Relocating to Japan on a Internship-to-Hire position

Member since 29 November 2019

sherbienyMember29 November 2019 07:33:10

Hello good people!

I will start with the main question: Is it smart/safe to move to Japan (Tokyo) on an internship-to-hire position ?

I am currently searching for work in Japan, I have very basic Japanese language knowledge but I am very interested in learning it as I have been watching anime for years now and I grew to love the culture!. Also, I recently met a girl online who lives in Japan and things are going well! which gave me the incentive to take this step now

I work in IT, a Magento 2 backend web developer (PHP) with 2+ years of experience from my current Job and about 2 more years of experience from a past Job in C#. I also worked as a project manager for 3 years in between those 2 technical ones. I have a masters degree in software engineering from the University of Tartu. I am originally from Egypt and I moved to Estonia in 2016, so I have some expat experience already

Now, after a week of searching, I got a positive response from an employer and they sent me a video call meeting request to start the interviews process. The thing is, they are offering a Internship-to-Hire position for 8 weeks then (depending on my work) they would offer me a full time job.

Since Japan is far away, moving will involve a lot of risks, and the offer is not full-time I came here to ask experienced expats about my situation.

1. Should I move forward with this ?
2. Is it a logical move ?
3. Is it possible to find another Job while I am there, in case this one fails to be changed to full time ?
4. What type of Visa will I get ? what is it's duration ? can it be extended to have more time looking for work ?
5. How much money (in Euros) do I need to have as a starting asset ? for renting a place when I arrive (with deposit and stuff), for the first few months of extra spending (buying stuff for the apartment, etc..)
6. What guarantees should I ask from the employer during these interviews ?
7. What salary expectation should I give, and what is the minimum should I accept ?
8. Should I only consider jobs that is being offered full-time from the beginning ? although all the jobs I saw are offering a full time with a 2 months probation period (so probably all is risky)

I hope this was not very long - I am looking forward to your advice on these points

See also

Internships in Japan - Guide
Relocation agencies in Japan - Business
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The impact of artificial intelligence on the Japan job market - 0 Reply
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selayang88 Member

Member since 06 October 2015

selayang88Member02 December 2019 01:00:19

Morning there, firstly getting a job in Japan is a risky one. It actually hard to any expat or foreigners (gaijin they call in Japan) to work there.
I have been working in Japan for a year at osaka just like you, internship to hire in hospitality sectors and I cannot give you 100% information but this is what I been through

1. You need to standby yourself with goo financial (at least 2 million Yen, not sure how many in euro) why, in Japan they will never paid a salary of your Visa fall under internship.
Let say they said 2 month trial internship, it mean with in two months you will never get a salary.

2. Before you can start working or move to Japan you need apply eligiblity and working Visa within 6 months to 1 year.eligibilty is for you to stay and to rent and it was the first thing u need to do.

Since this was a long discussion, maybe we can talk about it later.

sherbieny Member

Member since 29 November 2019

sherbienyMember03 December 2019 22:13:54

Thank you for the information, 2M yen is a big number - but not impossible to save up with time, please tell me more details when you have the time

selayang88 Member

Member since 06 October 2015

selayang88Member04 December 2019 01:19:16

3. Is it possible to find another Job while I am there, in case this one fails to be changed to full time ?

yes it possible, but it's really hard to land one..japan working world are challenging (please search this for more info) and you need to be careful when choosing other part-time work if not you will fall under "modern slavery worker" it's like a plague or diseased for foreigner who work as a part-time there

4. What type of Visa will I get ? what is it's duration ? can it be extended to have more time looking for work ?

usually you will be grant an Internship visa (6 month - 1 year) and within that time you can apply sponsorship visa (please search for more info) only family member (local only) or employer can apply for this. beside you need to pay 120,000 yen to apply and another 20,000 yen for administrator fee and it really a butt hurt because it will take a long time (more than a years) just to get it and you can extended your visa if your record are clean and need to pay around 20,000 yen as a processing fee

6. What guarantees should I ask from the employer during these interviews ?

it's hard to say because different field job need different guarantees, but for sure you need to ask if you're cover in national health insurance (please search it for more info) because medical cost in japan totally expensive i mean really expensive.

7. What salary expectation should I give, and what is the minimum should I accept ?

don't put your expectation too high and if can please make sure the minimum wage are not below 250,000 yen/month if not you don't have any more left to spend on your daily

lastly, please do more search about foreigner working in japan before trying to apply one
hope all this info can help you more