many Japanese wanted to come to Aus but not many Aussies wanted to go there so to even up the numbers they gave you another one.
Hej! Intressant video. :) Its funny that RUclips recommends a lot of how to move to Japan etc videos for me but hey I’m here for it lol. It’s great to see! I’ll subscribe to your channel. :) greetings from Sweden
Tack tack!
Super helpful vid, thanks !
I did a working holiday visa in Japan back in 2007. I met my wife at the English conversation company we both worked at.
From my experience, 1.5 to 2 years is generally the time it takes for people to know if living and working in Japan is right for them.
I have friends that still live and work in Japan now since 2007.
Like myself, I also know people that realised that after 2 years they were no longer interested in living/working in Japan.
Some of my friends knew they didn't want to stay but still stayed for a few more years before they found a different job back home / other countries.
In my case, I had enough teaching conversational English at my private company. I couldn't do that now that I'm 35 with a family to support.
My wife and I are fairly happy working in my home country. We have more opportunities here than if we stayed in Japan.
I completely agree that around 2 years of living and working in the country will give you plenty of experience to decide if you want to keep staying or not. One small thing I've noticed after 8 years is that as my Japanese improved, my social interactions and general joy of staying improved as well!
All in all, it's good to give a place a decent chance, which some people don't! Too many people struggle with the language and proper integration (as well as not knowing more about the culture besides anime and video games) which unfortunately ends with people giving up and leaving 3-6 months in.
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel Absolutely agree!
Another thing as well that we had discussed was where we would raise kids.
We considered living in Japan, but ultimately decided to raise them in my home of Australia, because we wanted them to be able to freely express themselves.
Maybe once they've finished school and are are on their own we might consider living in Japan.
it says on a working visa you can’t apply if you’ve had one in the past - if the maximum tenure is 12 months how would we be able to stay for 1.5 / 2 years to find out? :)
@@LukeE94 I’m from Australia so our WHV were 18months instead of the 12 months offered to other countries.
In the case of working visas, I’m not entirely sure if they are issued in 12 months periods, so you are able to extend them provided an employer is happy to sponsor your visa.
My original comment was more in relation to people having work visas instead of WHV.
Obscenely informative 🤘
good video man💯 (I instantly you were nordic hehe, my two favorite countried in one vid)
Thank you!!
Liked and subscribed, thank you for the informative video!
Thanks for watching!
your self deprecating humor is on point
Another great video, thanks! This has become my favorite new channel. It's refreshing to hear honest and real reports of how things are out there. Fucking honestly funny too! And keep the rants coming.
Thank you so much for the very kind words! Appreciate ya!
I worked in a host club, as a Norwegian/English teacher, yakuza paper company, mountain guide and furniture flipper.. the sky is the limit being a white farang gaijin in Japan-land!
😂😂😂
Host club??? What was that like?
I wish I was White like you🤍 🥺😢
@@jackxavier_expatlensi did it for 6 months 6 days a week mate 11 pm till 6 am . Pissed every night , yakuza, she males and ruzzian girls . Burnt out then went to boring old english teaching and it was office ladies , grannies and school kids. I wouldn’t recommend hosting but i got this job in Syderney with airfares, accommodation, 150000 yen and free rice!! So at the time i thought it was great for a 24 year old surf bum ??
@@jackxavier_expatlensbelieve it or not i got way more girlie action teaching office ladies than night work!
Think I will give this a try. No degree, non-English-speaking (but good) passport, and over 65. Lived in Japan (for 3 years) in the early 1970s, been back a few times. OK in Japanese back then.
I like your sense of humor.
Thank you!
Hm, I don’t get it. There is no such thing as self sponsored visa in Japan! I’m freelancer and only two official way that I know is business manager visa and highly skilled professional. Can you please provide any link to the details about that self employed visa?
I've explained it in detail to another comment here. Basically a self employment visa is a standard working visa where you function as your own guarantor/sponsor.
