Hello, I am Yokoyama, an administrative scrivener.
When you hear the term “Permit to Engage in Activity other than that Permitted under the Status of Residence”(資格外活動許可: Shikakugai-katsudo-kyoka), you may have a strong image that it is a permission for foreign student visa holders to work part-time, or a part-time job permit for those on a family residence visa.
Indeed, the ‘Permit to Engage in Activity other than that Permitted under the Status of Residence’ is generally obtained by international students and spouses of working visa holders who are dependent on their spouses to work part-time or part time.
The original meaning of ‘permission to engage in activities other than that permitted under the status of residence’ is that a foreigner’s visa restricts the activities they can engage in in Japan, so if they wish to engage in activities other than those permitted under their visa, they need to obtain this ‘permission to engage in activities other than that permitted under the status of residence’.
However, if you do not know what activities your visa allows you to do, you will not know what other activities you can do.
On a student visa, you need permission to engage in activities outside the scope of your visa to work part-time, but on a work visa, you do not need permission to engage in activities outside the scope of your visa to attend school.
The point of the permission to engage in activities outside the scope of the visa is that the activity should not be the main activity, but rather an activity that does not interfere with the original activity of the visa, in other words, it should be an activity that you can do in your spare time.
We are all aware of cases where foreign students who are too devoted to part-time work and have very poor school attendance are not granted visa extensions.
Suppose a person working in a company with an “Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International services’ visa” is granted permission to engage in activities outside the scope of his/her status to carry out another business as a sole trader. But if he earns more from his sole proprietorship than he earns from his salary at the company, he may not know which is his main business, and in the worst-case scenario, his visa may be revoked.
Some foreigners may wish to start their own business while working as a salaried employee in order to aim higher or to challenge themselves with different possibilities.
For example, selling goods on Rakuten or Amazon, or doing some sort of retail arbitrage business (SEDORI in Japanese), even if it is a small-scale business, can be a problem for visa status. In order to legally carry out these entrepreneurial activities, it is possible to obtain permission to engage in activities other than those permitted under the status of residence (particular case permission). This is a respectable activity that may be permitted by the Immigration Bureau as “activities to purchase various products as a sole trader and sell them at inbound or abroad”.
The level of difficulty is very high and the examination process takes time, so entrepreneurial activity as a side business is a very high hurdle for foreigners.
However, you should definitely check if you do not want to create visa problems. For example, a permit to engage in activities other than those permitted under the status of residence is also required in the following cases;
Mr A works as an engineer for company X on weekdays with an Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International services’ visa among work-related visas. On weekends, he works part-time as a part-time teacher, teaching Spanish at a public high school. This requires you to obtain a Permit to Engage in Activity other than that Permit.
Mr B, who is a university lecturer on a work-based visa for Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International services’ visa. If you start a business as a sole trader, as a weekend entrepreneur, this also requires a permission to engage in activities other than those permitted under your status of residence.
Similarly, Mr C works as a company employee on a kind of work visa. He bought one apartment building to try his hand at a property investment business. Property income from the rental management of real estate is treated differently for tax purposes if it is recognised as business-like in scale. Criteria are set for business-like scale: at least 10 flats or condominiums, and at least five houses for rent. Of course, if you have nine flats, you may be able to explain the tax criteria and excuse that it is not a real estate rental business, but if it is close to the size of your business, your income should not be small and it is safer to apply for a permit to operate outside the scope of your qualification. Note that property landlord business is a respectable business. The same applies to private property ownership.
In other words, if you decide to do any of the following activities in addition to the main business of your visa, you will need a Permit to Engage in Activities Other Than That Permitted by the Status of Residence.
- activities to run an income-generating business
- activities for which you receive remuneration.
It does not matter whether the business is for profit or not. This includes the operation of a school or the establishment and operation of a religious organisation. If you want to set up an NPO while working as a company employee, you will also need a permit to engage in activities outside the scope of your qualification.
The main prerequisite is also that you must and can continue the activities of your current visa. It is also important that you are not simply working (so-called McJob). This is because the activity must fall under one of the work visas. Please note that this is not the same as a work visa for international students or family members.
I would like to quit my current employer, start my own business and run my own company (or organisation) as a full-time manager in the future! Let’s try out a sole trader business first.” If you are thinking that “I want to quit my current job and run my own business (organisation) as a full-time manager!
First, please contact us for advice.
The Immigration Bureau does not often guide salaried workers correctly on the permission to engage in activities outside the status of residence for a second job, and it is not clear at first glance what documents you need to prepare. Below you will find a guide from the Immigration Office, but only the legal requirements, so you may be wondering how to apply for it.
Furthermore, even if the company allows you to work on the side, you may not always get a written consent. In such cases, it is also important to know how to explain the situation.
The firm has a number of experiences in this area. We can assist you with what documents you need to prepare and what documents you need to produce.