Living in Japan with an internet job.

Hello. I have a question that I can't seem to find the answer to because of the special situation it applies to.

I am considering going to Japan in spring of 2008 to live with a friend of mine and experience the Japanese culture. I do not need any sort of visa because I do not plan to work from Japan itself. Actually, I have a job that I perform using my own computer and an internet connection.

While 90 days does seem like a good long while to live in Japan, I am afraid that I will want to extend my stay.. and what sort of requirements will I need to meet to extend my stay if I am not working in Japan? I am merely going to be living with a friend of mine.. so what sort of things will I need to be able to stay in Japan for more time? Will I be forced to fly all the way back to America, and then come back to Japan? That seems a little silly.. Is there a waiting time for returning to Japan?

There's a lot of things I'm not too clear on, no matter how many things I read about immigration and working visas. There is not enough information suited to my situation.

Please help me clear this up. Thank you so much!

your visa options seem to be:

1. get a work visa - that would require getting a job in Japan that can sponsor a visa for you. You may be able to continue your internet job on the side.
   
   
2. get a spousal visa - gotta get married for this one.
   
   
3. get another temporary visitor's visa - gotta leave the country. You don't gotta go home but you can't stay here. As long as you leave the country it "shouldn't" be a problem, although you do it often enough and you can be denied entry into the country. I know people that this has happened to (interrogated at Narita and sent back to Seoul - eventually let into the country a week later)

Looks like options 1 and 2 are probably off the table so that leaves you with option 3. I've heard of many people who do this but it sure is expensive, and I don't often hear of people doing this for more than a year, maybe 2 tops.

A third option is depending on your education level, get a student visa or something and study at a Japanese language school or whatever.

Of course you say America so I take it you're a US Citizen, 90 days runs out, you got to leave Japan, doesn't have to be back to the US it just has to be out of Japan. It can be risky if you had run out your full 90 days and then decided to return real quick, immigration really is cracking down on this. Plus with more centralized data and fingerprinting (soon) its a lot easier for them to keep track of this type of stuff and people who do "visa runs".

I know people who have been in and out of Japan twice or more in one year on 90-day tourist visas. Some got back in without problems, others (including my boyfriend at the time) were questioned for about half an hour first.

I have heard of people being sent back. Some immigrations officials apparently decide to enforce a "maximum number of days' stay in Japan in one year" rule, others seemingly don't.

Most likely if you do a visa run to Korea or Taiwan (you have no choice but to leave for a day at least) you will be let back in, but there is that small chance that you won't. Whether you want to take the risk or not is up to you.

Don't whatever you do overstay, even by a day. It's not just a matter of a fine here, at best you will be barred from Japan for 5 years, at worst you would spend several days in detention before being escorted onto the plane in shackles and then barred for 5 years- I know one guy this happened to.

good call John on the student visa. That option completely slipped my mind, and sounds like a viable option for her.

And as Sira says, definitely don't overstay your visa. You will be detained at immigration when you eventually try to leave the country. You forfeit your ticket, will be interrogated, and then have to buy a new ticket on top of your 5 year ban on returning to Japan.

From what I read Immigration has a new thing where if you overstay and turn yourself in voluntarily, and show you are planning to leave Japan immediately they'll just send you away with a ban on re-entry for a bit. If you forget and don't say anything and are caught, then you might be in a detention cell or jail time and maybe a fine, before getting deported with maybe a lifetime ban (though usually its a 5 year one).

So whatever you do, DO NOT OVERSTAY.

sorry to hijack the thread, but i'm in a kind-of-similar situation.

my wife is in the process of arranging sponsorship working as an english teacher. for sake of convenience (and because i'm so good at my job) my work has agreed for me to work from japan (via email/internet).

the plan is for me to get a dependent visa however my question is, will i be questioned as to how i/we plan to support ourselves on an english teacher's salary?

thanks in advance!