Work Visa & Taxes

One of the fundamental principles of Smith’s is that we exist to facilitate and support English teacher ownership of the English teaching business in Japan.

Ergo, a fundamental requirement of this principle is that all of our franchisees have legitimate work visas, business registration and tax returns. Most people who are interested in pursuing a long term career in Japan know the gravity of securing these three pillars of legitimate business here in Japan. This in effect means that we must be able to facilitate and support the transition to legal business ownership here in Japan of candidates who range from extremely knowledgeable to utterly uninformed about the deep inner workings of the immigration, business and taxation laws of Japan.

For those of you thinking to acquire your first work visa within the English teaching business in Japan you will soon come to learn the base requirement that most English schools and the Japanese government ask for is a bachelor’s degree. If you do not have a bachelor’s degree rest assured there still may be a chance for you to get a work visa to teach English in Japan. Smith’s have successfully applied for several teachers that do not have bachelor’s degrees. Furthermore, we do not believe a bachelor’s degree in and of itself will ensure we get the best teachers. Of course if you have a degree that makes life so much easier however if you do not have a degree and still want to give teaching in Japan a try let us know. We will do our best for you.

We field inquiries into this subject on a daily basis. Recently, a potential franchisee asked 5 very specific questions which we thought were best answered by some of our franchisees so we passed those questions on. We’ve decided to provide their answers below.

1. Did you get your work visa sponsorship through Smith’s?
2. Did you get your work visa renewal through Smith’s?
3. How many years did you get, 1 or 3, and was this for the first or renewal?
4. Did you provide your own tax returns?
5. Was any of it difficult?

These questions are well thought out and seek to expose a legitimate business structure and reason for staying in Japan. The person who asked these questions understands that to work in Japan without a legitimate visa is illegal. To teach even 1 lesson in a coffee shop and earn cash which goes into pocket is illegal unless you have an appropriate business registration and tax return. He also understands that to be caught and risk losing his visa and lifestyle in Japan over some quick cash is ludicrous.

Here were the answers that our franchisees provided.

From Deana at Smith’s Azamino

1. Yes, I got sponsorship through Smith’s. When my husband finished his studies he changed to a spouse visa, so technically he is sponsored by the company too.
2. Yes, it was renewed, and I have every confidence it is going to be renewed again this month.
3. I got a 1-year visa the first time, and it was renewed for another year the 2nd time. Maybe I’ll get a 3-year one this time. No way to tell.
4. I got Smith’s to do my taxes both years, and will do it again this year. Don’t know which is better, but it sure is easier this way. Head office has been very good with providing some guidance on taxes as well. Ask Mark about that.
5. Absolutely no problems whatsoever, piece of cake.

From Adrian at Smith’s Hirakata

1. I started off by getting my visa sponsorship through Smith’s when my ex-company’s visa expired but have since gotten married to a Japanese national so I changed over to the marital visa, no trouble at all there.
2. I had a visa from my ex-company when I first moved over to Smith’s so I renewed once with Smith’s and then changed over.
3. I got 3 years but I’ve been here for a while. I’ve heard that most people these days get 3 years from the beginning but I’m not sure if that still applies today.
4. I gave all my receipts and paperwork to Smith’s and they did the rest.
5. Not in the least. There is a certain amount of red tape regarding all these sorts of issues no matter where you are but surprisingly I find the Japanese visa / tax system to be pretty straightforward and painless.

From Alex at Smith’s Horie/Kamishinjo

“Hi, my name is Alessandro “Alex” Stanciu and I run 2 Smith’s franchises. Both schools are in Osaka, one is in a part of town called Horie and the other in Kamishinjo.
I have been a franchisee for about 2 and half years, and it’s been an exciting venture!
In regards to your questions about Visas, I will share my personal experience with you.
I joined Smith’s in the summer of 2004 and I received a one-year “Specialist in Humanities” Visa; this is basically a working Visa. I received it within a month of applying.
The following year (2005) I renewed my Visa, and received another 1-year extension. This September when I applied for my renewal again, I was granted a 3-year Visa.
The application process was extremely simple; head office prepared all my paperwork.
I simply walked into the Immigration office, submitted my papers, and left. This took 15 minutes. About 3 weeks later, I received a postcard in the mail notifying me that the Visa was ready. I returned to the Immigration office, paid a small fee (about 4000yen) and walked out with a 3-year working Visa. This second visit also took about 15 minutes.
Smith’s Head Office has always been very helpful in helping franchisees get the required documents in order, and ensuring the Visa process goes smoothly.

