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what are my options... (self.movingtojapan)

submitted by at1515

I have been in japan about 1.5 years. I live with my girlfriend, she is 37 and I am 27. I am very fortunate she takes care of me, I have no job. I am a u.s. citizen so i leave japan for a week or so every 90 days. There seems to be more and more questioning as time has gone to exactly what i am doing. I always just say i have no job and show pictures of my girlfriend and things seem ok but im very concerned long term if something could happen. Am i in the clear here? I figured even if thoroughly investigated, I absolutely do not work in japan so I would think as a permanent tourist I would be allowed to keep living here as long as there is financial backing.

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[–]Its5somewhere 19 points20 points  (6 children)

Get a job in the u.s.?

Get an education?

I don't know how anyone could live with their foreign gf (or any gf/bf) "taking care of me" for any period of time.

You're 27. You're not a baby anymore. She leaves you? Then what? Sleep in your parents basement?

Forget her and forget Japan for a minute. Better yourself from within. Get an education and/or experience so that you can 'take care of' yourself instead of relying on your partner to do so. Personally I'd be embarrassed if I were in your shoes but that's just me.

Better yourself and THEN look at your options. This is probably where your internal questions are coming from. I wouldn't suggest marrying her because you don't have anything going for you at the age of 27. You marry her, she files for a divorce because she's tired of pulling all the work and then what? You've got nothing and you may be in your 30's by then and it'll be much harder to start something then.

Build yourself up right now.

/u/tokyohoon already touched on the immigration part but I wanted to touch on the personal "There seems to be more and more questioning as time has gone to exactly what i am doing."

What you're doing is setting yourself up for a life of nothing but relying on other people. Fix that.

[–]tokyohoonPermanent Resident 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Eh, he wants to mooch off his sugar momma that’s his prerogative. He’s 27, looks fade. He’ll figure that out soon enough.

[–]trynottogetbannedlol 1 point2 points  (0 children)

why? dude is happy and livin a chill life. getting jobs and educations are the normal path for vanilla people. this nigga wants to be chocolate. stop being jealous.

[–]laika_catWorking in Japan 1 point2 points  (2 children)

This needs to be near the top of the post: He has a degree.

He can get a work visa teaching English NO PROBLEM.

I'm so confused.

[–]tokyohoonPermanent Resident 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Nothing confusing. He's happy mooching off his sugar mama and doesn't want to actually have to work, and is throwing tantrums because people won't tell him he can do it.

[–]Its5somewhere [score hidden]  (0 children)

Doesn't want a real job, doesn't want to marry the sugar mama.

Oh well. No matter what happens after this, OP won't find their way into Japan otherwise so no worries of mine.

[–]tokyohoonPermanent Resident 11 points12 points  (11 children)

You’re lucky you haven’t been deported yet. You’re not supposed to spend more than 180 days in a one year period in Japan on a visa waver.

Good chance you’ll be denied entry on your next visit, and honestly VERY surprised it didn’t happen on your third entry.

[–]Tannerleaf 7 points8 points  (0 children)

American joke?

[–]woofiegrrl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just because you haven't been stopped yet doesn't mean it won't happen. I think you know you're not "in the clear" or you wouldn't be asking the question.

You're not technically an overstayer yet, because you keep doing visa runs. It's possible to get on the straight and narrow with immigration, but your options are pretty limited - your best bets are getting a job or marrying your benefactor.

If neither of these are an option for you, discuss with her how you will handle it when you are denied entry. Even if it never happens, you should have that conversation in advance, so if it DOES happen you know what you're doing.

[–]takatori 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How long do you expect this sugar mommy situation to last?

Do you have no self-pride or ambition?

[–]takatori 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Calling copy-kun ... JCJ needs you!

[–]kancolle_nigga 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just marry your GF. The easiest way into Japan.

[–]lunarjs -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Just marry, bash that cunt till she/you gets bored and then divorce.

[–]at1515[S] -5 points-4 points  (14 children)

i know its a shaky situation. i am hopefully going to start on some internet work that would make about 2000 usd a month. So im hoping i can get some kind of working visa being self employed now. if anyone cant point me in the right direction about how to go about this, i have seen this:

"I believe it is possible to obtain a working visa without company sponsorship if you can prove a certain minimum income."

[–]SamHousecleanerWorking in Japan 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That kind of thing could only work if:
- You were already on a work visa before
- Your income comes from Japanese companies

if anyone cant point me in the right direction

Sure:
https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/wiki/visas
http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/long/index.html

Information you will find there will be way more accurate that "I believe it is possible", like this kind of accurate:

I want to work remotely in Japan for my company in [XYZ] country
There is no visa that permits this type of long-term living arrangement. Many individuals who are "digital nomads" or can work from home usually come to Japan on a tourist visa/visa waiver and stay the permitted length of time in the country as allowed (ie: 90 days) before moving on to another location.