@ Thank you for clarification, so your dependents can’t work as I understand. But it’s still good to know, thanks!
So gutted I didn't do the the holiday Visa when I was younger. Lucky enough to have visited 5 times now but I would like to try live there but I am knocking on 38 now. maybe just stick with the holidays
It's so weird that there's a limit for the working holiday!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel couldn't afford to get to Japan until my late 20s. Still be a dream but I don't have a university education and work in oil and gas in Scotland so no transferrable skills when you've worked your way up a ladder. I live in hope 😂 I always feel at peace in Japan and it is my happy place.
Hey dude, I can't find the self sponser visa you are talking about? When I google it there is many articles saying that such a visa doesn't exist. Where do I apply and what is the name please?
It's basically a nickname for the visa. The way most people do it is to do the working holiday visa first and while on the working holiday you work your own freelance online job as usual and establish a sole proprietorship in Japan. Self sponsorship of a work visa requires you to have minimum ¥250k per month. I've seen that there are some visa sponsor agencies who can sponsor your work visa for a fee, but I don't know if it's in a gray area in the eyes of immigration.
jobs.guidable.co/en/articles/work-life-in-japan/self-sponsored-japanese-visa-how-to-sponsor-your-visa-if-you-work-freelance-or-part-time
Best of luck my dude
duuude, the BURP! haha that was unexpected and funny. Thanks for the video bro
Haha thanks for watching man!
0:30 So you need to have studied in a school from the US or UK? In the list you showed there it only says you need to have citizenship from an English speaking country and doesn't specify anything about the degree. I have dual citizenship (Romanian and American) and English is my native language, I am currently trying to get into a college here in Romania and move to Japan and become a teacher once I finish. Would my application be rejected just because I finished school in Romania even though I have US citizenship and speak natively? I also had an English exam in my last year of high school and got the highest possible grade all across, along with a certification, if that counts for anything. I'd really appreciate if anyone could give me some information about this.
Native English speaker in Japan's view for a visa means 12 years of schooling in English, in an English country (elementary school through high school). You can take the degree elsewhere as long as you complete the bachelor's. They use the "college degree as a minimum" to filter out who gets the visas, and most English teachers I've known here do not have a degree in pedagogy/teaching. You'll be fine with your plan if you wanna teach!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel Thank you for replying!
Man just came across your video… had me laughing, very informative, I’ve been In Japan for 7 years Married to a Japanese woman, been an English Teacher for way Toooo long! If it wasn’t for them Pesky kids my life. Would be like a holiday in Hawaii!
Got yourself a new subscriber
Back in the 1970s, there was this young guy who came to Tokyo to learn Karate, and obviously did a bit of English teaching on the side. Someone suggested he go to university in UK. So he signed up and during the summer and winter holidays he flew to Tokyo for some 10 weeks, taking over a friend's free-lance teaching schedule while he went on holiday, earning enough to finance his studies/travel. This continued; BA, MA, PhD, black belt 5th dan. Because of the confidence he projected, he was frequently taken for a member of the faculty rather than an undergraduate student. Moved back to Japan, became professor with tenure at a top Japanese university in Tokyo. Asked to conjecture how his life would have turned out if he'd never come to Japan: "I'd have probably ended up in prison."
Recently left Japan, took the University's retirement lump sum and ran. Invested heavily in Crypto, made a bomb. Thus now able to afford his previous life style.
The moral of this story: Britain drains your confidence, but you can re-invent yourself in a brand new culture.
Jack, the Japan Alps Brit
It actually strange that the US is not on the list for working holiday since we actually use to own part of Japan. 13,200+/- usd is actually really low per year it would be challenging not to make that much a year. Do you need a sponsor for that visa or is just show them your tax return for 2 years ?
USA is not on the working holiday list because it is a reciprocal visa and as far as I know, USA don't offer a working holiday scheme to the Japanese.
