More Visa Woes...Self Sponsor?

I posted a while back about having a part-time job (that I work 50+ hours/week) that gets me around 275,000/mo. Its about 2 months away from my current work visa (specialist humanities) to expire, so time to renew.
I do internet tech support for english customers and my company thought I should switch to a engineer related visa. It is considered a part time job (i dont get benifits and am paid hourly), I have a contract but it seems they are signed
Immigration said that I cant switch cause I deal with english customers so my current visa is the one i need, but I cant extend it because of 2 reasons. 1) My contract isnt for a year or more so I cant get a work visa 2) the job I do could be accomplished by a japanese who could speak english so it doesnt seem worthy.
I know people self sponsor if they can make over 250,000 which I do but when asking about this she kept pointing out my latest signed contract is over in 2 months. What should I do?

xentropic said:

2) the job I do could be accomplished by a japanese who could speak english so it doesnt seem worthy.

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Ewok might be able to answer your question better than I, and he may be able to qualify my statement here--- but I think saying that a Japanese speaker who could speak English is more worthy to provide English tech support than a native English speaker seems a bit specious to me.

It's like basing your argument on a hypothetical... the "any Job that a Japanese person can not do" clause basically means that unless your job involves being a gaijin talent, you might as well go home.

If immigration is going to lock down English speaking support jobs to the Japanese based solely on the fact that some Japanese can speak English moderately well, regardless if they are actually filling these jobs--- they might as well replace the 'yokouso' signs at the airport with a big placard reading, 'Saraba da waga shukumei no gaijin'... (it's farewell, my fated gaijin)...

xentropic said:

I posted a while back about having a part-time job (that I work 50+ hours/week) that gets me around 275,000/mo. Its about 2 months away from my current work visa (specialist humanities) to expire, so time to renew.

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50+ hours a week is full time by the word of the law. What you are thinking of is that you are a contractor (hakenshain) as opposed to being a direct hire (seishain).

I do internet tech support for english customers and my company thought I should switch to a engineer related visa. It is considered a part time job (i dont get benifits and am paid hourly), I have a contract but it seems they are signed

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You should get benefits (pension/health cover, half paid by the company), overtime past 38hrs, etc etc. Anything else is ILLEGAL and you need to talk to your local labor standards office. Ignore what your company says, they think you are gullible enough to beleive what they say.

Immigration said that I cant switch cause I deal with english customers so my current visa is the one i need, but I cant extend it because of 2 reasons. 1) My contract isnt for a year or more so I cant get a work visa 2) the job I do could be accomplished by a japanese who could speak english so it doesnt seem worthy.

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Point 1 might have some merit, but point 2 makes no sense. Did they tell you that in Japanese? What did they say exactly? And that is borderline racist and discrimination.
Humanities is the correct visa for what you are doing (customer support).

I know people self sponsor if they can make over 250,000 which I do but when asking about this she kept pointing out my latest signed contract is over in 2 months. What should I do?

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Get a new contract, get your company to write one up or look somewhere else. Ask immigration what you need to be able to self sponser.

yukio_michael said:

Ewok might be able to answer your question better than I, and he may be able to qualify my statement here

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Hi! Yeah, its a pretty weird statement and I think it lost something in the translation. But there is no requirement or statement within the immigration law that states that what you do has to be something that a Japanese national cannot do in order to qualify for a visa.

Two words: Immigration attorney

Immigration Attorney will kick some butt and get straight answers all round

Also, ask your employer for the companies Shugyo Kisoku - basically its a document outlining the working hours, day-off, leave, wages and matters concerning retirement and is a legal requirement for all companies with more than 10 employees to have a shgyokisoku, have it checked by the labor standards office and have it displayed or freely available to employees.

Thanks for the responses. On my contract/empoyee status it lists me as パート I get overtime pay, break time as required by law, no paid days off, work on holidays at normal pay, no health insurance; I can take days off as long as I give a 2 week notice. My boss mentioned, in a visa conversation, that he could maybe get me on company health insurance and would cost around ２万 a month (maybe thats half??).

As for the a japanese person could do my job thing, they asked me for a 説明証明書 about my job because helpdesk staff was vague so I brought one with me (from my boss) and on there it says that I do internet support for english speaking foreign guests. The immigration lady after reading that and my パート status said that I should basically (maybe I am missing something in translation) write something more that I do than speak english because its something a japanese person could do-- i believe illuding (im inferring so maybe im wrong) that its not a special skill or something worthy of rewarding a work visa for since I am パート and would be doing self sponsor. Maybe Im wrong, I wouldnt call my Japanese fluent by any means but I think I generally get what people are talking to me about.

im dumb and posted twice

xentropic said:

Thanks for the responses. On my contract/empoyee status it lists me as ﾆ恥ﾂーﾆ暖 I get overtime pay, break time as required by law, no paid days off, work on holidays at normal pay, no health insurance; I can take days off as long as I give a 2 week notice. My boss mentioned, in a visa conversation, that he could maybe get me on company health insurance and would cost around 窶啣窶毒 a month (maybe thats half??).

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Its not a maybe about health insurance, its a legal requirement by law for people who work more than 30hrs a week! It will cost you about 13-17% for health and pension. Note this is a legal, compulsary requirement for all Japanese employees, part or full time, that are working more than 30hrs a week! Gahhhhhh....

As for the a japanese person could do my job thing

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This is where you need to flex your brain muscles and come up with something worthy.

The visa states that a humanities visa is for - "Activities to engage in service that requires knowledge pertinent to jurisprudence, economics, sociology, or other human science fields. Activities to engage in service that requires specific ways of thought or sensitivity based on experience with foreign culture, such as interpreting, translation, copywriting, fashion design, interior design, sales, overseas business, information processing, international finance, design, or public relations and advertising based on a contract with a public or private organization in Japan."

"I provide support in English for English speaking clients with computer related issues. By being a native speaker of English I am able to efficiently able to understand the clients problem - the programs and operating system used by the client is English, so any error messages are also in English - and convey a solution fluently and able to cater to every clients individual needs regarding their level of proficiency regarding computers."

Stress that by having a high level of english and having work experience in the past working with computers in english you understand the systems (that are in english), can read manuals and documentation in English to find an answer, and give the end user a solution in simple, fluent, plain English. Quickly.

I have to do this myself in January next year so please keep us all updated, if you have any more questions drop me a PM and I'll give you my email etc.

xentropic: if you're a native English speaker, and can hold your own in Japanese, find a headhunter and get a real job. If you're working 50+ hours a week for under 300,000 yen a month you're getting brutalized. My first IT job paid quite a bit more than that in less time, and I knew very little about computers.

Panache is not a bad place to start. Google it - you should find them.

As for English speaking Japanese that could do your job. I assume English teachers get away with it in that customers demand native speakers rather than 2nd langauge speakers. You could use this angle I think, but I would throw more in there. You've got nothing to lose...throw some BS in there.