Last year I worked in Japan on a Working Holiday Visa. Since coming back to the UK Ive hated it. I never really got on with England before going to Japan, but now Ive had a taste of how much better life can be in Japan compaired to grotty London, I want to be greedy and have some more.

Only, Im unsure if I can apply for a Working Holiday visa again?? Ive read on the official site that there has to be 8 years between each Working Holiday Visa and you have to be under 25 to realistically have a chance. Is one out of 2 enough - Im under 25... I think Ive read on this forum somewhere that basically as there are more Japanese people applying for Working Holiday Visas to England than English people applying for Working Holiday Visas to Japan, they practically give out the Visa to anyone that asks. Japanese people are the ones that have to fight for the Visa.

My question is this basically:
How strict are they? Is there a possibility if I apply again sometime in the next year, will I be accepted again??

I had a WHV in 1993 and again in 1995.

I have no idea what the rules are like now, but at that time it was not a big deal. I had to write a special letter explaining why I wanted a second visa.

Assuming things have not changed all that much, the letter should go something like this: Talk about how much you loved it here the first time and how much you want to go back again. Also bullshit a lot and say how you went to "A, B, and C" but that you weren't able to go to "X, Y, and Z" and how much you really want to see these places. Say how you made so many Japanese friends who you would really love to be able to see again.

Whatever you do mention NOTHING about work. Say NOTHING about how much you enjoyed working and say NOTHING about how much hope to work again when you come back. Don't even put the word "work" in the letter! Don't mention formal language study either.

I had two WHV, a tourist visa, then a student visa, and after that a spouse visa. Now I have permanent residence.

If you want to get a "pre-college student visa" (ie for J-language study) you need to understand the timings. You can only start in April or October, NO OTHER MONTHS! If you start in April you can get 2 years. If it is October then only 1.5 years. I tell you this so you can time your 2nd WHV to finish in March if you think you might change to a student visa after that.

Good luck with it!

The people who I know that have had more than one WHV have conveniently "lost" their passports and had them reissued. But as these are issued on quota system with so many more people from Japan wanting WHV's you shouldn't really have any problems.

Good luck and let us know how you went.

Im confused....

this is taken from the Japanese embassy website in UK (http://www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/en/visa/visa-gen.html)

[INDENT]1. College Students
Activities authorized to engage in: Activities to receive education at college or equivalent educational institutions, specialized courses of study at advanced vocational schools (Senshugakkou), educational institutions designated for preparing persons who have completed 12 years of education at schools in foreign countries to enter college, or Koto Senmongakko.
Period of stay: 2 years or 1 year
Must obtain Certificate of Eligibility to apply for this visa.

2. Pre-College Student
Activities authorized to engage in: Activities to receive education at high schools, high school courses of schools for the blind or of handicapped children's schools, higher or general courses of advanced vocational schools (Senshugakko), or vocational schools (Kakushugakko) (excluding the educational institution described in the College Students) or the other educational institutions which are equivalent to vocational schools in facilities and curriculum.
Period of stay: 1 year or 6 months
Must obtain Certificate of Eligibility to apply for this visa. [/INDENT]

My questions are these:
1 - can you be in Japan when applying for this visa, or do you have to be in your home country?

2 - are you allowed only a certain level of knowledge of Japanese? i.e. - what if your level of japanese is above beginner?

3 - you need a school to sponsor you. Ive taken a look at a few schools (KAI, Kudan/Geos...) and most of the courses they offer dont seem to be for set 'one year' or 'two year' courses, more you pay per term. So, how does that effect my visa? Surely they wont sponsor me for a whole year if Im only doing a course for 3 months... They say the maximum time allowed is 2 years, do you have to keep renewing it every 3 months??

4 - Do you recommend any good schools in Tokyo? (I am serious about studying Japanese, its not just a way of getting in to Japan. I'd like to achieve business japanese, or JLPT 1 or 2, so if I have to return to england at the end of it all, there may be a possibility I can get a job using my Japanese skills?) I like the sound of this school, but they seem to jump from super advanced to beginner... how about intermediate guys!?!