Next, regarding taxes.
We are required to file a tax return each year. This is natural as we are operating a business.
Smith’s Head Office will counsel you on how to formally register your new business. Then it is up to you to keep track of your expenses and income throughout the year.
Basically, I use an Excel spreadsheet and close my books each month, and put all receipts in a folder for that month. When tax season comes around Head Office sends out a fax offering the services of a professional accountant and asking you to set up an appointment.
When you arrive at the office, you bring your receipts and records of your income throughout the year, submit them, and head office, with the assistance of licensed accountant, takes care of the filing of your taxes.
There is a charge for this, as expected, but I would highly recommend taking advantage of this service, as it is quite difficult to understand the Japanese Kanji characters on the paperwork, and a simple mistake on your part could lead to unnecessary difficulties and inconveniences later.

I hope I was able to answer some of your questions.
If you have additional questions, please feel free to ask.
I will do my best to answer them.

From Derek at Smith’s Tsukaguchi

My name is Derek and I own the Tsukaguchi franchise. I would be happy to answer your questions.

1. Did you get visa sponsorship through Smith’s?
   Yes.
2. Did you get visa renewal through Smith’s?
   Yes.
3. How many years did you get, 1 or 3, and was this for the first or renewal?
   The first time I got a 1 year visa and the second time a 3 year visa.
4. Did you provide your own tax returns?
   No. Smith’s head office offers, for a very reasonable fee, to do your taxes for you. I let them do them for me every year and am very satisfied with the results. I simply provide them with what they ask me for such as receipts (for business expenses), disclosures of school income for every month, etc.
5. Was any of it difficult?
   No, it was a piece of cake.

Last year I got married to a Japanese woman. I applied for a spouse visa and received a 3 year one. Switching from the working visa to the spouse visa was easy.

I hope to have you on our team soon!

From Martin at Smith’s Fukushima

1. Did you get visa sponsorship through Smith’s?
   Yes.
2. Did you get visa renewal through Smith’s?
   Yes.
3. How many years did you get, 1 or 3, and was this for the first or renewal?
   I had a visa from another school. When I changed to Smith’s, they did my extension. I received a 3 year renewal. After I got married I switched to a spouse visa. Today I am on a spouse visa.
4. Did you provide your own tax returns?
   Smith’s has an annual accounting service I recommend you use. The nominal fees are well worth it.
5. Was any of it difficult?
   Nothing at Smith’s has been difficult for me. There’s a bit of hard work, sure, but initial training and ongoing training shows you what to do. It’s pretty easy.

You may have already noticed a similar theme appearing in the answers of these school owners who’ve been with Smith’s for years. It’s a fact that a great number of our franchisees currently run their business under spousal visas.

As a spouse you no longer need Smith’s to act as your sponsor. Moreover you do not even need us to support document preparation for your visa application, but you might like us to. In Japan where many official documents are hand written and a single error can call for a rewrite or dismissal of application, it’s no surprise Smith’s franchisees continue to come to head office for support in this respect.

It’s a common shape for a franchisee to get started with a 1 to 3 year working visa sponsored by Smith’s from the outset, ask Smith’s to prepare documentation for the subsequent extension, and then marry a Japanese spouse and ask Smith’s to coordinate that change of status in application for a spousal visa.

Conversely, we also have cases where the franchisee is married but chooses to ask Smith’s to sponsor their visa in preference to a spousal visa. It could be the case that those franchisees prefer the perpetual independence of visa sponsorship through their work relationship with Smith’s. It’s no surprise that our most successful school owners seem to fit a certain profile. They came to Japan to live in Japan. They love it here. We all do.

Regardless of which type of visa franchisees in the Smith’s system hold, a common thread between them is that they all do hold one and are legitimized for long term business operation here in Japan. Smith’s franchisees know they can rest assured in the legitimacy and professionalism of their business here in Japan. We are Smith’s School of English.