

Part-time Employment for students
As holders of Japanese Student Visa are granted part-time working rights, many international students do part-time jobs to support their living expenses and to enhance their Japanese language skills. Majority of them working in Hospitality and food industry, followed by retail and sales, teaching / research assistant and others. The hourly wage varies according to type of work and location but those working in food services are getting about JPY 800 to JPY 1,200 an hour. If the maximum of 28 hours a week is fully used up to work; their earning will be around JPY 22,400 to JPY 33,600.
Job interviews
After we confirm your participation with the program, our partner company and we will prepare your profile to be reviewed by employing companies. We work with more than 2500 recruitment firms, big corporations, and business owners to find adequate part-time job opportunities for students depending on their experience, qualification, and language skills. After arriving in Japan, students will be scheduled with interviews with one or more companies.
Types of part-time works (multiple answers allowed) | ||
# | Category | Ratio |
1 | Food and beverage | 48.8% |
2 | Sales and marketing | 25.3% |
3 | Language instructor | 7.5% |
4 | Hotel receptionist / Service staff | 5.7% |
5 | Teaching / Research assistant | 5.5% |
6 | Cleaning | 4.5% |
7 | Clerical job | 4.3% |
8 | Translation / Interpretation | 4.2% |
9 | Factory / Assembly operator | 3.7% |
10 | Private tutor | 3.2% |
Source : Lifestyle Survey of Privately Financed International Students 2011 (JASSO)
Obtaining a permit to work from the immigration bureau
For foreign students who wish to work part-time, the first thing to do is to apply for and obtain a shikakugaikatsudokyoka (Permit to Engage in Activity other than that Permitted by the Status of Residence Previously Granted) at the nearest Regional Immigration Bureau. We will assist our students in the process to obtain the permission from Immigration Bureau for our students to work part-time upon their arrival in Japan.
List of Regional Immigration Bureaus
• http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/soshiki/index.html (English)
Immigration Bureau Procedural guidance
• http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/tetuduki/zairyuu/shikakugai.html (English)
Limit to Work Hours
Foreign students are allowed to work part-time for limited work hours only and are required to observe the conditions as shown in the table below.
(Status of residence) |
Type of Permit |
Permitted work hours |
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Weekly |
During long-term school break |
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Exchange Student |
University students (undergraduate/graduate) and students of similar educational institutes |
Permitted on equal conditions |
Up to 28 hours |
Up to 8 hours per day |
Auditing university students and research students |
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Students of technical colleges and other similar educational institutes |
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Dependent |
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Designated activities |
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Cultural activities |
Permitted on individual conditions (Location and type of work will be specified) |
Determined individually |
*An additional permission is required on an individual basis for a period in which hours of paid activities exceed 28 hours per week.
*No limitation of work hours is set for activities as educational/research assistants who are paid and work based on a contract with a university or a technical college given that they should not interfere with the students' own schoolwork.
Work types
We will work to look for and arrange job interviews that would suit your qualification, experience, and Japanese language skill. We have relationship with over 500 firms from small stores, restaurants, cleaning companies, logistics company, factories, farms, hotels, IT companies, education companies, consulting firms, financial companies, translation companies, and many others. In some cases, it could take longer time to look for such opportunities due to job opening, location, and other factors.
Below are example of jobs that could be available purely based on requirement of Japanese language skill. (Please note there are other jobs available for different qualification and factors)
No Japanese / Basic Japanese: Cleaning staff, catering staff, manual labour in factories, warehouse staff, English (or other languages) teaching, etc.
Basic Japanese: Supermarket staff, store clerk, cafe/restaurant staff, etc.
Fluent Japanese: Upscale restaurant staff, service staff, hotel reception, convenient store staff, translation, customer care etc.