how I got kicked out of Japan

2006.03.10 (updated : 2021.06.30)

This cautionary tale is relevant to anyone sent to work in Japan.

In 2005, I worked for a very large IT company. Among other things, they provided software and support to the global life insurance industry from a thriving Canadian subsidiary, and had a booming business in Japan. For years staff had been sent to Japan on a regular basis, sometimes for lengthy work stays. Mine, it turned out, was to be the last of these longer stays: six weeks in the summer of 2005.

I went without a visa, because it was a bit of a scramble to meet the client's needs. The firm's Japanese unit instructed our Toronto office to have me to simply turn up at the airport, and that at the airport I could enter on a temporary visitor's visa. The Toronto office confirmed that it would work because they'd all been doing it themselves for years.

The first six week assignment went so successfully that the client in Japan with whom I'd been stationed wanted me to stay on longer—for six months. So we struck a deal by which at the end of my six week stint, I'd: go back to Canada to sort out visa the paperwork; pack up my apartment; and then return to Japan for the six month duration. Things went nearly according to plan except for one hitch: when the six month work term started, I once again I entered on a visitor's visa.

I'd need an Engineer's visa to stay in Japan and work for the duration of the full six month term, and my employer's Japanese unit had asked me to gather the supporting documents I'd need for an application. University transcripts, letters from past employers, and a few other odds and ends. These I turned over to my employer when I arrived in Japan the second time.

They reassured me that all would be well. And they'd "been doing this for years", so I had no reason to doubt it. So for the next ten weeks I concentrated on only two things: my day job and evening Japanese lessons. The company had assigned me a tiny hotel room, and I had pretty much everything I needed for the duration. Occasionally, I'd check with my employer as to the visa application process and was always assured that all was well.

Then came my return trip to Canada for Christmas. I still didn't have a visa in hand at this point, and knew enough to be concerned. So I checked in with my employer before booking my flight. They gave me the green light.

I went, and brought my new Japanese girlfriend along for the trip. We'd only met that Autumn and a trip to my country might have seemed a little early, all told. But it was a lucky thing we went, given what happened next, because I'm not sure I would have seen her again (or Japan, for that matter) if she'd not been there.

The two of us flew back to Tokyo at the end of our week's vacation. I tried to enter the country on a tourist visa as before, a vague sense of wonder about the whole thing nagging at the back of my head.

And sure enough, I was detained by immigration. First I was put in one of the little rooms just off of the immigration counters, where I sat with a collection of other foreigners looking bewildered and frustrated. Asking around, I was surprised to learn that some of them had been detained in surprising circumstances—such as not having a visa to enter Japan when their only intention was to take a transferring flight that didn't involved them leaving the airport. It troubled me that I was also being separated from my girlfriend. I didn't know what was happening and I couldn't communicate well with the Japanese authorities.

One of the detainees was fretting over a missed connection. Another was dealing with a squirming child. The room had exactly the wan yellowing white light and paint you'd expect, and as you'd expect those 80's faux-leather backless couch things that are all welded together. There was no water and no word from anybody. There was no mobile phone signal.

After quite a while, a uniformed fifty-something fellow appeared and took me to another room. As we entered the immigration office, he told me that he was to serve as my translator. We marched through something that looked exactly like a scene from a Japanese cop movie: uniformed people standing around without seeming to have any tasks at hand. Every one wearing an under-designed uniform with inscrutable adornments. Someone was smoking. I managed to suppress nervous laughter. This wasn't going to go great.

He sat me at a desk in a small room with a fellow wearing a tie. Right from the top, the interviewer asked me if I was working in Japan.

In the waiting room, or maybe even during the flight over from Vancouver, I'd already made up my mind that if I ran into this situation I'd stick to the truth and let the chips fall where the may. So I told him that I was in fact working, yes. He then asked why I was entering the country on a visitor's visa. I told him that I was following instructions from my employer. He clarified what I'd said, then asked again if I knew that I was entering the country on a visitor's visa to work. I confirmed that situation, then explained that this had been standard practice at my employer for some years.

