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How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

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Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#71

Post by jotaen »

neillyons wrote: post #57

You can also get a Japanese Working Holiday Visa which allows you to work in Japan and stay for a year. https://yoyogi.io/en/how-to-get-a-japanese-working-holiday-v...

That was covered in the article, but as the author was already older than 30 years, it wouldn’t have been applicable for them. It also seems the Working Holiday visa is intended for “employment as an incidental activity of their holidays for the purpose of supplementing their travel funds” [1], whereas the author rather appeared to be looking for a “working full-time with some incidental holidays alongside” situation.

[1]: https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/w_holiday/index.html

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#73

Post by Klonoar »

d13 wrote: post #9
laurieg wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is you are on a tourist visa then you cannot work. Actively working as a nomad ok a tourist visa waiver is breaking the law. Of course, nomads often did come and with in this status. They would exist in a grey area, arguing their with was more incidental in nature and bit the reason to be in Japan (just like replying to a few with emails while in holiday). The nomad visa is essentially formalizing this grey area. As…

No one will ever know or care if you’re working remotely while in Japan on a tourist visa. Just AirBnB and get ordinary travel insurance. For a paltry 6 months this nomad visa seems like a massive amount of paperwork for no benefit.

There is technically a “hidden” six month tourist visa if you can show you have a significant amount of money in your bank account. In practice all it does is save you an entry/exit.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#74

Post by abound »

afavour wrote: post #65
hardwaresofton wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And a world of difference in stability and perception. If you have $35k+ to dedicate to this (and note that it does not cost $35k, these are more like initial capital requirements), you should 100% go the investor route. People underweight how amazing it is to be able to pay less than $50k for the equivalent of a golden visa to a top 5 GDP nation that is well regarded, safe, has some opportunity and is generally easy…

They’re just totally different scenarios. Someone looking at a digital nomad visa isn’t looking to stay somewhere in the long term.

But the actual article is about someone trying to live in Japan, the Digital Nomad visa was just seemingly their best option.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#76

Post by morpheuskafka »

Pooge wrote: post #3

Used to live in Japan for more than a year. Heard about this visa a few weeks ago while traveling to said country. Since they don't give you a residence card, I wonder how easy it would be to get a phone number and bank account. If some government officials didn't get information on this visa, how can we expect companies to have? They will look at your passport with dead eyes and think you are fooling them with a fak…

There's at least one company (Mobal) that will give you a "real" (not VoIP prefix) phone number with a passport as a tourist, so that would work for DN too. The data part of their eSIM wasn't great but the voice part worked fine when I tried it.

If you need health care it would definitely be a hassle at least if you don't have a lot of spare cash--you'd have to see if the mandatory travel insurance you purchased has some sort of direct payment arrangement with selected clinics. But it shouldn't be any issue to just receive the service and pay the full cash price, again same as a tourist.

The real issue is going to be a bank account, which would primarily be needed if you tried to rent a "regular" apartment. The best workaround might be to see if the owner would take cash, up front if needed. You'd be within the "treated as nonresident" period at first anyway, so it would already be hard to get an account even with a residence card. If you don't need it for rent/utilities (ex. share house that takes online payments, hotel/airbnb, etc.) then you probably wouldn't want the hassle of opening and closing a local bank account anyway.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#77

Post by GardenLetter27 »

djtango wrote: post #11
jalapenos wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right so it's a compliance thing. Rather than just visiting on a tourist visa and relying on the fact that no immigration officer is going to come bust in your hotel door and yell "hey are you doing work on that laptop!", you go through a bunch of tedious bureaucratic hoops to get the assurance that they definitely for certain won't come inspect what you're doing on your laptop.

People are being too individualistic here - Japan or any other country is never going to go after individuals who happen to work for remote companies or freelance while they globe trot working on tourist visas. But when companies like Shopify go fully remote, if they suddenly have a lot of employees who are frequenting Japan, they are painting a giant target on their back and exposing themselves to legal risk. A comp…

There are cases of this being enforced against individuals in the USA and UK after posting on social media though.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#78

Post by internet101010 »

Klonoar wrote: post #42
hardwaresofton wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And a world of difference in stability and perception. If you have $35k+ to dedicate to this (and note that it does not cost $35k, these are more like initial capital requirements), you should 100% go the investor route. People underweight how amazing it is to be able to pay less than $50k for the equivalent of a golden visa to a top 5 GDP nation that is well regarded, safe, has some opportunity and is generally easy…

Eh, I ran a business in Japan and have had that visa. I still tell most people who just want to dip their feet in that the digital nomad visa is totally fine and a good way to go. That stability and perception only matters if you _truly_ want to live here, and quite a number of people spend ~3 months here [1] and realize that it's got issues past the honeymoon period (like anywhere else). There's also no reason you c…

While this is purely anecdotal, the friends I have that ended up bailing earlier than planned got really annoyed by nonsensical things like ATMs having operating hours and having to use a fax machine to do something. They probably weren't the main problem but more straw that broke the camel's back.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#79

Post by rwmj »

notpushkin wrote: post #24
DeathArrow wrote: post #18

Isn't Japan an expensive country?

It is a mixed bag: apartments can be pretty expensive, especially in Greater Tokyo area. Food is pretty cheap IMO. Taxis are prohibitively expensive, but railroad system is really really good and compensates for that pretty well. But people don’t go to Japan because it’s cheap – it’s just a really nice place to live for some.

My relatives built a house in Tokyo which was absurdly cheap (£300K), but maybe I'm just used to London prices. As you get out of the major cities, akiyas can be basically "free", although will require a huge amount of time and effort to make habitable again.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#80

Post by csomar »

Pooge wrote: post #62
csomar wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tip: a photo of your passport and the stamp will most likely do in most circumstances. Much better than risking taking your passport with you all the time.

Bad advice. Photos are not accepted and police will expect you to carry your passport at all times, just as you're supposed to carry your residence card at all times if you have one.

Not sure why people want to stick to a rule that could get them in real trouble. I am speaking from real experience. The police is very unlikely to want to arrest/take you to the station for not having your passport. On the other hand, if you do lose your passport and you have a slow/far embassy then you are in real trouble.
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