I teach English and now I am trying to switch to programming.
To not to make it too long, at this point I have already found a company who wants to hire me and sponsor my visa. I was told that before starting work in the company I have to change my visa status for a different type. Currently as the English teacher I have engineer/specialist in humanities/international services visa.
The company probably consulted it with some visa advisor and their are scheduling a meeting with him/she and me.
I have a degree in Linguistics and I am learning programming(javascript) by myself already for a year. I have been working as a teacher in Japan already 3 years. I speak Japanese (N2).
It is an entry level, so I will start from a training.
But I am afraid if I am eligible for the engineer visa?
I don’t know anyone in a similar situation.
I am very happy that finally I found a job but same time scared if I will be able to work for them.
I would be very grateful if someone could share their experience or any advice regarding applying for the visa.
Ultimately, it will depend on what the consultant they hired says, but my understanding is the following.
Engineer, Specialist in Humanities, and International Services used to be three different types of visas. However, they were merged several years back into a single visa status. As such, you have the required Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services visa, and so there isn’t any other status to change to. So, I think the company should be fine to hire you under your current status.
However, it is also my understanding that to qualify for the visa, you need to have a related degree or ten years relevant work experience. This potentially becomes an issue when you go to renew the visa, as you potentially don’t meet those requirements. It’s my understanding that it may be possible to work around that requirement if the position isn’t strictly technical, but also relates to using English for instance. This is a grey area though, and will depend on how the company describes your position to immigration, and who happens to review it. Hopefully the visa consultant can help guide the company about this, and if you discover any new information, please report back.
Hi, it took a while but just want to share some info.
The consultant applied for Certificate of Authorized Employment, It took a long time to get it (about 3 months), but it allowed me to start working in the new company and renew my visa (unfortunately only one year, but it’s a different story). So to sum up, even if you don’t have related degree you are still able to get visa
Thanks for the update! This confirms what I learned when writing the article Visas for Software Engineers in Japan, that they only care about the degree’s major when obtaining the initial visa, not renewing it. Kind of weird system, but I’m glad it works out for people like you.
