I am a developer living in Tokyo with permanent residency.
I noticed an international company with offices in UK, US and JP on LinkedIn recently, and I was about to summit my application to their engineer position in Tokyo office.
However I noticed something irrelevant to me, but weird for global companies, that they stated explicitly on their website that:
Sorry we do not sponsor visas, so we cannot accept applications from people with HSP visas.
As a PR holder, I don’t require visa to work in Japan any more. But as I had experience to apply Highly Skilled Professional visa all by myself before, I’m pretty sure related documents shouldn’t be too hard to obtain, or too sensitive to share with employees, e.g. proof of employment, proof of expected salary, etc.
What could be the real reasons that a global company would refuse to consider HSP applicants?
The HSP visa is tied to your employer. So when you change companies, you need to apply for a new one. This process is only supposed to take two weeks, and if someone has one already, they should virtually be assured to get a new one. So I don’t think there is such a strong reason to say they won’t support someone.
I think the reason is primarily a lack of knowledge about what is involved in sponsoring a visa change. In other countries this might be an involved process but in Japan it is quite straightforward, so I personally don’t see a good reason for not sponsoring one.
But I reply because it is inspiring for me that you were able to get a permanent visa to Japan.
Can I know your story? Story of how you applied, how much you tried for it and… I’m sure you know the important parts better.
And can I know how much the whole process of getting a work visa or permanent residency visa took for you?
because I’m looking for a relocation opportunity, and Japan is a great place in lots of aspects. But I encounter the same problem… companies are strict and don’t sponsor visas.
I had shared my experience on getting PR on this post:
I think my situation was quite different from yours. I originally came to Japan for studying, and got work visa after graduation, the process was done by the company, therefore I don’t know much about details.
When renewing and applying HighlySkilled visa, I completed the process all by myself, the result was given within 2 weeks.
Please drop me DM if you have any questions, I’m happy to help wherever I can.
I just reviewed the “Points Calculation Table” on the moj.go.jp website and it appears that I will only score around 35 points. It seems like a futile effort to send resumes to numerous companies in the hopes of obtaining a visa.
Nevertheless, I am encouraged by your success and will make further efforts to enhance my qualifications.
I apologize for not being able to figure out how to DM you here. If there is any important information I should be aware of, please feel free to reach out to me. You can find all my contact details listed in the “Contact” section of my website. I would be delighted to connect and exchange thoughts with you.