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Comment by jamil7 | Hacker News Reader

I always (probably ignorantly) assumed immigrating to Japan to be difficult based on news articles about tight immigration laws. What is the job market like without speaking Japanese?

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There is a special visa for highly skilled immigrants. If you hold an advanced degree (MSc or PhD), have a highly paying job offer, and are young, then you'll get a visa easily and there is a quick path to permanent residency (after 1 year in the best case). If you're not highly qualified, then I guess things are more difficult. From what I know the rules are straightforward, reasonable, and the visa application is processed quickly. My perspective may be limited, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

I don't know much about job market, but I met many expats working as software engineers and they didn't speak any Japanese.

The highly skilled visa is good for a fast track to perminent residency. A regular work visa is easy to get provided you have a university degree and a job offer.

Still I would not recommend coming to Japan unless it was a life goal. This is not an easy country to live in or build wealth in. Both the language and career will be playing life on hard mode. I love it here, but it was a life goal I was willing to trade for.

Definitely this. If you have a university degree and a company wants to hire you, a work visa is straightforward to get. But work culture, language, daily affairs - everything here requires some adjustment that you should really think through before moving your entire life here.

Definitely checks my list on the Life Goal aspect. Got into a serious relationship in Canada and part of moving forward in it for me involves a commitment to moving with me to Japan in a few years. Luckily, she's more and more invested in it and I've been pivoting my career to leave me the most options to end up there to work and learn Japanese. Been loosely studying the language for a few years now, ready to go faster when the plan becomes more concrete.

Is permanent residency really permanent? As far as I'm aware, only New Zealand PR is really permanent. For Canada and Taiwan, I know that if I leave, I'd lose it. So the only unconditional right to return is citizenship, and naturalising to become Japanese is really hard from what I've heard.

It's not permanent. You can loose it if you move out of Japan or commit a crime.

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