Documents Required for Work Visa Application | Technology/Humanities/International Affairs Fields

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1. What is the “Technical / Humanities / International Affairs” work visa?

The Technical / Humanities / International Affairs visa is one of the most representative types of work visas.
According to data released by the Ministry of Justice at the end of June of the 2020, approximately 10% of foreign nationals residing in Japan hold a Technical / Humanities / International Affairs visa.
For more details on technical, humanities, and international affairs matters, please refer to the [Technical/Humanities/International Affairs visa] column.

To obtain a Technical / Humanities / International Affairs visa, it is necessary to meet requirements related to the individual, the company, and the job content, broadly categorized as follows:

・Individual requirements
Graduation from university with a bachelor’s degree.
Alternatively, graduation from a Japanese vocational school with a specialized associate degree.

・Company requirements
Stability and continuity of business operations.

・Job content requirements
Work requiring technical or knowledge in the fields of natural science or humanities, or work requiring thinking or sensitivity based on foreign culture.

2.Documents required for obtaining a work visa in the “Technical / Humanities / International Affairs”

For the acquisition of the Technical / Humanities / International Affairs visa, the required documents vary depending on the category.
For an explanation of the categories, please refer to Do submission documents change depending on the category of work visa? column.

Now, we will introduce the required documents for each category of application.
In addition, depending on individual cases, additional documents may be requested during the examination process. In such cases, please follow the instructions from the Immigration authorities and submit the necessary documents accordingly.

① Category 1:

Certification

Change

Renewal

② Category 2:

Certification

Change

Renewal

③ Category 3:

Certification

Change

Renewal

③ Category 4:

Certification

Change

Renewal

3.Procedures for applying for a work visa

First, those who can apply for a work visa are the individual themselves, the company or organization that intends to hire the individual, and professionals such as administrative scriveners.
The duration from application to visa acquisition is depends, for certification, it takes approximately 1 to 3 months, while for changes and renewals, it takes about 2 weeks to 1 month.

The procedure for applying for a work visa also varies depending on the type of application. Let me explain each of them:

① Certification

The certification application is carried out in the following steps:

1.Verification of job content
2.Preparation and conclusion of employment contract
3.Application for work visa

First, it is confirmed whether the work to be performed in Japan falls under the categories of technical, humanities, or international affairs.
Additionally, it’s important to verify whether one’s educational background and work experience are relevant to the work to be done in Japan.

Next, an employment contract with the Japanese company to be employed by is prepared and concluded.
The Immigration Bureau also verifies the contents of employment contracts.
It is necessary to verify whether the description of job duties and the amount of remuneration comply with labor-related laws and regulations.

Then, the necessary documents mentioned above are collected, and an application for a work visa is submitted.
After waiting for approximately 1 to 3 months, the work visa can be obtained.

② Change

There are various cases where an application for change to a work visa may be made, but the most common case is when it is requested by international students.

In the case of a change requested by international students, in addition to confirming the requirements for a work visa, the evaluation will also consider the student’s academic performance at the school where they were enrolled as a student, as well as the hours worked in part-time jobs, thus please be aware of this.

③ Renewal

The timing for renewing a work visa is generally 3months before the expiration of the period of stay.

You may often hear about a special extension period when applying for renewal.
The special extension period allows individuals to legally stay in Japan for up to 2months from the expiration date of their period of stay or until the date of receipt of the application result if they apply for renewal (or change) before the expiration date of their period of stay.

The content of the renewal varies depending on whether you change jobs or job categories.
If you do not change jobs and the job category remains the same, and there are no other issues with your conduct, generally, renewal of the work visa is possible.

If you change jobs, according to Article 19-16 of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, you must report the change within 14 days.

Also, if you are uncertain about the nature of the work at your new job, one option is to apply for issuance of employment qualification certificate before applying for renewal to confirm whether the nature of the work at the new job falls within the scope of the work visa.
For more details, please refer to the page explaining What is a employment qualification certificate? Explanation of advantages, disadvantages, precautions, etc.

4.Summary: Required documents for a work visa | Technology/Humanities/International Affairs Fields

To obtain a work visa, as you’ve seen above, numerous documents are required.
To ensure that you can obtain the work visa reliably, be careful not to overlook any documents.

Another important point to consider is that in the review of a work visa application, it’s not simply a matter of submitting the documents, but rather the content of the documents that is crucial.
In other words, submitting the documents listed above doesn’t guarantee that you’ll obtain the work visa without any issues; Immigration officer reviews the content of the submitted documents.

Therefore, if there are any issues with the content of the submitted documents, the review process will be halted, and in some cases, the work visa may be denied.

To prevent this from happening, it’s important to first understand the key points of the work visa review process.
Then, it’s necessary to assess whether the documents you intend to submit meet the requirements for the work visa.

If you’re unsure about handling the work visa application process on your own, please entrust it to us the administrative scrivener, Daiichi Sogo Office.
We offer free consultations.
As professionals in the process of applying for work visas, we will provide full support until the completion of the procedure.