When my translator told my inquisitor this, the two had a quick interchange that resulted in a wry smile on my inquisitor's face. Seeing where things were going, I produced the mobile phone I'd been given by my employer and told the immigration official that I could put him in touch with the Japanese employee who'd I'd been dealing with: because I had a visa application in the works.

They hadn't been happy about the fact of my employer sending waves of gaijin to work in Japan illegally, but they were interested in the news of a visa application.

I rang up my contact and explained the situation. He confirmed that he'd speak with the officials. The immigration officer handed me back the phone, and my contact told me that he'd do some phoning around within the firm. I waited with the two officials, one in his uniform and the other his empty cigarette tray and 1993-looking computer terminal. My contact eventually called back. Not a lot of people were in town because it was the hight of the year-end vacation period. But he had learned that in fact my visa application had never been started.

For four months, they'd been telling me everything that I'd wanted to hear—but in reality nothing had been happening. I didn't know much about Japan at the time, so I didn't know that I was just hearing "yes" for the sake of keeping things smooth. I also didn't know enough to ask for specifics: milestones reached; who was doing what. I also hadn't perceived that the unit in Japan I was working with wasn't the same unit that had been bringing in all of those other foreigners, and that in fact that second unit's demise was why I was there in the first place: I was a filler for the staff who'd bolted, leaving the Japanese limb of the vast IT firm without the staff it needed to support its product.

These are, of course, all the sort of questions you must ask. But I'd had stars in my eyes: Tokyo! Sure let me get my bags!

The immigration officer decided to eject me from the country. He made it clear that he thought that the situation wasn't my fault, and that he considered this an unfortunate situation. He even took me into the airport (beyond the passport-control area) so that I could meet poor Mari (my now wife) and tell her what was happening. We exchanged some things in our bags and said our goodbyes. I told her I loved her (it was the first time, but heart-felt), that I'd buy a webcam to stay in touch, and that I'd do what I could to come back.

All three, it turned out, were true. But first, a bit of hell.

Ninety minutes of what I can only describe as frantic drudgery followed, as I was hustled from one desk to another, from one airline to another, and from one potential return destination after another and finally onto a plane bound—once again—for Vancouver.

What happened on the other side of the Pacific is another story for another time, but it took me two months of renewed paperwork and delicate arrangements with my employer's offices in Toronto and Tokyo, with the client, and with the authorities, to secure a return to Japan. I somehow pulled it off. Now, years after returning to Canada to live, and joined not only by my wife and a child (and having had a second child here in Canada), I'm on good terms with the direct supervisor who sent me to Japan, and I'm still in touch with the contact who did the frantic dialing around. I also count as friends two of the managers at the client firm, who lost an HR manager when my wife left.


I have since heard from quite a number of people that it's common practice for IT workers to be brought into the country on visitor visas. It's been speculated that I happened to run into a sweep of some kind: a moment of very rigid application of the law (hence the people being detained during routine connections between flights). I can't really comment on that, but I hope that anyone sent to work in Japan will regard my cautionary tale. Here are the facts about applying for a visa to enter Japan:

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Electronics,CD's vhs etc

This is more of a question than a comment, I understand that I should shed all of my electronics here before my move to Sydney, I have a large VHS and DVD collection, Does anyone know if they will work there using my equipment and a power converter? I have heard they may not play on an Aussie TV. The power converter will be used for somethings I cannot part with. Hopefully the PC will work if I switch it to 240 at the back?

Help!

James

James
2003.09.11 00:00:00

Forget the DVD player, Australia is in a different region from N. America. It may be the same for the VHS (PAL or HAL?). The PC will be fine.

-Michael

I can't imagine how stressed out you must have felt when you were told you were being ejected. What a story, complete with your declaration of love.

