how I got kicked out of Japan

This is the story of how I was ejected from Japan over a visa problem. It's relevant to anyone sent to work in Japan.

In 2005, I worked for a very large IT company. Among other things, they provided software and support to the life insurance industry. They had a booming business in Japan and for years had been sending staff to Japan to support their customers.

I went without a visa, because it was a bit of a scramble to meet the client's needs. The Japanese unit told me to simply turn up at the airport, and that at the airport I could enter on a temporary visitor's visa. My bosses confirmed that it would work because they'd done it themselves. In fact, dozens of staff had been doing this for a number of years.

But the client I was working with needed me to stay on longer. So we agreed that at the end of my six week stint I'd go back to Canada to sort out the paperwork and pack up my apartment and then return to Japan for a six month stay. Once again I entered on a visitor's visa.

I knew by now that I'd need an Engineer's visa to stay in Japan, and my employer had asked me to gather the supporting documents I'd need for an application while in Canada. University transcripts, letters from past employers, and a few other odds and ends. These I turned over to my employer when I arrived in Japan the second time.

For the next ten weeks I concentrated on two tasks: my day job; and evening Japanese lessons. The company had assigned me a tiny hotel room in a Tokyu Stay in Gotanda, and I had pretty much everything I needed for the duration. Occasionally, I'd check with my employer as to the visa application process and was always assured that all was well. I didn't know much about Japan at the time, so I didn't know that I was just hearing "yes" for the sake of keeping things smooth. I didn't know enough to ask for specifics: milestones reached; who was doing what. But I did know the importance of a visa while living in a foreign country so I checked in with my employer before booking a flight back to Canada for the year-end break. They gave me the green light.

I went, and brought my new Japanese girlfriend along for the trip though we didn't know each other well. It was a lucky thing, given what happened next, because I'm pretty sure I would not have come back to Japan if she'd not been there.

The two of us flew back to Tokyo, where I tried once again to enter the country on a tourist visa as before. But I was detained by immigration. First I was put in one of the little rooms just off of the immigration counters, where I sat with a collection of other foreigners looking bewildered and frustrated. Asking around, I was surprised to learn that some of them had been detained on the flimsiest of issues—such as not having a visa to enter Japan when their only intention was to take a transferring flight. Something was up, and I didn't like it. I also didn't like being separated from my girlfriend, as she was my only hope in communicating with the authorities.

The fifty-something fellow who'd escorted me from the waiting room was to serve as my translator. He sat me at a desk in a small room with a fellow wearing a tie. Right from the top, the interviewer asked me if I was working in Japan. I told him that I was. He then asked why I was entering the country on a visitor's visa. I told him that I was following instructions from my employer. He clarified what I'd said, then asked again if I knew that I was entering the country on a visitor's visa to work. I confirmed that situation, then explained that not only had this been standard practice at my employer but that my employer had a visa application in the works.

The interviewer and the translator looked at each other incredulously when I outlined my employer's practice of sending dozens of people to Japan to work under visitor's visas, and that they'd assured me that all would be okay as there had never been a problem. But they were interested in the news of a visa application, and they followed up on that with the one contact at the firm whose number I happened to have on hand.

While I waited, my contact did some frantic phoning around within the firm and learned that in fact my visa application had never been started. They'd been telling me everything that I'd wanted to hear but in reality nothing had been happening.

The immigration officer decided to eject me from the country. He made it clear that he thought that the situation wasn't my fault, and that he considered this an unfortunate situation. He even took me into the airport (beyond the passport-control area) so that I could meet poor Mari (my now wife) and tell her what was happening. We exchanged some things in our bags and said our goodbyes. I told her I loved her (it was the first time) and said I'd buy a webcam to stay in touch. Both were true.

Ninety minutes of what I can only describe as frantic drudgery followed, as I was hustled onto a plane. Then I went back across the Pacific. What happened then is another story for another time, but it took me two months of renewed paperwork and delicate arrangements to secure a return to Japan.

I have since heard from quite a number of people that it's common practice for IT workers to be brought into the country on visitor visas. It's been speculated that I happened to run into a sweep of some kind: a moment of very rigid application of the law (hence the people being detained during routine connections between flights). I can't really comment on that, but I hope that anyone sent to work in Japan will regard my cautionary tale. Here are the facts about applying for a visa to enter Japan:

• You are solely responsible for your visa application, you can not rely on an employer to do it for you. In fact, your visa application must be conducted outside of Japan.
• You will need considerable documentation for a working visa in Japan; the requirements are non-trivial and I have seen qualified people ejected from the country because they couldn't come up with the laundry list of qualifications.
• It will take about two months to secure your visa.

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