Japanese immigration policy...

[Northern Comfort]

I gather the only way to get permanent residence in Japan under the working visas is to get a company to sponsor you. Will it be possbile to find anywhere that will offer you a job and sponsor you without a degree/any qualifications above high school?

 

[Mike Cash]

I gather the only way to get permanent residence in Japan under the working visas is to get a company to sponsor you.

There is no direct connection between permanent residence and working visas. Permanent residence is most easily obtained by those with marital or other family connections to Japanese citizens or someone already holding permanent residence status. Obtaining PR without that connection isn't impossible, but it is much more difficult. If you have some illusion that permanent resident status absent a family connection will be granted right off the bat or within a relatively short period of time, disabuse yourself of that notion.

Will it be possbile to find anywhere that will offer you a job and sponsor you without a degree/any qualifications above high school?

Companies are in business to make a profit, not provide a social service.

I'll tell you to bring the same thing I tell every other person contemplating coming to Japan to bring: Marketable Job Skills.

 

[Northern Comfort]

Thanks for the reply, what sort of marketable job skills are most sort after in Japan now? Basically, what will get me a job and what won't? Also, is it possible to get a job teaching English without a degree?

 

[Mike Cash]

Cart before the horse.

In the case of the vast majority of Americans desiring to come to Japan to work, a degree is a part of the requirement for receiving a working visa. So it isn't a matter of whether an employer will accept you without one or not, since you can't get a visa to come do the job for them anyway. The degree is a requirement from the Japanese government, not the employer directly.

There are employers that don't require a degree. They use local foreigners who are here on spouse visas or working holiday visas (no degree requirement for those, and no working holiday visas for Americans). They are not desirable employers and generally have poor reputations.

Speaking from personal experience: you don't want to be a foreigner living in Japan without a degree. Whether you intend to live here or in the U.S. or anywhere, go get one if it all possible.

 

[MajideSaiaku]

My problem degree wise is if I did do one it would be in genetics and I'de end up working in a lab most likely no-where near Japan. hehe.

 

[RanRane]

Yeah, you definately need a degree if you are planning to LIVE in any country really, otherwise you are of the no difference to anybody else.