2m yen per year is relatively low, and on the lower end. If you state that you want to live in a big city like Tokyo, they might require more since the cost of living is higher.
Self sponsor visa works if you can show 2 years of income from a remote position / freelance and that you expect steady work of the same level after moving, preferably contracts with clients showing deadlines throughout the first year
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel Also where is the livestream of Shibuya Halloween like every other Jtuber did they run out material for your costume ;) Grats on 1k when you get it. Thanks very useful video
My dream is to live in a countryside town/village in Japan. But is there a school to teach English there?
I live in the countryside and there are multiple English schools in my tiny town!
i live in switzerland and thought that i can make me a lot of money. In my job i make things with computers and i would be no problem for Homeoffice.
So, can i get a working visa if i homeoffice for switzerland, while living in japan?
You could technically sponsor your own work visa, just like I did. I had mainly NA/EU clients and no japanese clients when I did it back in the day
what is the self sponsor visa called specifically? I can't find any info on it.
I own rental properties that provide me with enough income to live remotely in Japan, would this be applicable under this type of visa?
Search the mofa site for a 'business visa' or 'work visa' . Usually, a busines or work visa gets 'sponsored' by your employer or through a long term (6m-1y) contract with a Japanese client. There are ways to sponsor this yourself or through and immigration lawyer (kind of a gray area where the lawyer will 'sponsor' you).
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel copy that, thank you for the info boss. liked and subbed
great video, very helpful. i thought English teaching was basically the only path there. i do wanna teach english in japan tho, cuz im fluent in japanese and english and always wanted to see what if its like anime. but this a good back up
Now there's a Digital Nomad visa for Japan. It's only for 6 months and you have to have a salary of 10,000,000 Yen (~$70,000 USD) per year, but it's an option.
Yeah, that is good news for people from the US or any other country without the possibility of working holiday!
That’s if the job market in USA isn’t a hot mess right now lol. I couldn’t even get simple entry level data analyst jr role position 😂
W content. thanks a lot bro!
Oooooo very helpful and timely😂 so as a SP freefancer, do you have to be registered with some special site in Japan to prove that you are a freelancer? You just provide them that documentation one time? Lol this sounds like it would be more fitting to my situation
To go that route, you need to set up a sole proprietorship in Japan (immigration lawyer will help) then show you've earned the minimum cap (2-3m yen per year) for 2 years ✌️
I'm reading about the self sponsor visa and it seems to specifically require contract work for Japanese companies. It doesn't work if your clients are based outside of Japan.
In my experience, if you Pivot from a WH or Study visa it's not necessarily required to have Japanese clients. But if you're moving for the first time and want to self sponsor a business visa you'd need either a guarantor (immigration lawyer) or one Japanese client with a 6 month contract, which can be easily done if you're a designer/linguist/programmer and other sought after freelance skillsets.
I'm not doing anymore since salaries are ridiculously low for teachers so I've decided to work in municipal office as a interpreter and to be honest they payin almost 3 times more than teachers. In my opinion best choice is Toeic ( 800 or 850) than you will find interpreter jobs around 350000 400000yen which is quite good
Awesome! Interpreting is indeed a way to go!
How much work is there for a foreigner maintenance painter, since thats my job here :)
Absolutely no idea lol
haha all good. Like painting walls, window frames, doors etc for maintenance. I cant find any information about such job in Japan like it doesnt exist. Only found a youtube channel from a company in Yokohama prefecture Kanagawa. But besides them, no results. And nobody even mentions manual labor in Japan at all.
Hey do the self-sponsor or freelance visa exists? I can't find info on that anywhere.
Self sponsor visa is just the slang term for it, it is a business/work visa where you function as your own guarantor/sponsor with your own funds.
@JustAnotherJapanChannel thanx!
As a qualified native teacher (how we gaijin generally get referred to these days in Japan, rather than the old “foreign teacher”), I took a step down in pay and a few steps up in workload to come from my high school English teacher post in Canada to an Eikawa in Japan. 260, 000 a month and a subsidized apartment.