5 - They say you need a certain amount of cash behind you in order to apply for the visa. But they dont say how much. Any ideas?

6 - whats the difference between a pre-college visa and a college visa? (see above)

Sorry for all the questions! I could call the embassy about it, but as Im planning on going to Japan on a Working Holiday Visa first they might get suspicious if I suddenly ask them about pre-college visas too. Its a shame they dont take enquiries about visas through email.

Please help!!!

akatsuka wrote:2. Pre-College Student
Activities authorized to engage in: Activities to receive education at high schools, high school courses of schools for the blind or of handicapped children's schools, higher or general courses of advanced vocational schools (Senshugakko), or vocational schools (Kakushugakko) (excluding the educational institution described in the College Students) or the other educational institutions which are equivalent to vocational schools in facilities and curriculum.
Period of stay: 1 year or 6 months
Must obtain Certificate of Eligibility to apply for this visa. [/INDENT]

Yes, the period of stay is either one year or 6 months. You can renew the visa once. If you start in October you get a six month visa which you can then renew for one year from the following April. If you start in April you get a one year visa that can then be renewed for another one year. This is the same as the WHV where the period of stay is 6 months -- depending on which country you are from you can renew that once or twice for a total time in country of 1 year or 1.5 years.

akatsuka wrote:1 - can you be in Japan when applying for this visa, or do you have to be in your home country?

You can be in Japan when you apply but you will probably have to fly home to get the visa stamp in your passport. You may be able to arrange to have this done in Korea instead of having to fly back to the UK, but I am not sure. I flew back to Canada to get mine.

akatsuka wrote:2 - are you allowed only a certain level of knowledge of Japanese? i.e. - what if your level of japanese is above beginner?

Unless you are already totally fluent it should not be a problem. Most schools have courses for various levels.

akatsuka wrote:3 - you need a school to sponsor you. Ive taken a look at a few schools (KAI, Kudan/Geos...) and most of the courses they offer dont seem to be for set 'one year' or 'two year' courses, more you pay per term. So, how does that effect my visa? Surely they wont sponsor me for a whole year if Im only doing a course for 3 months... They say the maximum time allowed is 2 years, do you have to keep renewing it every 3 months??

The school will continue to sponsor you as long as you continue to attend the school. If you leave the school your 6 month or 1 year visa will become void and you will have to leave Japan -- or get deported if you try to stay!

akatsuka wrote:4 - Do you recommend any good schools in Tokyo?

Nope. I am in Osaka and have been out of j-school for so long that I no longer have any idea what is good or not. The YMCA was always highly regarded though, so they would be good to check.

akatsuka wrote:5 - They say you need a certain amount of cash behind you in order to apply for the visa. But they dont say how much. Any ideas?

The school will be able to give you a good idea what is expected. If you have a guaranteur that is outside Japan though then immigration will want to see evidence that this person is sending you money to support you in Japan! It used to be possible to wire money home each month and then have someone wire it back to you to appear like they were supporting you. This is probably a lot harder to do now that the banking system is being watched in more detail.

akatsuka wrote:6 - whats the difference between a pre-college visa and a college visa? (see above)

College is for students attending university or college in Japan. Pre-college is for study that can be considered to be preparing you to enter college -- such as language school.

That's good information FGL. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

Mulboyne wrote:That's good information FGL. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

I'll second that. Excellent!
I'd like to have given akatsuka some info, but glad I didn't jump in too soon. I couldn't have done it anywhere near as well presented or informative.
Well done FG Lurker.

Yep – BIG HUGE THANKS to FGL!!
If I do make it to Japan, I owe you a drink or two!

Got to research schools now – thanks for the tip about YMCA.

I went to this school and they helped me to get a student visa http://www.klschool.com/english/aboutus.html

They also were able to accommodate a student at any level. The head teacher is fab.

I got 4 WHVs. That was a long, long time ago, though.

In this day of compooterisation, I would recommend against "losing" your passport. They may have a record of you somewhere, and a fraudulent visa application could get you banned for a few years.

For my second WHV, I 'lost' my passport and then just re-applied. No problem, got it toute suite.

