Having spent 2 years in Japan as a student, I really wanted to go back and be able to spend a long time there. As a UK citizen, we can spend up to 6 months in Japan as a tourist. However I wanted to look into avenues that would allow me to stay for even longer. Cue the Japanese working holiday visa for UK citizens.

Now is the best time to apply for a working holiday visa. As of 1 April 2024, the number of visas available has increased from 1,000 to 6,000 visas, so there is a high chance you will get it if you meet the requirements!

Requirements

According to the Japanese Embassy in the UK’s website (at least at the time of writing), here are the requirements for applying for a working holiday visa:

Valid British passport holders who are resident in the United Kingdom

The first requirement is that you have a British passport, meaning that you must be a British citizen. If you are but do not have a passport, you can apply for one using the UK government’s website here.

Intend primarily to spend a holiday in Japan for a period of up to one year from the date of entry

The main purpose of a working holiday visa is to travel, not as a back door to working in Japan. It is simply meant to allow you to be able to finance your trip by doing odd, part-time jobs in Japan while you are there.

You are currently allowed to work 28 hours per week (this is standard for part-time work in Japan) on the Japanese working holiday visa.

Between 18 and 30 years old, both inclusive at the time of application

You need to be a younger adult to be able to use this visa. However if you are currently 30, do not worry about being considered a less suitable candidate. I applied for this visa a couple of months before turning 31 and it was not a problem.

Note: this is an individual visa, meaning it is for one person. No one is allowed to travel with you on the same visa, so you cannot bring a child or spouse. You also cannot sponsor anyone with this visa.

Possess an outward and return/onward travel ticket or sufficient funds with which to purchase such a ticket

For an individual, you need either £1,500 and plane tickets already booked or £2,500 in savings. I would recommend going with the £2,500 version.

The first reason is that if you already have the plane tickets and they decide not to give you a visa, you will then need to cancel or change your plane tickets, potentially needing to pay more for your tickets. Also it is usually not possible to buy a plane ticket one year in advance, so it is unlikely you can fill the “return/onward travel” component of this requirement.

Possess reasonable funds to maintain and accommodate themselves during the initial period of stay in Japan

This is related to the £1,5000/£2,500 in the condition above. Please be warned that while Japan can be a cheap country to visit, especially with the cheap yen at the moment, £2,500 is not likely to last you throughout the year. This is why you are allowed to work in Japan part-time.

Intend to leave Japan at the end of their stay

This visa is meant to get people to Japan and for them to spend money stimulating the economy, meaning that you are not allowed to stay past 1 year. If you are planning to stay, you will need to get a different visa, such as a working visa or a looking-for-work visa. However in your application for a working holiday visa, you must make your intentions to leave Japan clear. If they see that you are trying to use this visa as a way to get one foot in the country and have no interest in travelling, it is likely that they will reject your application.

Have not previously been issued a Working Holiday Visa in the past

The Japanese working holiday visa is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, mostly because the Japanese government will only ever issue you one. If you have one before, you cannot apply for another one.

Are in good health and no criminal record

I have been unable to find an exact definition of what “good health” means in this context but I believe it means that you will not be a burden on the Japanese health system.

You also cannot have a criminal record to apply. If you do have a criminal record, it is likely that you will be rejected. However I have no personal experience with this, so I cannot advise on this requirement.

The Application Process

If you meet the requirements of the visa, congratulations! You can proceed with beginning the application.

Step 1: Book an appointment

What? Shouldn’t I prepare the documents first? You absolutely should have all the documents ready for the time of your appointment. However it is a good idea to look at appointment availabilities before you prepare the documents as it can sometimes be difficult to get an appointment. It is not worth spending 2 weeks preparing the documents and then having to wait a further 3 months because they did not have any appointments. This was very common after the pandemic.

Visa applicants living in Scotland and the North of England (Cumbria, County Durham, Darlington, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, Redcar and Cleveland, South Tyneside, Stockton-on-Tees and Sunderland) must apply to the Consulate-General of Japan in Edinburgh.

All others must apply in person at the embassy in London. You can see the embassy’s (in London) appointment availability here. Make sure you select a visa appointment and not any others when using the system.

Step 2: Prepare the documents for your Japanese working holiday visa

Of all the steps, this will probably be the most difficult. As of 2024, here is the list of documents that you need:

This checklist can be downloaded from the Japanese embassy website here.

All the documents should be prepared on the computer and printed rather than handwritten. The exception is the application form as long as your handwriting is neat and legible.

Application form

The first document you need to fill in is the application form, which can be downloaded here. Please provide as much information as possible. This is a unified application form, so not all information is needed for all types of visas. If there is something that does not apply to the working holiday visa (e.g. inviter/guarantor information), you can skip it. When you submit your application, the representative at the embassy will check it for you and ask for any missing information.

For help with the application form, please refer to this sample application form (in English).

Make sure to sign and date the form at the bottom. You can also take a pen with you and do this at the embassy on the day you submit the application.

ID Photo

You need to submit a passport or ID photo that is 35 mm by 45 mm. This photo must have been taken in the past 3 months. The more recent, the better. There is a space to attach it to the application form. You only need one copy, although having multiple will not be bad.

In the UK you can get passport photos at many photo booths that will also check the UK passport photo requirements. You can find those requirements here.

Many shops and locations have these booths: Tesco, Photo-Me, ASDA/Max Spielman and Boots, among others.