But the tax was less and there was more time to gather private lessons.
Now it’s 25 years later and the pay has gone down, and the Eikawa industry has shrunk substantially.
Tax has gone way up and the yen is worth much less.
Private lessons have dried up or people aren’t willing to pay $50 an hour for one.
I would NEVER recommend anyone come to Japan to teach English. Unless…. It’s for a year or two and you don’t desperately need the money and you want to travel in your time off. Then…. It might work for you
True! Unless you have a passion for teaching, an ALT or eikawa job will function as a stepping stone into residency which you then pivot into either IT, scouting or localization. And if you really want to teach as a career, going for a university position would be the main thing.
I've known many native teachers the years I've lived here, and most quit after a year to live somewhere else. It is what it is!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel about the stepping up part, point taken! it would be a good stepping stone. I am a tenured university teacher with 21 years experience and it's okay. the pension and retirement package is pathetic. but the independence and creative control is decent. And I agree with you 100%--I have known many native teachers who come and leave. Perhaps the majority. Most because of the passive discrimination and pressurised society I would think.
This almost sounds too good to be true! Really awesome video, I'm really glad I stumbled on it, but I'm having a hard time trying to learn more about this self sponsor visa. Reddit and other content creators make it seem like this isn't even a real thing, do you have any links to articles/official requirements/applications etc where we could read up more on this?😃
Hell yeah! Self sponsor visa is just another name for a work visa through self employment. When you get a work visa here, the employer guarantees your salary, so this is just a work visa where you function as your own guarantor.
Too early for me to grab links, but I've replied with several links to several people in the comments if you wanna dig around for it. Otherwise, the Japanese mofa (ministry of foreign affairs) should have a lot of info as well as many immigration lawyer sites (who actually offer a service where they will be the 'sponsor' for the first year). Good luck!
What about for someone like me who’s 33 and don’t have any college degree
Some English schools do hire people with no college degree as it's just a baseline requirement for most. If you're from a native English speaking country (US/Canada/Aus) this is the prime stepping stone to get in and start here.
... Or hail Mary marriage to some random Japanese person 😂
There's also the startup visa too. You could make a video about that!
Good suggestion! There's also a new digital nomad visa that came out after I made the video!
Im curious about the self sponsorship one. Could you make a video going into more detail? Thank you!
Hey fatty, fellow fatty here. Great video my guy and some solid advice. I have been wanting to visit Japan for the past 20 years! Now at age 40 I actually am considering buying investment property and moving there within the next five years if everything goes well. Having been working hard towards my goal actually. I would not want to live in central Tokyo, but an hour or so away would be great.
Hope you'll make it! It's a very nice place to both visit and live! (even as a fatty)
I'm not a freelancer but i have a company (my own company with other business partners) and i work fully remotely. Do you think i can get a Self Sponsor? I wonder what's the process to do it...
If you get some Japanese clients, that's the easiest way to get a self sponsored business visa here!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel thank you so much! Gonna try it out!
im from iceland and i did 1 year exchange to uni, 1 year holiday visa and 1 year work visa and now Im on my 2nd year of spouse visa lol. living in edogawa city(tokyo)
holy shit the sound bite for australia was perfect
Have been pondering being a tutor like Aristotle to a rich house, ofc dune will be attempted do tutoring how to play it correctly is indeed a worthy expense and expensive
Damn... idk if im just blind but i tired looking it up... i dont think America is eligible for the work visa 18-30 😢
Unfortunately, working holiday visa is not issued to US citizens!
@JustAnotherJapanChannel damn that sucks but I kinda understand 😔
But damn my dad was born in Mexico, so if I couldn't get in from America, I was kinda hoping maybe I could get some Mexico citizenship to weasel my way in but that road was blocked too 😅
If you are applying as ALT the TEFL is not required.
