What is an application for permission to engage in activities other than that permitted under the status of residence previously granted?
Foreign nationals residing in Japan with employment-related status of residence are originally only able to engage in activities that can be performed under the status of residence granted to them, and are not permitted to engage in “other activities” without permission. “Other activities” are referred to as activities other than that permitted under the status of residence previously granted, and applying for permission to the Immigration Services Agency is referred to as an “application for permission to engage in activities other than that permitted under the status of residence previously granted”.
Activities that can be carried out as activities other than permitted
Based on the purpose of the status of residence system, which limits the scope of work activities in consideration of the impact on Japan’s labor market, activities other than that permitted under the status of residence are recognized as appropriate only if the activity involves a certain level of knowledge, technology, or skill.
For this reason, it does not mean that any activity can be carried out, but only activities that can be carried out with an employment status of residence (excluding technical intern training and specified skilled worker). (From the examination guidelines of the Immigration Services Agency)
This means that you can engage in activities that are permitted under the category of “skilled worker”, “engineering/specialist in the humanities/ international work” etc.
Exceptions to activities that can be carried out as activities other than permitted
As an exception to the above, “student” and “dependent” may be permitted regardless of the content of the work (excluding illegal work or work related to the Entertainment Business Act), as doing activities other than that permitted under the status of residence will not have any impact on Japan’s labor market. This is called a “blanket permit,” which allows you to work for up to 28 hours per week without specifying your workplace, and is the most common type of permitted activity other than that permitted under the status of residence, as exemplified by the case of a foreigner working at a convenience store.
A case we tried recently
Background
The case was very special. The client is a construction business owner in a local city, and employs several foreigners with specified skilled workers in the construction field. The management wanted these people to experience part-time work in the agricultural field, which would lead to the development of regional exchanges between their home countries and Japan (in the future, they would like to invite foreigners as specified skilled workers to work in the agricultural field).
In order to make this wish come true, the manager decided to change the working hours stipulated in the specific skill employment contract from 5 to 4 a week, and to have the worker work part-time in agriculture for the remaining 1 day, and decided to apply for 1 part of the week to be engaged in activities other than that permitted under the status of residence previously granted.
Are those who have a “technical intern training” or “specified skilled worker” status of residence absolutely unable to engage in activities other than that permitted under the status of residence granted?
By the way, it is generally believed that foreign nationals residing in the country with a “technical intern training” or “specified skilled worker” status of residence are not allowed to engage in activities other than that permitted under the status of residence. The basis for this is the part in parentheses that I have already mentioned, “It does not mean that any activity can be carried out, but it is an activity that can be carried out with an employment status of residence (excluding technical intern training and specified skills).”
However, many people misunderstand the meaning of this, and the parenthetical statement above does not refer to “activities that can be done with your current status of residence,” but rather to “activities other than that permitted under the status of residence.”
Result of inquiry to Immigration Bureau
Why did I bother to inquire in advance?
I apply for residence via online. Therefore, we can accept requests from anywhere in the country without having to go to the local immigration bureau.
However, an application for permission to engage in activity other than that permitted under the status of residence cannot be applied online unless it is being done at the same time as other procedures such as an application for a certificate of eligibility. You will need to go to the local immigration office.
Since this application has a special background, it would be a waste if the application was 100% useless or not accepted in the first place, so I contacted them by phone.
Inquiry result
The result of my inquiry was NG. The answer was that they could not accept it, or that it would be refused permission even if it was accepted. (If the forms are complete, I don’t think there is any option not to accept the application, but since the person in charge of the application was young, there was no point in pursuing it.) so I asked him why.
First of all, he explained the part in parentheses in the examination guidelines that states, “Not all activities that can be carried out are allowed, but activities that can be carried out under the employment status of residence (excluding technical intern training and specified skilled worker).” Therefore, I explained that the part above, that is, in parentheses, was not referring to “activities related to the current status of residence,” but “activities related to the application,” and he understood that.
However, the next thing I was told was that the “Operational Guidelines for Accepting Specified Skilled Foreign Workers” states that specified skilled workers are required to work full-time (at least 5 days a week and 217 days or more a year), so changes to the specified skill employment contract, such as changing 5 days a week to 4 days and 1 day part-time, would not be allowed, and as a result, the application for permission to engage in activities other than that permitted under the status of residence would not be approved.
This makes sense. Immigration officials were very sincere in responding to my request even though I had not yet applied. (They responded to this matter for over an hour, including checking with their supervisor.)
So, I decided to abandon the application itself.