PERMISSION to ENGAGE in OTHER ACTIVITY (“SHIKAKUGAI KATSUDOU KYOKA / 資格外活動許可” in Japanese) is a special permission to engage in other activity which is not allowed under your current VISA STATUS within the limits of the permission constantly. However, you should note that type of activity and period of work under this special permission is limited case by case.

There are 2 types of permission according to the situation; INCLUSIVE permission and EXCLUSIVE permission.

Based on your current VISA STATUS and situation, the immigration grants you either INCLUSIVE permission or EXCLUSIVE permission (or both in some rare case). Basically, work visa holders cannot obtain this permission in order to engage in a simple job (e.g. cashier, waiter/waitress and packing etc.).

THOSE WHO NOT REQUIRED THIS PERMISSION

Those who obtain the following VISA STATUS don’t need this special permission since they are able to engage in working any types of job at any time;

  • Permanent Resident
  • Long-term Resident (Teiju-sha)
  • Child or Spouse of Japanese
  • Child or Spouse of Permanent Resident

CASES NOT REQUIRED THIS PERMISSION

Here’s some examples the activity NOT required this permission;

  • Your intended activity is allowed under current visa already.
    e.g. HUMANITIES visa status holder engages in working as an English teacher, a translator/interpreter on weekends.
  • Volunteer activity and activity without income.
  • Incidental and temporary (only once or twice) activity with reward.
    e.g. Attending with a friend as his interpreter all day and receive reward from him.
Contents
  1. GENERAL REQUIREMENT of the PERMISSION
  2. TYPES OF PERMISSION
  3. HOW TO PROCESS
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GENERAL REQUIREMENT of the PERMISSION

You may consider obtaining this permission in case your case is applicable to all the general requirements below;

  1. Your activity to apply for this permission must not disturb the activity allowed under your current VISA STATUS.
  2. You continue to engage in the activity allowed under your current VISA STATUS.
  3. Your activity to apply for this permission must fall under ACTIVITY BASED STATUS on the list of VISA STATUS (excluding SPECIFIC SKILLED WORKER and TECHNICAL INTERN TRANING).
    *NOTE: In case of INCLUSIVE Permission, this requirement can be omitted.
  4. You cannot apply for this permission for the activities listed below;
    • activities which violate the law and regulations.
    • activities related to sex industry or related business such as night club, pub, kyaba-kura, girls-bar, pachinko, game center, cabaret etc.
  5. You don’t receive or are not served the the detention order or the hearing notice.
  6. You don’t have bad behavior; e.g. no criminal records, no violation of any law and regulations, no unpaid taxes or national/social health insurance and pension etc.
  7. In case your current VISA STATUS is based on a contract with a company/organization in Japan, you must confirm that the company/organization agrees to your another activity to apply for this permission.
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TYPES OF PERMISSION

INCLUSIVE Permission

INCLUSIVE Permission is to allow you to engage in another activity up to 28 hours per week inclusively in case your situation satisfies all of the General Requirement of the Permission except for 3. INCLUSIVE Permission allows to engage in simple labor which is not included on the list of VISA STATUS.

No need to apply for it every time you change your part-time job once you obtain this permission, but you need to apply for it again every time when you renew your main VISA STATUS if you would like to continue the activity allowed under this permission.

Examples of INCLUSIVE Permission;

  • STUDENT visa holder to engage in a part-time job up to 28 hours per week (8 hour per day during the long seasonal break)
  • DEPENDENT visa holder to engage in a pert time job up to 28 hours per week
  • DESIGNATED ACTIVITIES visa status granted as a dependent (spouse, child and others)
  • DESIGNATED ACTIVITIES visa status granted for job-hunting
  • INSTRUCTOR, ENGINEER/HUMANITIES and SKILLED WORKER visa holders (limited to those who engage in sports instructor) who make a contract with local public authorities or affiliated organization to engage in activity to apply for this permission

EXCLUSIVE Permission

EXCLUSIVE Permission is to be granted on an individual basis with specific name of workplace, scope of work and other necessary items for the permission. You need to apply for this type of permission in case;

  • your activity to apply for this permission is not applicable to INCLUSIVE Permission, or
  • you are currently on work related VISA STATUS and want to engage in work-related activity which is not allowed under your current visa status.

Also, your situation needs to satisfy all of the General Requirement of the Permission. As you see 1 on the General Requirement of the Permission, the activity to apply for this permission must not disturb your main activity based on your current VISA STATUS. Thus, hours of activity under this permission must not exceed the number of hours engaging in your main activity allowed under your current VISA STATUS. It is said that it should be up to half of the period of activity under your current VISA STATUS (main activity).

In case of this type of permission, you need to apply for it every time you change your part-time job allowed under this permission as well as you renew your main VISA STATUS.

Examples of EXCLUSIVE Permission;

  • STUDENT visa holder to engage in internship over 28 hours per week
  • PROFFESSOR visa holder to engage in teaching activity as a language teacher/instructor at private language school(s)
  • ENGINEER/HUMANITIES visa holder to engage in working as a part-time painting instructor on weekends
  • In case you would like to engage in the other activity as a sole proprietor (Kojin-jigyo-nushi/個人事業主) or activity which is difficult to measure the working hours.
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HOW TO PROCESS

You need to apply for PERMISSION to ENGAGE in OTHER ACTIVITY at the Immigration Office within your residence area in advance of starting the other activity.

Immigration Tax

Not required

Standard Processing Period

2 weeks to 2 months depending on the case

Required documents

  1. Application form
  2. Residence Card and Passport
  3. (In case of EXCLUSIVE Permission) Documents which specify or clarify the intended activity

For more details, jump to the webpage of the Immigration Office;

>> APPLICATION for PERMISSION to ENGAGE in OTHER ACTIVITY

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