[–]tokyohoonPermanent Resident 2 points3 points  (10 children)

"I believe it is possible to obtain a working visa without company sponsorship if you can prove a certain minimum income."

It is - sort of.

You would have to otherwise qualify for a working visa, and string together contracts from a variety of Japan-based employers to bring you up to the necessary income levels.

If you don't qualify for a working visa in the first place, it's a non starter.

If any of the income you claim is not from contracted sources in Japan, it does not apply.

I've never seen anyone successfully do this with their first working visa, only with a change of status from a recognized working status or from a working holiday visa. And I've been here since before the self-sponsorship exception was implemented.

[–]hachihoshinoWorking in Japan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've never seen anyone successfully do this with their first working visa, only with a change of status from a recognized working status or from a working holiday visa.

AFAIK there isn't even a proper procedure for doing it as a first working visa (or for change-of-status from student visas, apparently - we've had a couple of people who looked into that route) - they only consider self-sponsorship applications for renewals, not new applications.

[–]at1515[S] -1 points0 points  (8 children)

well damn its not a japanese company so shit out of luck. back to the drawing board. what about if i still do my online job but also part time work on the weekends for japanese company with work visa. do that for 5 years so i can get permanent resident card.

[–]Its5somewhere 8 points9 points  (6 children)

What part of "you don't qualify for a work visa" do you not grasp?

You don't have anything going for you, which is why I said you should go to school in the u.s. and or get work experience.

You need a bachelors degree for a Work Visa in Japan (non negotiable) unless you have 10+ work experience in a specialized field to where your intended company can convince immigration you are worth hiring over a Japanese citizen.

You've neither of those things because you're mooching off of your J-GF right now with no plans on being fully independent with practical experience or an education.

Now you're jumping ahead to PR? Damn dude slow down.

ffs as much as I think you shouldn't. Just marry your damn gf even though you'll probably find yourself stuck in a rut after the divorce but hey. You get to live in Japan for however many years until the inevitable happens.

[–]at1515[S] -1 points0 points  (5 children)

i have a bachelors degree in engineering from the #3 ranked school in the united states. shit was hard as fuck took me 6 years to accomplish. i was pretty much burnt out after that.

[–]laika_catWorking in Japan 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You have a degree and yet you haven't yet figured out you have the golden ticket to get a job?

Bro. Come on. Go read the visa page in the wiki. There are several options available to you: Work visa or student visa via language school.

My question is: Why haven't you looked for a job that would sponsor your visa yet???

[–]Its5somewhere 2 points3 points  (3 children)

Then get a job teaching English. Problem solved. /thread

[–]at1515[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

but is there visa sponsorship for part time? My online job would be mon-fri morning/afternoon japan time so i would be looking for some evening/weekend work for a few hours.

This way 5 years from now when i get a permanent resident card i can quit the japanese job and maintain my online work.

[–]CraneRiver 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There’s no visa for part time work.

[–]Its5somewhere [score hidden]  (0 children)

No visa for part time jobs. You'll have to get a full time job and your online job will be the side job on your days off/after work.

And it's 10 years not 5 for PR and messing up in any way shape or form can hinder your approval such as traffic violations etc.

Perhaps Japan just isn't for you if you don't want a real job in Japan and want to keep your random online job.

Either you basically either live in Japan and teach English (or anything that's relevant to your degree if you can get hired) or you live where you are with your full-time online job.

It'll be hard to juggle both in Japan.

[–]tokyohoonPermanent Resident 2 points3 points  (0 children)

10 years to PR. And you’ll need to be making 250k or so a month of Japan sources income.

[–]Its5somewhere 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Japan doesn't have a self employed visa however you can eventually try self-sponsor yourself if you meet the requirements when it is time to renew your existing non-tourist visa.

/u/laika_cat

About time we add "I want to be self employed/do remote work for non JP company" on the visa list?

Every other day is a new person trying to use remote work as means for a visa.

nvm I see that it is in fact in there, just not bolded like the other key points but instead italicized in a slightly larger font so it was easy to skim miss.

[–]laika_catWorking in Japan[M] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I actually moved everything into a wiki page since the thread was old and I thought a wiki would be betetr to edit.

I nested it under "I want to work in Japan" because having everything on the same level looked gross. Stupid wiki style.