CV

Part of the application includes submitting a CV. This is to look at your employment and location history to see if you are likely to try to remain in Japan after your 1 year of being on a Japanese working holiday visa.

I applied with this CV.

Outline of intended activities

This was the most difficult document for me to prepare as there was almost no information on the Japanese Embassy website about it. I ended up having to go to the embassy twice to submit my application as they did not accept the first version of this document.

Here is the version that was part of the application that got me the Japanese working holiday visa.

Statement of purpose

The Statement of purpose is a general letter to the person considering your application. As it says above, it should include why you want to travel on a working holiday visa (specifically), what you want to do in Japan and what you want to achieve. This should be at least one A4-sized piece of paper. It can be longer but length does not equal quality. Make sure everything you put in the letter is worth it.

Here is my statement of purpose letter.

Proof of Funds

For this last document, you need a bank statement of an account that shows you have at least £1,500/£2,500 as stated in the requirements. This document must have your name, address of your UK residence and show your account history for the past 3 months.

Usually your official UK bank statements will have this information. Make sure you have one or multiple documents showing the previous 3 months. For example I applied in April, so my documents showed the account transaction history since January.

Step 3: Visiting the Embassy

By this point, you have a visa appointment and prepared your documents for the application. The explanation for this part will focus on the Japanese Embassy in London as that is the one I had to apply through. I think the Consulate General in Edinburgh works in the same way as the process is the same – this is an assumption on my part.

The Embassy of Japan in the UK (as it is officially called) is located in Green Park. The easiest way to get there is using the London Underground. If you do not have an Oyster card, any contactless payment options (debit cards, credit cards, mobile wallets like Google Wallet and Apple Pay) will work. The price of travel is the same. The lump sum for the day’s amount will be taken around midnight from your account, not exceeding the daily/weekly maximum.

Entering the Embassy

You will enter the embassy through the main doors. You will be greeted immediately by security guards and a metal detector. Security will ask to see your appointment information. Show them the confirmation page of your appointment (either in paper or electronic format).

Once you are through security, the person at reception will point you to the rooms on the right-hand side of the building. There is a kiosk (in Japanese and English) where you will get a number. Rather than your appointment being at the exact time you signed up for, it is when they call your number. Look at the monitors to see when your number is called and where to go. If they are busy, you may have to wait a while. You may get lucky like I did and not even get a chance to sit before you are called.

Once your number has been called, go through the doors (usually propped open) and then turn left, through another set of doors to an area that looks like a bank teller’s window. You will see several windows (I believe 8).

Checking your application

This is the person who will glance over your application to make sure it is complete. They will quickly skim your documents and ask you questions about them, so be prepared to interact with them and answer anything they may ask. The questions they had for me were for clarification of things I had written. From the vein of the questions, it seemed as though they were confirming information that I had written rather than asking due to something being unclear. Just be confident, answer honestly and you should have no issues.

If there are any problems with your documents, they will tell you what it is and how to fix it. They also will give you information about where you can print documents in the vicinity.

If there are no issues, you are finished with this step. They will give you a “passport receipt” form and tell you to come back in one week to pick up your passport unless you hear anything different in the meantime.

At this time they will also explain that if you are successful (i.e. you get the visa), you will have to pay the application fee. As of April 2024 this was £17. You will need to pay in cash. If you are unsuccessful, you will not need to pay anything.

You are done and can leave now.

Step 4: Picking up your passport (and hopefully your visa)

The last step in this process is getting your passport and hopefully, your new visa. Unlike some other guides that I have read about applying for a Japanese working holiday visa in London, the embassy will not mail your passport to you. Instead, you need to go back one week after your successful application.

At this time you need to take the passport receipt paper form that you were given at your application session. You do not need to book an appointment to pick up your passport.

When you enter the embassy, show security your receipt form and go through the metal detector. Speak to the receptionist, get another visa ticket from the kiosk and wait to be called.

When you are called, give your passport receipt form to the person at the window. They will retrieve your passport. If you were successful, this is when you need to pay the application fee in cash. You will then get a receipt for your transaction.

At this point you are finished! Hopefully congratulations on your new visa! This is what it looks like (from the internet):

Entering Japan

The final thing you need to do for this visa is to actually enter the country! As you can see from the image above, you have a date of issue and a date of expiry. This is the period in which you are allowed to enter Japan.

Because your category is “working holiday”, you will be treated slightly differently at immigration from those on tourist visas. It will take a little bit longer because you will be issued a Zairyu (residence) card:

With that, you are all done! The fun is only just beginning. Now you can explore Japan to your heart’s content up to the next year. Happy hunting!

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Want to know more about what you need to do in terms of admin after you enter the country? Here is a short list:

• Register your address with the local authorities
• Open a bank account
• Getting your health information to use the Japanese healthcare system

Want to learn Japanese? Here are some of my latest posts about the Japanese language:

• How to learn Japanese: my journey
  Ever since I was young, I have always had an interest in Japan and Japanese culture and a desire to learn Japanese. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in Japan. I don’t remember what got me interested me in Japan originally. When I asked my parents where I could have picked up this fascination, they were also… Read more: How to learn Japanese: my journey
• Graduation Speech: 18 months at GenkiJACS in Fukuoka
  If you have been following this blog for any length of time, you may remember that I was studying in an 18-month intensive programme to learn Japanese. I am happy to report that I graduated at the end of September. I am very proud of how far I have come since I started. I went from knowing almost no Japanese… Read more: Graduation Speech: 18 months at GenkiJACS in Fukuoka

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