What else can I do with an Engineer Visa?

[PFlive]

Hi everyone,

I've been granted an "Engineer Visa" and I also landed a job in the IT sector (webdev) all at the same time.

I took this option because it was the only one possible way for me to get a foot into Japan for long enough without marrying someone.

But the thing is that I really want to move away from computer work after one or two years without changing my visa status.
I hate spending hours in front of a computer, and I'm now craving jobs that require mobility and interpersonal skills.

Knowing this, what kind of jobs should I target in your opinion?

BTW : I have absolutely no degree but I speak Japanese.

Thanks in advance

[FSlive]

Hi,

Seems like there are some pretty commons misconceptions that should be pointed out.
Does actually your engineer visa even mentions that your related field is IT ? I guess no...Doesn't that hereby mean that you can theoretically work everywhere your visa does apply ? here we come.

To sum up a lil bit more you're looking for a job in engineer field, that would require decent japanese and english speaking, right ?
Then, I have a bunch of question before moving further :

-Are you willing to throw up all of your IT skills and experiences or do you still want to enhance it ?
-Have you thought about how much you wanna get paid if you dare changing field ?
-Do you rather prefer to leave behind you IT with all its decent advantages ?

Then why not pursuing in consulting, along with a 2 single vision (japan and europe) biaised by years you'd be able to mix it up and gain decent job through japanese market.

[frenchie]

Hi everyone,

I've been granted an "Engineer Visa" and I also landed a job in the IT sector (webdev) all at the same time.

I took this option because it was the only one possible way for me to get a foot into Japan for long enough without marrying someone.

But the thing is that I really want to move away from computer work after one or two years without changing my visa status.
I hate spending hours in front of a computer, and I'm now craving jobs that require mobility and interpersonal skills.

Knowing this, what kind of jobs should I target in your opinion?

BTW : I have absolutely no degree but I speak Japanese.

Thanks in advance

I've been in Japan for over 10 years, 7 with an engineer(技術) visa. I don't think you can do any job that is not related to engineering without violating the
terms of your visa. Here are a few of my experiences.

1. When I changed job, even if I had 2 years left on my visa, my company asked me to confirm the validity of my visa by getting an authorization of employment
(就労資格証明書). Basically they check if you are doing a job that is covered by your visa. This is not required but if you do a job unrelated to engineering,
your visa might not be renewed when it expires.

2. I wanted to teach English on the side but I was told that I needed a special permission as this was not covered by the engineering visa. I also wanted to
work in a bar in order to increase my Japanese skills, immigration told me it had nothing to do with engineering and was a violation of the terms of my visa.

If you find a company that is nice enough to let you do some non-engineering work while still having you officially work as an engineer, that might do the
trick. I've gone abroad on business trips, met customers, took part in exhibitions etc but over half of my work is still related to engineering.
As long as you find a job that sort of looks like an engineering job, you'll probably be OK.

Hope it helps.