Visa as freelancer / setting up a business

[Danbo]

This time around I have a few more complicated questions in hope somebody here on the forum has some experience or knowledge to help me with my issue.

I have been working as a Freelancer in the past few years which worked pretty well for me. Income is pretty steady and I have a lot of freedoms which enabled me to experience living in a lot of places. Of course I spent most of the time in my home country as well as Tokyo, because I really enjoy the life there, have friends and after learning the language life became a lot more interesting. Because of that I would really love to stay permanent in Japan for the upcoming years. Of course the biggest problem about this is to get a visa to make this plan a reality.

The easiest way would be to apply for a job in Japan, but I am hesitant about giving up my current lifestyle as freelancer because of mentioned freedoms and I think the pay is also better than becoming an employee again. As far as I know there is a freelancer visa in Japan, but you can only apply for it if you are already on a working visa and want to switch...and I think Japanese clients are also a requirements for that.

The other option I know of is setting up your own business in Japan to acquire a business manager visa. Downside about that is, that it requires a bigger financial investment and you have to deal with a lot of paperwork, need to rent office space, because you manage a business, taxation becomes also more complicated and so on.

Does anyone on the forum have some personal experiences about this topic or some good advice? Thanks in advance.

 

[MikeH]

The lite version of the Manager visa is the new Startup-Visa scheme. That doesn't require office space, capital investment nor the employees. But the paper work is still a hassle and you get only 6 months (Tokyo) or maximum one year (Fukuoka). Basically you are supposed to transfer to the Manager visa after you get your operations running properly in the country.

 

[Danbo]

The lite version of the Manager visa is the new Startup-Visa scheme. That doesn't require office space, capital investment nor the employees. But the paper work is still a hassle and you get only 6 months (Tokyo) or maximum one year (Fukuoka). Basically you are supposed to transfer to the Manager visa after you get your operations running properly in the country.

Ah, thanks a lot. Didn't know about that option...sounds interesting, but like you said it's only to delay rental of office space and the financial investment for half a year? Better than nothing but sounds like even more paperwork for the same thing in the long run ^^

 

[MikeH]

Ah, thanks a lot. Didn't know about that option...sounds interesting, but like you said it's only to delay rental of office space and the financial investment for half a year? Better than nothing but sounds like even more paperwork for the same thing in the long run ^^

The Start-up thing is a big deal for some of the local governments so you'll be certain to get a lot of help and hand-holding from them. And they do employ cute girls.

 

[thenoobsay1]

You could message a youtuber and ask how they got their visa.

 

[Danbo]

You could message a youtuber and ask how they got their visa.

A Youtuber? Maybe there are some foreigners in Japan that can make a living this way, but I doubt that they were able to use this to apply for a visa. More likely that they came to Japan working a regular job for the visa, doing Youtube on the side for some income and were able to switch along the way when they were able to prove an high enough income within Japan.
Maybe I am wrong...do you know anybody that got a Visa purely based on freelance work?

 

[Sudsy]

You could message a youtuber and ask how they got their visa.

Most of them are working as (no surprise) English teachers and producing their channels illegally, as it doesn't fall within their permitted activities.

The few more successful ones have talent visas and work for an agency that actually owns the Youtube channels they perform on.

 

[thenoobsay1]

A Youtuber? Maybe there are some foreigners in Japan that can make a living this way, but I doubt that they were able to use this to apply for a visa. More likely that they came to Japan working a regular job for the visa, doing Youtube on the side for some income and were able to switch along the way when they were able to prove an high enough income within Japan.
Maybe I am wrong...do you know anybody that got a Visa purely based on freelance work?

Abroad in Japan is independent

 

[Danbo]

The few more successful ones have talent visas and work for an agency that actually owns the Youtube channels they perform on.

Ok, but that sounds more like a regular work contract and work visa, right? Haha, i have nothing to do with youtube or social media anyway......I do regular freelance work for companies (outside of Japan).
It's just a a pain in the ass that there seems no simple way to apply for visa this way. Somebody who signs up for a low paying job that sponsors are visa is fine, but somebody with a normal income as a freelancer has no option. Setting up a business would bind a lot of my savings and I am afraid of the paperwork and bureaucracy connected with it.

