This is the second part of the entry in which I hope to cover the outline of the immigration procedures involved in the process of a Japanese company employing a non-Japanese national as an employee.
The most important factors (in regard to the immigration regulations) in employing a foreigner are to (a) make sure that the person concerned has a proper visa (technically, a status of residence) that fits the specific job description, or obtain such visa in the case that he/she does not have one yet, and (b) make sure that such visa is valid (i.e. is not expired).
So the next question is, what does it mean to have a visa that “fits the specific job description”?
The working visas in Japan are divided into several categories, each according to the different types of professions/job descriptions. For example, an engineer’s job will fall under the category of “engineer”, an English teacher’s job at a private English school will fall under the category of “specialist in humanities/international services”, a lawyer’s job will fall under the category of “legal/accounting services”, a journalist’s job will fall under the category of “journalist”, and so forth. Many people believe that their working visas are tied to their specific employer/company, and thus think that they are required to change their visas every time they change jobs, but this is not necessarily the case. Working visas (under the current Immigration Act effective as of Dec. 2011) are tied not to the specific employer but to the specific job category, and thus job changes within the same job category will not require a change in visa. On the other hand, a job change to a position belonging to a different job category will require a change in visa, even if there is still a lot of time left on the current visa (i.e. the visa tied to the job category of the previous job).
To sum up, non-Japanese nationals residing under working visas are required to obtain a working visa belonging to the category (stipulated under the Immigration Act) that matches the specific joc description of that person.
＊This entry is for informational purposes only, and may not apply in all cases. Please feel free to make an inquiry via e-mail for assistance regarding your special case.
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