Renewing Visa with self sponsership

does anyone know any good resources for visa renewal info? My situation is my visa expires next year and my work contract ends about the same time. I want to stay in Japan, so how far in advance can I renew my visa? I also want to change from being sponsered by my company to being self sponsered- after quitting this job I will probably be working at a smaller place that can't sponser me. Any links or advice would be appreciated!

Kate,

There is no such thing as "self-sponsorship". If you want to remain in Japan after you quit your current job and your visa expires, you will need to find a new employer that can sponsor you for a work visa or look into the possibility of permanent residence or switching to a student visa.

What is often called self-sponsorship is when you have 2 or more part time jobs that altogether are enough to live on. You then have to get various documents and information proving you are employed by these companies and take them to Immigration. This is only possible for people who are already in Japan on a working visa, which you are. so you may be able to do it.

If you visit your nearest Immigration office they will be able to tell you which documents you need.

It is possible to renew your visa up to 2 months in advance but if your contract is about to expire you will obviously need to show Immigration a new contract- they will not renew your visa based on a contract that will expire at the same time as the visa- you need to show them your next one.

You would be best to go into the Immigration office and ask them what they suggest for your situation- it's not really worth trying to phone them- I've never been able to get through.

Hi Kate...I self sponsored myself last year and I also had difficulty finding info. "Self sponsorhip" is not really an official term.Basically what self sponsorship means is that you have a number of private contracts that enable you to make a living. You have to present these contracts to immigration. Each contract must show working hours,pay rate,etc. Your monthly income from the total of these contracts should be at least 20000 yen, but more is preferable(when I asked at immigration,I was told that I had to earn as much as an average Japanese person...when I asked,"How much does the average Japanese person earn?", he said he didn't know!) Also, you will have to get a seperation certificate from your employer and a certificate showing how much income tax you paid the previous year. I can give you more info, but I need to know what kind of working visa you have,Specialist in Humanities,Instructor, or otherwise...

dunit, you mean 200,000 yen, not 20,000, right? I hear they prefer at least 220,000 these days but it's not a fixed amount any more.

Thanks for all your answers guys! What I was calling "self sponsership" was basically what was described above- working a few part-time jobs to make enough to qualify to stay.

Right now my visa is specialist in humanities I think- I'll have to check. For me it is just going to be a case of timing- my visa and my work contract end almost right together, though I know we can apply for a temporary visa extention of a few weeks (I know people who did that to get time to look for a new job or pack and go home). Has anyone here done that?

it usually takes a few weeks for immigration to process your visa...you can stay in Japan until it is processed...so for example,if you put your application in a few days before your visa expires, you can stay in Japan until the paperwork is processed...a small stamp is put in your passport to show you have applied for an extension...some people call this time a bridging visa. I don't think bridging visa is an official term and no actual visa is put in your passport. It's just a time of limbo while you wait to see if the extension is granted or not..I think that is what you are refering to anyway...