 

[Danbo]

Abroad in Japan is independent

Just looked him up and wikipedia says this about him "Upon moving to Sakata, Yamagata to teach as a part of the JET Programme in 2012, Broad decided to vlog about some of his experiences as a foreigner living in the rural Tōhoku region."
So like Sudsy and me guessed, he got his visa as teacher in the first place....probably was able to switch later on.

 

[Desktop]

A lot of people are just married or working.

 

[MikeH]

A lot of people are just married or working.

Both sound like terrible choices to me.

 

[thenoobsay1]

Just looked him up and wikipedia says this about him "Upon moving to Sakata, Yamagata to teach as a part of the JET Programme in 2012, Broad decided to vlog about some of his experiences as a foreigner living in the rural Tōhoku region."
So like Sudsy and me guessed, he got his visa as teacher in the first place....probably was able to switch later on.

Oh my fault I thought you already had a visa. Totally misread your post.

 

[veryniceguy]

VIsa requirements are actually getting more difficult these days.....even for people who have been living in Japan, and who started declaring themselves as "self employed"..... You need to show your tax returns for 3 previous years, have a sponsor or someone to guarantee, you need to be paying into the national health insurance and the retirement programs..... etc...... As some of the intelligent comments posted above indicate, close your eyes, get a visa as an English teacher.......install yourself in Tokyo or wherever..... and then adapt and figure out your plan..... Unless you've got a few hundred thousand dollars to spare, and can rent an office because you are branching out to Tokyo..... I don't think that's the case......

 

[Danbo]

VIsa requirements are actually getting more difficult these days.....even for people who have been living in Japan, and who started declaring themselves as "self employed"..... You need to show your tax returns for 3 previous years, have a sponsor or someone to guarantee, you need to be paying into the national health insurance and the retirement programs..... etc...... As some of the intelligent comments posted above indicate, close your eyes, get a visa as an English teacher.......install yourself in Tokyo or wherever..... and then adapt and figure out your plan..... Unless you've got a few hundred thousand dollars to spare, and can rent an office because you are branching out to Tokyo..... I don't think that's the case......

I think I would hang myself before I sign up to teach language classes to get a visa ^^ I have a degree and enough work experience under my belly to land a regular job....but the current situation makes things of course impossible. Have to wait until things calm down again.
You don't need a few hundred thousand to set up as business that basically just the repackages the freelance work you usually do....friend of mine did it, but its still a huge pain in the ass, requires a base investment of 50k$ and there is still a chance it doesn't get approved.

 

[thenoobsay1]

I think I would hang myself before I sign up to teach language classes to get a visa ^^ I have a degree and enough work experience under my belly to land a regular job....but the current situation makes things of course impossible. Have to wait until things calm down again.
You don't need a few hundred thousand to set up as business that basically just the repackages the freelance work you usually do....friend of mine did it, but its still a huge pain in the ass, requires a base investment of 50k$ and there is still a chance it doesn't get approved.

haha it's really not that bad, I've done English teaching for half a year to get a visa before.

 

[Danbo]

haha it's really not that bad, I've done English teaching for half a year to get a visa before.

Haha, yeah it's for sure not that bad, but first of all I think I wouldn't be a good teacher, second it would feel like a waste of time because it has nothing to do with my profession. I know quite a few people who studied something very different, came to Japan and got stuck teaching for a few years. Of course Japan is fascinating, but I think it's a pretty bad life choice to do something for an extended period of time that leads nowhere.

 

[Ken1988]

You may want to find a good immigration lawyer (typically either 行政書士 or 司法書士) to consult your case. It seems that you can apply for "Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services" visa category if you already have an established client base in Japan. Google "フリーランス　技術・人文知識・国際業務" to see what the lawyers talk about it.

 

[tagidol]

Haha,Snip.

Just checking in @Danbo, if you've made any progress on your investigation?

I am also commencing my investigations around getting myself to Japan for a long-term stay. My situation may be slightly different in that with policies changing around remote work, brought about by the impacts of Covid I will be working remotely and therefore still be employed by my current employer (in my home country) and therefore receive a regular income.

Is there any immigration attorneys that you fine folks on here can recommend please.

