Question about eijuuken

Hey all. I had a question about getting an eijuuken.

I'm completely fine in terms of my request to get one except for one point.

Around 2009, I was working in a Japanese high school as a Native English Teacher (basically the same as an ALT). I needed a part-time job to get by (as my NET salary wasn't enough), and I took up a side job at an English conversation school in the evening. It was only once a week for three hours.

I wanted to take on more hours when I changed jobs to a private school working part-time, and the English conversation school obliged and gave me a few more hours at another school. At that time, someone told me "Hey, we didn't tell you this before, but you should probably go to immigration and fill out an Application for Permission to Engage in Activity other than that Permitted under the Status of Residence Previously Granted. You have an instructor visa, and for eikaiwa you need a humanities visa so technically you need this permission."

Had they told me earlier it would have been a lot easier.

I did so once (although I don't know the duration of this permission, as I only got it once and worked there for two years after), and now when writing my personal history, I'm afraid that the immigration officer will notice that there was a gap of time between my starting work at the eikaiwa (which I don't think is smart to hide) and my approval for that permission. I absolutely can't be denied for permanent residence and this is my biggest worry right now.

Could this potentially harm my chances? I had no idea that the stupid permission form existed before getting it.

Can this harm your chances? Dude, you worked illegally, this can get you deported.

I agree with the above comment.
When the officer is checking your case, if he finds out that you did a job not permitted under your visa, you will surely be denied PR.
Japanese officers don't tolerate anyone who breaks the rules.
They check thoroughly PR Applications. Your chances are very low. If your PR is denied, just look for an immigration lawyer for help. That's the only thing you can do.

I hope that when you changed your employer (from the high school to a private school) you reported the change in employment to the immigration authorities properly. If you did, and if the immigration office didn't say anything about it, you could possibly push through saying that you didn't know that that work required another resident status or permit... but wait, did you say it was part-time? Also the English conversation school was part-time too? How did you get the resident status renewed thereafter?

Theoretically all the posters above are correct but I think in practice there is a very low chance that would be a reason for denial. I did I lot of side work and there were definitely times I forgot to renew my permissions, leaving gaps, and they didn't question me about it. I got PR smoothly. The ALT-side eikaiwa or translation pattern is extremely common and as long as you're prepared to apologize if they bring it up I don't think your application would be thrown out over it, especially since you corrected the mistake and got permission.

Yeah, the above posts seem to be way over the top on the drama. I talked to several judicial scriveners and they all basically said it's unlikely I'll be denied based on that alone. My activities working in the eikaiwa were about six years ago now and I've since had my visa renewed twice.

I'm not sure where they all heard that deportations for working at an eikaiwa six years ago were common, but when I asked a professional about if I could get into any trouble, he told me absolutely not.

The special permission is seemingly mostly a formality, except when it's for more non-visa related work cases like wanting to run your own business or work part-time as a student. Anyone who wants to work in a conversation school on an instructor visa should absolutely notify immigration about it and keep up on their permissions, but it's not the end of the world if they don't. The points they really care about are (1) you pay your city/prefecture taxes, (2) you pay your insurance/pension fees, (3) you can clearly support yourself, and (4) you have not had any run-ins with the police. Generally speaking they want married people to get their PR for security purposes and for the sake of their future children.

Out of curiosity, did you write all of the side jobs you did in your personal history on the application?

The question you asked is "Could I be denied?", not "Am I likely to be denied?" If I didn't know better, I would say it's surprising you got an English teaching job with such a poor grasp of words.

If you are english teacher in Japan, you can work as a part time too. One of my friend was also doing part time job in other school long back. I dont think that its a big outside activity you did.
where it is mentioned that for eikaiwa you need a humanities visa?

Yeah, the internet is forever so you can't really backtrack on what you said. The way you and the following poster worded it I was essentially screwed while several judicial scriveners told me the opposite. Here, I'll remind you of what you wrote:

"This can get you deported."

I know you're trying really hard to save face (which is weird because it's an internet forum where you're anonymous and nobody cares) but what you said was absolutely untrue. The way you explained it, what I did was a serious crime, and the following poster jumped on board and said I was screwed automatically if immigration officers found out.

Why do people like you give visa advice online? You have no knowledge of how immigration works. You don't have to get defensive and angry about being wrong, but don't just spread misinformation when people ask questions online. If you're unsure about the answer move on.