Working VISA in Japan...
crosspost from http://rextang.net/blogs/work/
Just a memo of what actually happened in my case.
Actually recently I was busying trying to change and get a "Microsoft" technology related job in Japan. I did pass the interviews with managers and dept. director and confirmed that I am capable to work for the department. finally the job agent told me that the company is going to start the offer process and HR is starting to check my working VISA status since I am a foreigner and need to fit certain criteria.
The problem occured. Since I was graduated from Information Management dept. of National Taiwan University, this dept. issues BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) degree to students, not BS (Bachelor of Science) degree like most other Computer Science related dept.s, although most of the classes the dept. offerred are IT related stuffs. I do think that Japan Immigration Office only saw my BBA degree and gave me "Specialist in Humanities/International Services" working VISA, rather than an Engineer VISA in my current job. and this caused the problem that the new company's HR and Law dept. felt that it should be diffecult to change the status of my visa and decide to decline my offer.
In Japan, one has to have certain working VISA to be able to work in certain job area. there are several job categories according to immigration law of Japan. the most usual working VISA type is "Specialist in Humanities/International Services" and "Engineer" , "Specialist in Humanities/International Services" visa type is normally given to people who graduated from business / management / culture / language related universities (English techers in this category), while Engineer visa type is mainly given to people who study nature science including IT / Computer fields. others like doctor or lawyer also have their own working visa type, things like that.
recently to encourage IT / Computer related businesses in Japan, actually Japan goverment had loose the definition of Engineer type visa to allow those who passed certain IT certificates to get Engineer visa regardless what university diploma one may have. those IT certificate are mainly held by Japan's institutes and anyone can take the exam without restrictions, including foreigners (exams should be in Japanese, not English). the most fundamental IT/Computer exam is held every year at April and October, only twice in an year. be sure to know the exactly date if one needs those certificates to get a valid Engineer VISA regardless of diplomas one may have.
It should be considering illegal to have actual working content that's different from the working VISA a foreigner get by the proof of company who employ this person. Thus make it important for foreigners to get proper VISA in order to work in Japan without troubles.
As my graduated dept.did have ambiguity on the judge of an Engineer visa or a Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa, since it's "Information Management" dept. and issuing BBA degree, I do think that other universities in the world do have departments like this and some offer BBA degrees but others offer BS degrees. It should be important for Japan Immigration office to check the detail of academic transcripts and decide what visa type is proper to give out, not just see if one had BBA or BS to decide it, that will cause inconvenience for foreigners that want to live and work here to evolve IT environment in Japan.
I guess the only way I can do is to take the IT certificate exam here in Japan in order to bypass the consideration of my university diploma, although all my records all showed that I've been always doing IT related jobs since I graduated. and I do own some worldwide IT certificates (which is not listed in the immigration law for now) but I guess it's hard to persuade those law and HR people or even Japan Immigration Officers.
I also wish the interviewer, the director of that dept. of new company which I want to get the job, can see this post and see if he can also persuade HR and Law dept. to reconsider my case. the issue to decline my case is not related to my abilities, but the Japan Immigration problem, and got ways to solve out, It's really disappointed to decline my case in this reason, sort of not acceptable. just like that foreigners are hard to get a Japan credit card just because we are foreigners, without reasons...
anyway, just a reference for those who want to work in Japan to know some immigration issues here, wish this help.
FYI.
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