 

[Danbo]

Just checking in @Danbo, if you've made any progress on your investigation?

I am also commencing my investigations around getting myself to Japan for a long-term stay. My situation may be slightly different in that with policies changing around remote work, brought about by the impacts of Covid I will be working remotely and therefore still be employed by my current employer (in my home country) and therefore receive a regular income.

Is there any immigration attorneys that you fine folks on here can recommend please.

It's a similar situarion....as a freelancer I also have kind of a regular income, but that alone doesn't help. In your case I think you only have a chance if your current employer has a branch in Japan that could sponsor your visa, income alone doesn't help if there is no sponsor.

 

[tagidol]

It's a similar situation....as a freelancer I also have kind of a regular income, but that alone doesn't help. In your case I think you only have a chance if your current employer has a branch in Japan that could sponsor your visa, income alone doesn't help if there is no sponsor.

I have approached three firms punting their services as immigration attorneys. So will have the initial assessments and then plot my journey on from there. Ideally I would like to have matters cleared up by December/January.

 

[Danbo]

I have approached three firms punting their services as immigration attorneys. So will have the initial assessments and then plot my journey on from there. Ideally I would like to have matters cleared up by December/January.

Interesting. Would appreciate it if you could tell me about the outcome.....do they think it's possible to apply for a visa without a direct sponsor in Japan if the salary is sufficient?

 

[veryniceguy]

Interesting. Would appreciate it if you could tell me about the outcome.....do they think it's possible to apply for a visa without a direct sponsor in Japan if the salary is sufficient?

That will not work, sorry to say.. It's not a matter of how much money you are earning from outside of Japan. The rules are very, very strict for getting a visa here. No local employer/sponsor, no working visa. Not sure what your skills are, but you could look at the recruitment agencies, like Robert Walters, who find work for foreigners in Japan, and in some cases you don't need to know how to speak Japanese. If you have a Japan based company sponsor, it's much easier. And at this moment, due to the Covid-19 crisis, the immigration offices are overwhelmed...... automatic extensions to working visas have been provided for those who have visas expiring in this period. I'm one of them.... and have a visa law office handling my renewal at this moment. Or you could think about enrolling in a Japanese language school, and get a work/study visa, which would allow you to spend a limited time in Japan, while you still work remote. Then you have time to explore other work possibilities.... Maintaining official visa status here means you have to show that you are paying national income tax, your local residence tax, national health insurance etc. It's super complicated when you are self employed. Hope this gives you another perspective....

 

[BB0523]

Gent's... I'll throw in my 2 Yen....

I currently just set up a "Branch Office" in Tokyo... got documents 2 weeks ago. This is a little different than what you are discussing, but will have many similarities. To get Business Manager Visa, you will need to have the following (Generally speaking):
1. 5 million yen deposited into a Japanese Bank (On-line bank will work according to my attorney).
2. Mizuho has english on line capabilities but they want to charge 70,000JPY for application fee and 20,000JPY/month for maintenance fee - way too much if you ask me.
3. Rented Office space - ServCorp or Regus type places do not count anymore it seems. (I used to have that) They want a copy of the office space contract as well a photo's of the place.
I'm in the process of locating a bank and office space (target location is Nakameguro, Ebisu area) Target rental amount 50,000/month with little deposit or key money etc... seems like a Unicorn at times.
4. You will most likely only get a 1 year VISA under this method, but after 3 years of business MOJ may give you a 3 year VISA... As for Long Term or Permanent.... not sure how to do that (outside of getting married to a Japanese)

The reason I say this, is that if you have a business already established elsewhere (USA for example) then setting up Tokyo Branch could be an option. Lawyer will charge about 500,000JPY for setting it up and another 250,000 for VISA assuming you can meet the deposit amount and bank office space.

If, anyone knows of a low cost office space (not shared) or SOHO type, would appreciate a PM with details, or of a reasonably priced service to do this.

Hope this helps and thanks in advance for anyone that gives me advice/comments..

 

[MikeH]

I'm in the process of locating a bank and office space (target location is Nakameguro, Ebisu area) Target rental amount 50,000/month with little deposit or key money etc... seems like a Unicorn at times.

Last time I checked that area even the serviced offices charged like 70.000 yens for one person rooms.