For my third, it had been a year since returning home, and I simply applied the usual way, noted that I had a WHV the year before, and wrote a really schmaltzy Goma suri Tegami, extolling the wondrous virtues of an Island Nation of Five Seasons, and my fascination with same.

For my fourth, I repeated step three.

At the time, the Jpn - Cdn WHV programme was under a lot of fire from the Cdn side: too many Jpn, not enough Canadians; the Dragon Queen (Jpn immigrants in Canada; the Yoko McGillicudy crowd) lobby claimed that Jpn WHV holders were stealing their jobs (and a good thing it was, they helped get rid of those piss and vinegar soy soaked old prunebags).

Anyways, I think that contributed a lot to my being granted the third and fourth visas; and this was all before 1993, so the program may hqave changed a lot.

Anyways, good luck.

i dont get it - how would me 'losing' my passport help? They take your passport away for a few days, so surely they check up on who you are then. (i,e criminal background etc..) so surely they will be able to see that you have been given the WHV before. OK, it might make them realise a bit slower, but... they will realise. ?wont they?

Also, say i did 'lose' my passport. Do I then 'forget' I had ever been to Japan on a WHV before??

akatsuka wrote:i dont get it - how would me 'losing' my passport help? They take your passport away for a few days, so surely they check up on who you are then. (i,e criminal background etc..) so surely they will be able to see that you have been given the WHV before. OK, it might make them realise a bit slower, but... they will realise. ?wont they?

Also, say i did 'lose' my passport. Do I then 'forget' I had ever been to Japan on a WHV before??

You are thinking in today's terms. Before computer databases ruled supreme, it was quite difficult to crosscheck data and so "losing" your passport and getting a new one was one way you could start afresh. That isn't just true of Japan, many visa overstayers in the US or indeed any country would do the same. As other posters above have indicated, that isn't a strategy you should consider now.

It is possible the door is closed. The UK only joined up to the work visa scheme relatively recently so there aren't many precedents. Then again, if you don't apply, you won't know. I can't imagine an embassy staffer would want to be caught saying or writing on record that more than one working holiday visa might be granted but there may yet be a more flexible attitude behind the scenes if there is a shortfall in the quota.

I would apply in writing along the lines suggested earlier by FGL but look for other options in case it doesn't come through.

Why not just apply and see, man? Be honest, and as I suggested, write a cheesy letter extolling the virtues of Japan, and their 44 varieties of boiled mush.

It isn't like writing a PHD thesis, after all.

Yup, gonna try - got nothing to lose!!

Gonna write a mushy letter at the weekend. I'll let everone know of the reply.

Cross your fingers and toes for me!

best of luck sunshine!

I really DID lose my passport and was told as was my Japanese girlfriend and ever her family who helped that I could not be re-issued my whv.

where are you from?

Hey there - I dont suppose you have dual nationality/multiple passports? One thing that you could CONCEIVABLY do is apply for another Working Holiday visa on a different passport.

Alternatively you could start a company and sponsor your own visa. This requires a HUGE amount of stress, money, commitment and frustration. Can't say I would recommend this unless you enjoy pain.

Best of luck either way!

I was thinking about applying for another WHV but basically got the response as you (Im British as well) but luckily I never applied and had just phoned them without telling them my name.

Seems to me the only way of getting one is by re applying and hoping that your records are not found. My visa was 4 years ago so hopefully the file has been deleted. I know of one person that has managed to get 2 visas, one from london then another by getting a new passport and applying at the embassy in Edinborough. The only thing is is that it is VERY risky making a false application and if you get found out you will likely be banned from the country for a few years or/and get a fine or prison sentance.

Im currently looking into getting back out to Japan but with the collapse of NOVA and the difficulties of getting an english teaching job I think that now is probably not the best of times.

Ghost wrote:My visa was 4 years ago so hopefully the file has been deleted.

dunno about this, from what i can see, they don't throw anything out here. i'd even be willing to guess a printout of your file, in triplicate has been stashed away in various nicotene-stained filing cabinets across the country and that a copy may even exist in a plastic cabinet somewhere in my mother-in-law's bedroom.