What's new

Working opportunities for girlfriend in Japan - Tokyo.

Nikosil

後輩
12 Nov 2015
26
18
18
Hello everyone.

I wanted to ask a question regarding my situation, if you'd be so kind as to enlighten me i would be ever grateful to you.

I live in Greece and i have most likely won the MEXT Scholarship as a research and degree seeking student for the year 2016 - 2018. I am currently applying for the entrance examination for the University of Tokyo and things are looking really good regarding my application (at least from what my supervisor has told me). So long story short, things are moving the way they are supposed to.

But let's get back to my issue.

I have a serious relationship of three years (however,we haven't got married or engaged as of yet ), and my "spouse" is planning on moving together with me in Japan. She is a year younger than i am (22 years old) and she has an undergraduate degree in Marketing with many years of experience (relative to her age) in selling departments. Now, although she is the hardest working person that i know, unfortunately, she is only fluent in Greek and Albanian and knows enough english to lightly communicate with someone (B1 Level). She is currently studying hard in order to increase her english proficiency but i am afraid that it won't be enough as she has very limited amount of time (I'm leaving in April, and keep in mind that she is currently working full time, so she can only study on her spare time).

Now, my question is.. given that she has a B1 level of proficiency in english and knows nothing of Japanese, would you consider that she has the potential to work in Japan (any work would do as long as she gets a VISA)?

if not, what other options do we have in order to get a VISA issued (i am aware of the fact that a tourist VISA only gets you approximately 3 months in Japan).

Thank you in advance.
 
Last edited:
It's going to be difficult - the easiest way into Japan is to teach English, which she doesn't have the ability to do, a Japanese company is not going to employ her for her marketing skills when they could employ a native Japanese speaker, and Japan won't let her into the country on a 'girlfriend' status to do other work.
Have a look into working holiday visas, which would at least get her longer than 3 months and hopefully allow the trip to pay for itself. While she's in Japan, she will need to do a lot of networking and maybe she can persuade a company to employ and sponsor her. I'd start with any Greek/Albanian organisations with offices in Japan (embassies/airlines etc). Good luck.
 
I had a brief look at the working holiday visa requirements and characteristics and it seems to be perfect for the job, as it allows the owner to both stay in Japan for up and work part-time at the same time.

However, from what i've read, the person needs to have nationaility from 13 given countries and unfortunately, Greece is not amongst them.

Although that did not work out as expected, i did stumble upon a students visa status. It said that if a foreign person is studying Japanese in Japan, then he will be eligable to issue a student's visa. Anyone knows any more details about that?
 
With no knowledge of Japanese, she is severely limited. Her English ability won't be looked upon favorably, either. Not impossible but not good potential. Not much call to teach Greek or Albanian, but check out Berlitz.

Student visa is best.
Cultural activities visa might be possible if she can prove some prior engagement in a craft like ikebana, sword making, pottery, martial arts, etc.
Just get married and she is eligible for a dependent visa (not VISA). You are essentially calling her your spouse anyway.
 
I'd rule out the cultural activities visa unless we are talking about the requirements set at amateur level.

The dependent visa sounds like a viable solution (she would still need to find a job though, as i can't possible sustain both of us on a mere 144k yen scholarship). However i would only use it as a last solution.

Thank you both for your prompt answers.
 
If you go the route of dependent visa, keep in mind she will have to make a limited amount of money, or you can't claim her as a dependent. I think the limit is 1.1-1.3 million yen.
 
Back
Top Bottom