Quit school but finish my time here in Japan

Hi,

I came to Japan April 2022, enrolled on a 2 year language course.

The school I attend, is in my opinion not very good and I think I am able to pass the JLPT levels I am undertaking by self study, after all, the school is literally narrating from a book and expecting that exact result. Aside from the teaching and quality of thew school itself, my question is regarding this possibility and whether it is indeed possible, or something close to it can be achieved.

Right now I am on a student visa which has a period of 6 months, that will expire in April 2023. The school is a new school, so a longer duration visa as we are told, cant be granted so we have to renew it every 6 months or so.

If I quit the school, I can probably see out the remaining time on my student visa, maybe...?

My idea is then to exit Japan, probably fly to Korea and then re-enter under a tourist visa, which duration is 3 months, and can be further applied with a fee to being 6 months, whilst I stay in Japan.

After that, I would do the same again, exit and re-enter Japan.

I want to stay in Japan ideally until March 2024, which is the original date when my 2 year studies were to complete, I have a 2 year rental contract and I would like to stay here until that expires.

Any ideas, procedures, workarounds you think might help in this situation?

Look forward to your responses.

When you quit school, both you and the school need to inform the immigration authorities that youfve left school (the underlying circumstances that form the basis for the visa/resident status are no longer there), after which youfd have a few months to leave Japan or find another school to continue activities that are allowed under gstudenth resident status.

So if you are halfway into your 6 months, you will likely be allowed to stay till the end of the initial 6 months.

Your plan after that doesnft sound too plausible - since you are talking about extending from a 90-day Temporary Visitor status (enter Japan just with your passport) by another 90 days, I am guessing you are probably a UK or a German national, or one of the several other nationalities where this is allowed - but this extension is not guaranteed, for one thing. Another is that after one such extension, they are unlikely to grant you another - they will start assuming that you are not really a tourist, but that you are/plan to do something else while in Japan. And also the so called gvisa runh to South Korea might not work, or at least it is not guaranteed.

A few other things you need to think of as a matter of practical considerations:
- Living expenses: if you are on Temporary Visitor status, you will not be able to do any part-time work, so youfd need to be able to cover your living expenses from your savings completely.
- Resident status: if you are temporary visitor (tourist), you wonft be a gresidenth here with a resident card - what do you do in terms of health insurance, tax status, etc.

I think you will be better off finding a school that you like, sign up there as a student and get them to be the sponsor for your gstudenth resident status (keep the same gstudenth status, with a change of sponsor), and continue your studies. Best wishes.

I wouldn't risk messing around with Immigration. Although I have never been in a similiar situation, what you're planning on doing are visa runs; they're risky and I wouldn't recommend it. Immigration will have a digital copy or record of your student visa and if you quit school, you're no longer a student and hence the would no longer need a student visa.

What advantages would having a 3 month tourist visa have over a student visa? As a student visa you can apply to do part-time work (up to a certain number of hours per week), and your Japanese language skills should improve by leaps and bounds in a manner than no school can teach you.

Also, what do you mean by "finish my time here in Japan"? Just ...living here in Japan without a valid reason as deemed by Immigration? Not legally possible but if you're feeling lucky and are willing to risk deportation then by all means.

Please think carefully about why you initially decided to come to Japan. If it was to study Japanese, then do it. Either at your current school or seek out a better one.

Thanks for your answers, much appreciated.

In fact I am a UK national, and my intention was to come here and hopefully get as close to passing N1 as possible, my level right now is N4.

I did come here to attend a school and thought it would be a better way to study Japanese in the country itself, but in my opinion, the school teaching is poor and as I say, its narration from a book and I spend a lot of my own free time having to dig into grammar explanation in more detail, which is exactly the same process back in the UK via self study I passed the N5, and N4. Of course N3 and beyond is more challenging, but I believe I can still pass this with self study, the school isn't adding much.

I haver contacted a few other schools, but I got little interest about a transfer. My attendance is > 90% and my grades are strong, but schools seem reluctant to take transfers, but I am awaiting to hear back from a few schools on this, but responses are slow and it feels this whole area is a little tedious for all parties involved.

I don't need to work here and I have no intention on doing so, I have enough money to live and I can pay any medical issues, thankfully Im in good health but of course should a change to that arise I have health insurance policy back in the UK anyway.

I think the "visa run" information you gave me is insightful, I didn't know it was contestable, as long as I can support myself I thought re-entering Japan as a visitor was in fact unlimited. Why wouldn't that be so, providing Im not doing anything illegal, and can support myself?

Thanks again.

Good to hear about your intentions, financial situation, and health condition.

Yet, based on the nature of gTemporary Visitorh status, if you spend majority of your time here in Japan, you are no longer gtemporary,h and what you are doing is not quite within the range of activities permitted under this status.
Properly for a longer term resident, youfd be registered as a resident, paying into the national health insurance here in Japan, etc., which you will be bypassing completely when you travel multiple times as a tourist.

About learning the language: you are in the country where Japanese is used all around. Watch TV, listen to radio programs, go out to talk to people, try to read magazines and things (though at N5 still not yet I guess), it would make a big difference.

Having a good teacher/structured lessons that explains to you grammar and sentence construction helps. If the school lessons feel like repeat practices and reciting, you could go find a private tutor to supplement that. (Some people simply learn through repetition and immersion, others from having grammar explained letfs say in English, to really digest the new language. That depends on the individual.) So i still do recommend looking for a school that best suits you. Of course youfd need to study up on your own too after classes, but attending those gclassesh give you the recognized reason to stay legit in Japan without worrying about whether you can come back in again.

In the worst case, if you get denied entry upon one of the later times when you try to come back in, youfd have to find some way to end the rent contract and move things out of that apartment. Thatfs nothing I would want to worry about if I were studying in another country. Best wishes.

If you would like to study, then its better to communicate with your language school and ask them to change a group or a teacher, since you cannot enjoy studying because of teacher or method of teaching of a teacher or something else. They will try to reassign to a different group with a different teacher. But, in the case if it does not work, you can check the list of language schools and find one which suits well. Maybe they can let you to attend one free lesson to let you make a decision before you join another language school.

Also, I would not recommend to drop your school and walking around Japan just doing gself-studyh. It can affect negatively to other people who are willing to come to Japan for studies.

I think the "visa run" information you gave me is insightful, I didn't know it was contestable, as long as I can support myself I thought re-entering Japan as a visitor was in fact unlimited. Why wouldn't that be so, providing Im not doing anything illegal, and can support myself?

You might get away with it once, twice or maybe even three times but certainly not unlimited. If you are constantly going in and out of Japan, it may signify that you wish to reside permanently and/or might also intend to work illegally in Japan ; purposes that visitors/tourists are prohibited from engaging in and that require a proper resident/work visa. And you are intending on being more than just a "temporary" visitor, so no two ways about it. What you are considering doing will render you an illegal immigrant, please google that if you are not aware of what it means.

Please believe me when I say that I understand where you are coming from, as once upon a time I considered doing the exact same thing that you are currently thinking of doing. Fortunately for myself I was able to listen to reason and my own conscience and decide to find a proper way to live and work in Japan; which has paid in dividends. If you genuinely do have an interest in Japan and its language, I urge you again not to do this as you will only be shooting yourself in the foot.

With regards to the school/studying, why not do both? Attend classes to learn and then apply in real life to supplement and practice what you've learnt.

Just stay in school and do you minimum attendance. Seems they ain't making you work hard. So might as well use that to you advantage.