Not but very recommended, but it can give you a competitive edge, now especially sense the field is being taken by others, companies look for those who have more skills on that field
I think it's worth noting, you still need a main employer to sponsor the "self-sponsor" visa. It's also worth noting that there is no such thing as a "self-sponsor" visa. It is not a visa category and so it technically doesn’t exist.
It's worth noting that the colloquial term is "self sponsor visa". The visa category is "working visa" where you function as your own sponsor instead of an employer. This can be done by using an immigration lawyer to set up your business/sole proprietorship where you "employ and sponsor" yourself
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel Even those have major caveats.
Setting up a business requires some hefty funds to start with, no?
Last time I checked, to register as a sole-proprietorship that still requires a person to have one of the following: either be a citizen, married to a citizen, have permanent residency, have a holiday working visa (with no restrictions until the visa expires), work permit with a signed contract with a Japanese company. Right?
What if I want to open my own language school in Japan, "how to talk like a real American" and everything that implies
You can join the ranks of the many private schools here! They only teach American English which is why they prefer Americans / Canadians😂
Going for the self sponsor visa, how long does it last?
It needs to be renewed on a yearly basis, and you have to bring income/tax papers for each renewal.
Isnt it a 90 day tourist visa now?
Many schengen countries (like my home country Norway) as well as US and Canada can get 90 days x2 (180 days a year). Many other countries has one month or less, it really depends where you're from or what kind of passport you have!
You talked about how you won’t be positioned in Tokyo center, I’m glad about that, if I got put in a countryside town I’d be happy
I am an avid inaka (countryside) enjoyer and certified Tokyo hater, but I know most people who wanna come here will be like Tokyoooooo
I have been researching this topic. For a number of years now and the self-sponsor visa has come up quite a bit. But it is my understanding that the self-sponsor visa doesn’t technically exist. When I was researching it years ago it seemed to be a continuation of your existing visa based on having multiple employers this time rather than one. For example last year you worked for a school, then you got 3 or 4 other part time jobs and they would continue your humanities visa you would have got from your main school but now it’s multiple schools so you need a self sponsor visa.
It is also my understanding that you continue the same visa that you was already on. So in your case it was a working holiday visa so maybe they just continued the conditions of your working holiday visa like some sort of extended working holiday?
As far as I am aware you can’t just come straight to Japan on a self sponsored visa right? You already have to have a Humanities, or instructor or in your case working holiday visa to self sponsor?
it doesn’t seem that you can simply have clients in Norway and use that to sponsor yourself in Japan is that right?
Self-sponsor visa is basically being able to 'vouch' for yourself, or being able to pay for your own business visa. That's where the minimum ¥200-250k criteria for it comes from.
You are right, you can't just up and sponsor your own visa before you move from your own country. Immigration will then be like "why can't you just be where you are to do your business?". The way around that is to either get a Japanese client with a 1 year contract for your freelancing business, move, then ensure you earn the minimum after the contract is done, so you can sponsor your own business visa.
They did not extend my working holiday visa, as it has a salary cap as well as a work cap. You can only work max 6 months out of the year on a WH visa. After that, an immigration lawyer can easily show you how to apply for a business visa where you are your own guarantor (or as people call it by slang - a self sponsor visa)
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel wow that's interesting. I didn't know you couldn't work mor than 6 months or that it was salary capped. i worked almost every day of mine. mind that was almost 20 years ago now.
I actually just heard about something called the strartup visa {next video i watched after this} but essentially if you have a reasonable business plan you can join a Japanese accelerator from outside the country and you'll be given up to 1 year (depending on the length of the accelerator) to make it viable business and transition to the business administrator visa.
Ill be on a spousal visa but will start with english teaching and thrn suss out other options later
Spouse visa let's you do pretty much anything (within the confines of the law)
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel Yeah so i hear, so taht makes it alot easier for me, and i will work on getting an N2 level of japanese to open more doors down the line. Also seems alot easier to start businesses in japan compared to where im from.
