31 in July, am I now too old to try?

For the last three years I've wanted nothing more than to live and work in Japan. I've had a lot happen over the last few years that have stopped me being able to study the language yet but now I finally have time I'm worried that it's too late.

I don't have a degree but do have many years of work experience in different fields, the current being I.T.
Am I kidding myself by saying I have a chance to do what it takes to get there?

I don't want any more of my life to go by without having done the things I want to do, and this is the thing I want to do the most, by far!

What options are available for me?

Seeing that you are no longer eligible for Working Holiday Visa (age limit), and that you do not have a bachelor�fs degree (many types of employer-sponsored work visa requires it), the only possibility I see of you �gworking�h in Japan is to look for employment on the basis of your work experience. If your IT experience is long enough and relevant enough to the skills/knowledge currently required in Japan, you could possibly find an employer in Japan who might want to hire you (even with minimal Japanese language proficiency).

For the rest, if you want to experience �gliving in Japan,�h you could enroll in a Japanese language school full-time and study full-time, doing part-time work.

But for any of this, the current COVID-19 and the ensuing travel restriction and economic downturn do not make for bright prospects.

I'll be 38 this year and moved to japan when I was 36. I also had a classmate who was 50 who moved 6 months ago. So YES you have a chance. But your options are very limited. As far as I know you can:

1) apply for the highly experienced technical visa. This requires that you worked in the same field for 10 years in an area Japan need people. I also think you need to find a company that wants to hire you, but I'm not sure about that requirement. Japan needs people in IT, but you need to be able to prove it and prove why you would be a better choice than any local IT grad who already speaks Japanese.....and likely good enough English if they are an IT grad (since all programming is done in English anyway).

2) Language school. This is most likely the easiest at your age but also the most expensive. Enroll in a language school and enter on a student visa. You'll be able to work part time, but good luck on finding a decent job if you can't at least speak conversational Japanese. otherwise you'll be working in a restaurant or part-time english teacher if you are lucky. Have at least 6 months of rent/living money saved before doing this. This is really your best option as you can learn the language and have time to figure out if you really want to stay here. I had a friend in the US from spain that always talked about wanting to live in Japan ALL THE TIME (shes how i met my wife actually lol). Then she went on a one month vacation and hated it. Once she realized all the men weren't idols and that some japanese people can be assholes (like any other country) it burst her bubble.

3) Marry a Japanese. the easiest in terms of paperwork, but obviously the most serious in terms of commitment. No work restrictions and you can stay as long as you want.....but you'll have a spouse for life , so shouldn't be entered into lightly. i.e. DONT DO IT UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT TO BE MARRIED. if you marry for JUST for visa you will be caught and deported. IVE ALREADY SCENE THIS HAPPEN.

4) investor/small business visa. but you have to have at least half a million US$ so i doubt this is even a option for you......unless it is lol.

both me and the 50 year old i mentions were lucky enough to meet our spouses in our home countries and were already married 10+ years with them before moving here. On the other hand my brother in law (french) married my sis in law after 6 months and moved right in with no problems.

The problems started once he got here thou, as he didn't have a degree and couldn't speak Japanese. NO ONE WOULD HIRE HIM. My father in law had to beg a friend to give him a Job.

I had a job within 1 month of getting my visa and my 50 year friend is now working with the japanese gov on the Olympics. we both arrived with N3/N4 level conversational skils thou and over 10 years exp in our fields.

good luck

Howdy
31 is not at all too old to live and work in Japan. From 50 you might start having problems. However yes, you've just missed out on the working holuday visa and your not having a degree is problematic.

I have 2 ideas. Firstly how about starting to study Japanese at uni? Most degrees allow you to do a year of your study in country. That is, in Japan. That gets you to Japan. Usually you are allowed to work part-time but I wouldn't recommend it. Just focus on finishing your degree. Once you have a degree it is easy to find a teaching job in Japan.

The second idea is to by an English school franchise. They can be bought for as little as $10000 and the franchiser would act as sponsor for your business visa. They are not great money earners as franchise fees eat greatly into profits but they would get you to Japan with a visa.

Regards,
Ric

4) investor/small business visa. but you have to have at least half a million US$
A correction - the requirement is 5 million yen, not 50 million - more reasonable.
I used a slightly different route, but moved to Japan in my late 40's (48 or 49 I think when I eventually got SoR), and my Japanese is still pretty limited.
Also, the business manager visa is a difficult one to get. I have several degrees/relevant qualifications and also had 30 years experience.

3) Marry a Japanese. the easiest in terms of paperwork,
That is not good practice. Now a days many fake refugees are coming to Japan and they are all searching Japanese girl for marriage. They are not refugees, they just want to marry a Japanese girl for visa. Because its very difficult to find the job on refugee visa. The practice of using Japanese girl for getting visa must be stopped.

As the others have said, marriage may be the easiest way for immigration and bypass many restrictions such as which work you can do.

But even many people who genuinely marry, some divorce because of something they don't agree on, like having children. And there's also large cultural differences, society differences and language barriers.

You could try language school to get a feel of what japan is like and that will be enough time for you to decide which path you want to to take.