Hello, this is Ito of IMS.
Last weekend, I took a trip to Meiji Shrine. Because it was a holiday, I saw many families and foreigners who were there to celebrate Shichi-Go-San, a traditional rite of passage for young children.
Earlier this year, I started seeing news reports that there has been an increase of rejected applications for Certificates of Eligibility for students abroad who were hoping to come to Japan and study at Japanese language schools. It seems that screening was tightened for nationalities whose students have been discovered engaging in non-permitted activities (e.g. part-time work) instead of living in Japan as international students, per their visa. In fact, even some of our customers have told us they had acquaintances whose applications were rejected.
In addition to rejected applications for the Certificate of Eligibility, there has also been an increase in rejected visa renewal applications (i.e. applications for extending the period of stay). Among our customers who applied for visa renewal, there have been requests from the Immigration Bureau for additional information regarding part-time work, including the place, employment duration, hourly wage and salary details, copies of bankbooks/passbooks, and any other documents received during their stay in Japan. We have also heard reports of international students who submit these documents to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau and are then asked if the contents are correct. The visa renewal examination has become very strict as the Immigration Bureau seems to be looking for evidence of non-permitted activities and absences from school.
There are two main things that someone with a Student visa status should be aware of:
- The main permitted activity for this status is to be an "International Student".
As a matter of course, be careful not to neglect the main purpose of your permitted stay in Japan. If your grades are poor or you do not have enough credit hours, your renewal application may not be approved. Also, if you take a leave of absence from school for whatever reason, during this period of leave you will not be considered a Student and will need to return to your home country in principle.
- Be careful that part-time work does not interfere with your main activities (school) and does not exceed 28 hours per week.
The 28 hours are calculated on a whole-week basis, regardless of the day it starts on. This means within any 7-day period of time, your work hours cannot exceed this limit. If you have a part-time job, please be sure to tell them that by law, you are not able to exceed 28-hours per week. This is not just a problem for the student working part-time: both the student and their place of employment will be punished if breaking this rule is discovered. Also, during the long school holidays, students can work up to 8 hours per day. However, as start and end dates of these holidays may vary by school and faculty, you are only able to work on this holiday basis during the official holiday dates of the school, so please confirm them beforehand.
For more information, please contact us below ↓
https://imsvisa.support/en/contact/
Remember, "I didn't know the law" or "the school didn't tell me" are not valid reasons.