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel I guess drug trafficking is off the table then. Damn
Let's say you start freelancing late into the year, but still keep your 9-to-5 and the combined income from both your job and freelancing make it over 2 million yen. Does that count, or does it have to be 2 million yen of specifically freelancing income? Also is it 2 million yen before or after income tax? Also is it 2 years as in January-December(or April-March since it is Japan), or a period of 24 months?
Sorry to spam you with questions, but as someone preparing to go for working holiday next year and live off of freelance work while on it, having a clear path beyond that one year is very interesting.
From my understanding, the 2m yen a year minimum needs to be from freelancing only, as that is how they gauge if you can make enough at minimum to sustain yourself per year. Beat of luck!
Just to be clear: for the freelancer visa you must already be in Japan, correct? Otherwise why did they create the digital nomad visa where you need 10 million yen a year?
Freelancer visa, or more specifically a self sponsored business visa, indicates that you are going to stay in Japan longer which means paying taxes longer. The digital nomad visa is pretty new, but I'm very sure it has an expiry with no renewal since it's a nomad visa and not a settling one. The 10m a year to qualify might be because it'll benefit Japan to tax that kind of income while people are 'nomading'
That was interesting Fine for younger people like you but, I'm roughly twice your age. Therefore, it seems as if the self sponsored visa is my only real choice. Even though I've been speaking English my entire life, I never finished college. The same old story of life and family first. Now, I am widowed and need to fine someplace not as F'd up as is the USA. Japan is at the top of the list followed by Thailand, Vietnam or someplace else in SE Asia. I'm not wealthy but I can pass the financial requirements, with a little room to spare.
With the self sponsored Visa, do we have to have a job in Japan and earning money or can all the money sustaining our life in 'japan come from over seas, out of Japan? Thanks.
The initial visa is easier to get if you have a 6-12 month contract with a Japanese client, but this can be bypassed by paying a service to be your 'guarantor' the first year. After the first year you only need to show income amount and taxed amount at renewal! (I'm no expert so I'm stating what worked for me)
Does the self-sponsoring option have any japanese language proficiency requirement?
Not that I remember. I knew 0 Japanese when I did mine!
I'd like to live in Japan for one year at least. I am a Canadian expat living in Romania.
Working holiday won’t do me any good then as I’m 35 soon… I’m gonna visit for first time next spring, and then maybe one day I’ll move there. Maybe even going to consider a Japanese language course as a way in.😂 also best way to help me learn as I’m doing fuck all at home.
There are multiple language schools that sponsor a student visa for you! Definitely recommend visiting first to get a feel for the country 🇯🇵
Where is the self sponsored visa on Japanese website? i can’t find it.
Self sponsor is basically a slang term for "business visa where you are your own guarantor". Check business visas
Been living in Japan 14 years with no college degree basic Japanese language level. It's hard. It's expensive. It's stressful. English teaching is low pay and has its challenges.
Are there any art jobs/opportunities? It’s the only thing I’m good at tbh
You'd have to contact places related to art and try to find jobs there. Might be difficult with the language barrier
@ thanks for response
for the self-sponsored visa is it 2M yen in profit or just sales? Just sales would be great!
2m yen per year in income!
I have a question. Is a RUclipsr (or gaming youtuber) considered freelancing? So can i get a self sponsored visa with that?
It is freelance/self employment, but immigration might ask themselves (and you) 'why do you need to be in Japan to do this'. It's very possible though, as income is income!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannelthank you for replying, I thought the same thing, but I wasn’t sure. I wanted to start a tutorial crochet channel and sell my patterns on etsy, but Wasn’t sure if it was considered freelancing
I'm 25 turning 26 this year and I'm pursuing a degree in ba english is it possible to move in japan between the age of 29 to 30 years
No problem at all, and if you have a BA in English you'll easily be able to get a job that sorts your work visa for you
What did you do for work on the freelance visa?
