Do you follow the rule of working up to 28 hours a week?
“Many foreign students in Nagoya have recently been found to be reluctant to apply for newly created visas intended to bring more workers from abroad, fearing their applications might not be accepted because they have been working more part-time hours than permitted for those with student visas.”
An article “Foreign students in Japan hold back on applying for newly created visas due to past illegal overwork” said on November 15, 2019.
So, how about you? There might be some friends telling you that overworking would not be found by Immigration Services Agency, however, do you think it is true?
What is “OVERWORK”?
If your status of residence were “student” or “dependent”, it is necessary to obtain Permission to Engage in an Activity Other Than That Permitted by the Status of Residence Previously Granted in order to work part-time. After obtaining the permission, you receive issuance of a seal of verification (attached to a passport) or a written permission. With this permission, you can work up to 28 hours a week.
Now, think about these 2 cases below. Case 1 complies with the law, case 2 does not.
As you can see, in both cases, he/she worked up to 28 hours a week. However, “a week” does not necessarily start from Sunday or Monday.
In case 2, he/she worked 24 hours in his/her first week and 27 hours in second week. How about starting from Wednesday? If starting from Wednesday, he/she worked 34 hours !!
You must confirm whether your working hours exceed 28 hours no matter when “a week” starts.
If your overworking were found out by Immigration…
When you extend period of your stay (or sometimes when you change statuses of residence), it would be necessary to submit 住民税（じゅうみんぜい）の 課税証明書（かぜいしょうめいしょ） and 納税証明書（のうぜいしょうめいしょ）to Immigration.
Immigration staff can see clearly if you have worked more than 28 hours a week, and they will reject your request.
There are many who do not submit those documents for fear of being rejected due to working illegally long hours, but they will doubt you have worked too long and reject your application.
What you should do if the request were rejected
- Write statement of regret, saying that “I will never break Japanese rules again, so please allow me to work in Japan from now on…”
- Return to your country
Once your statement of regret has not been taken into consideration, the only way left is to return to your country. There is still possibility that you can come back to Japan in the future again even after leaving Japan. The most important thing to remember is “Do not work too long hours”!!