Clarissa
2010.03.12 19:21:04

Yeah it was not fun but since I'd had that early warning it was not entirely unexpected. I was more unhappy with my employer than anything else. The immigration fellows were only doing their duty.

-Michael

Just wanted to make a clarification. While you have to obtain your visa outside Japan, you can do all the paperwork while in Japan on a Visitor's Visa. You are just not allowed to work while on the Visitor's Visa. Then once the paperwork is finished you can fly to Seoul for a couple days to get your visa at the embassy.

James
2010.03.13 00:45:41

Thanks for the clarification. It's all behind me now and hopefully I'm on my way to permanent residency. But I just wanted to outline the safe and legal route rather than advocate tricks that haves anecdotally worked for some people but aren't the legitimate route.

-Michael

woha, troublesome... and let me guess: you never worked for this company again, right? I know I wouldn't...

fritz
2010.03.14 02:16:19

That's it, I'm going to sit down next week to write the next chapter. 8^)

-Michael

I heard of a person that got kicked out of Japan after a year, I wonder if it was a visa problem as well...

WIll
2010.03.14 05:48:07

Most first-time visas that I'm familiar with (engineer, spousal) seem to be issued on a one-year basis, so it wouldn't surprise me entirely.

-Michael

I am currently in Japan though I am not working. I will be here legally until July 28th and then will need to leave the country. I however would like to stay until October with my fiance who will be working here until then and then will be coming the the US on a finace Visa. I have heard that I can leave the country for one day and come back and gain an additional 90 day tourist visa, In fact I just called the consulate in Osaka and the woman told me that I could do that?! Do you have any knoweledge about this? I would hate to plan on this and then I get to immigration and they try to send me home. Thanks for any comments.

Joe
2010.05.19 05:04:44

The gaijin community here seems to agree that there's a good deal of inconsistency in the way that the Ministry of Justice handles these things in Japan.

Have a look at this conversation at Japansoc.

If you have the advice of the consulate in Japan (I assume that you mean from your own nation?) that's a good indicator but I suspect that you'd better get corroboration from the immigration bureau (Ministry of Justice) directly.

Good luck, Joe!

-Michael

Hi Michael, I hope you can help me with my situation. I will be resigning from my current IT dispatch company who is sponsoring my visa, I still have more than 2 years left in my visa after that. I have read that I can stay here in Japan for 3 mos. looking for a next job, and should be system engineering job only. I also want to visit my country Philippines for 1-2 mos. Do you have a knowledge regarding this matters?

son
2010.07.26 00:45:27

I am not a specialist by any means, Son. But I've known people who have stayed in Japan for a lot longer than three months on an expired IT visa. Once you have the visa, I think it's valid until it expires. Certainly I see nothing about validity expiring when you leave your job at this page.

The only thing you need to re-enter the country is a valid re-entry stamp and a visa that hasn't expired. And yes, you need a new job in the same field, or you'll have to change your visa. Once you've changed your job, remember to get your alien registration card changed, too.

Again, I'm not a specialist. If I were you, I'd check with the immigration bureau.

Good luck!

-Michael

Tnx alot Michael. I'm just looking for different point of views regarding this matter, I've been doing alot of research about this issue so that I already have some knowledge when it is time for me to do inquiries at the immigration. By the way, you have a beautiful family.

Son
2010.07.26 12:54:34

Well thanks for the kind compliment.

Let me know what you dig up, and I'll share your information here.

-Michael

Lovely story with a happy ending. I was first attracted by the title. Glad everything actually worked out for you, and you made me think twice about my pending application.

B
2014.10.31 12:42:07

Ah, go for it! 8)

(Glad you liked the story.)

-Michael

rand()m quote

Some people talk about living every day like it might be their last. Maybe that's good advice. Carpe diem and all that. But perhaps it's better to try to live every day like it might be everyone's last. If there are people in your life who are important to you, let them know...

—Mark Bedford (quote taken from posting to fray.com)