Same as I'm doing right now, translations and web dev!
Is there a WHV Program equivalent for Americans looking to move to japan?
As far as I know, the only way is 'join the army and get stationed in okinawa'. But, there's a new digital nomad visa these days that might be for you.
The easiest route for Americans who want to move here is to get a stepping stone job as a teacher (you just need to be a native English speaker) to get into the country. Once you're here, it's easier to find other jobs that will sponsor your visa.
コンピュターエンジニアは日本で結構稼げるって聞いたことあります。昔、４０歳くらいの男性のアメリカ人と知り合ったんだけど。彼は日本語はほとんど話せませんでした。彼はコンピューターエンジニアとして日本で働いていて「もうアメリカには帰らない。日本でずっと暮らすんだ」って言ってました。週末はサーフィンしたりして、余裕がある生活ができてる様子でしたね。
そうです。日本に拠点を置く外資系企業のコンピューターエンジニアは夢のような仕事です! ラッキー
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel 彼はアメリカにいた時はコンピューターエンジニアではなかったんです。仕事もなくてコンピューターオタクだったらしいです。でも日本に来たら彼のコンピューターと英語のスキルは価値があったんですね。ラッキーでした。彼が働いる会社はアメリカ企業の日本ブランチです。とても有名な会社です。飛行機作ってる会社です。
It's not entirely true anymore that you need to be from a native English speaking country. There are plenty of non-native "English" speakers teaching in Japan. Go to a homepage of a school and check their teacher profile page, if they have one. Probably not native English speakers. Also, having a degree, well, that also seems to not be strictly enforced. As long as you have a work permit, you're set.
While true that you can get a teaching gig as long as you look foreign and have passable English, those places have pretty shit salaries from what I've seen. Private eikawas with good salaries prefer natives more and more these days
How do I get a self sponcer visa? I am working in Japan but have got remote opportunity with over 20 million yen in my home country. Where do I begin?
First you'd need to establish a company/sole proprietorship in Japan. After that, I'd suggest finding an immigration lawyer since it'll be pretty easy to self sponsor a visa with ¥20m a year, since Japan definitely would love a piece of tax on that and an immigration lawyer can make it happen fairly quickly
does all of this applies if you know around a n4 level japanese? hi from Argentina :)
I knew zero Japanese when I first moved here! Having a good Japanese level before you move will help you get a job at a Japanese company much easier though!
I have a bachelor in IT field do i have a chance to work and live in japan?
Absolutely. If you use a recruitment agency like Skillhouse they'll find you an IT job that also sponsors your visa!
I can't apply for any of these because I'm 51 years old and American. I can sustain myself financially no problem. I'm in Tokyo now for another month on a 3 month tourist visa but want to live here and freelance. So what can I do? too old to apply for any of these visa's
You can sponsor your own visa at any age, look into the various work visas!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel appreciate the reply. buy no such thing as a "self sponsor" visa only work.
I turn 31 in 2 months and I'm mad about it
nice video, what kind of freelancing job did/do you have if I may ask?
Thank you! Man, so many people ask me that, I should probably put my job in the about section lol.
I do a combination of web dev and written SEO content for a particular niche through my own company.
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel Ah thats interesting
I came across your video and it is very helpful. Japan has been my dream place to live im simce i was 14. Howeve im from a third world country so i can't apply for working holiday visa and even though my japanese is very good, I don't have a degree. I do want to move to japan when i make enough, money
Thank you!
There are many people from places that are considered "third world" that get a different kind of visa to come and work at factories in Japan. Even in my little village, there's at least 50 people from southeast Asia and they are all working in the same place. Check if your government has any work exchange deals with Japan and use that as a springboard to other employment and longer stays in Japan. 頑張って!
@@JustAnotherJapanChannel thank you very much for your positive comment! I will give it a try and also give you a follow bc you're very helpful🥹💗