RResidents in Japan

Engineer visa to Dependent visa, then working full-time remotely for a Philippine employer

  • February 22, 2026

Hi everyone,

I’m currently in Japan on an Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services visa. My wife is also in Japan on an Engineer visa and is employed full-time here.

I’m considering resigning from my current Japanese employer and switching to a Dependent visa under my wife. After that, I plan to work remotely full-time for a Philippine company in an engineering role. The position would have a fixed monthly salary and is output-based (no strict time tracking).

My questions are:

1.  Is it realistically possible to obtain Dependent status and work full-time remotely for a foreign employer?

2.  Has anyone successfully received individual permission to exceed the 28-hour weekly limit as a Dependent?

3.  Would it be safer to remain on an Engineer visa even if the employer is overseas?

4.  Has anyone faced issues at renewal under a similar setup?

I want to structure this properly before making any decisions. Salary and flexibility are the main reasons for considering this change.

Any experiences or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

by ekirag24

8 comments

  1. Dependents cannot work full time jobs. They are limited to 28 hours per week with permission from immigration.

  4. Tldr:

    OP wants to avoid paying taxes. It makes no absolute sense going for a visa that limits working hours.

  5. 1. No, any kind of full time work isn’t permitted even remotely.

    2. No such thing. 28 hour limit is a hard limit set by immigration.

    3. Engineer visa doesn’t permit or cover overseas work. It covers only work by Japanese employers. The only workaround is to use an EOR.

  6. 1. No, this is illegal. You can’t be full time by definition.

    2. Not as far as I know; the 28h is a hard cap.

    3. You won’t be able to renew your visa unless you are able to justify that WFH in Japan is crucial to fulfill your duties.

  7. I understand that you’re hoping for answers from someone who has been in a similar situation but this is not a question for Reddit. You should ask an immigration lawyer about your options are.

  8. 1. No, that cannot be done. On a dependent status of residence (SOR), you are limited to under 28h of work and I am to understand your income needs to be under 1.3M per year. Once you exceed either, you will not be able to stay on the dependent SOR.
    2. No. You would need to switch to a different SOR to work >28h per week.
    3. In principle, you won’t be able to do this. As a “freelancer”, the bulk of your contracts (employers) must be based Japan based; you can’t maintain your Engineer SOR, while working full-time for a non-Japan company. It may be possible under the new digital nomad SOR; but you would be limited to a maximum of 6m stay in Japan.
    4. You won’t be able to maintain your current SOR this way (and could be in violation of it if you actually try to do so). Perhaps the only way to legally do this, is via an Employee of Record (EOR) service; but for Japan, they would also need to cover the employer’s part of health insurance and pension, which would effectively significantly reduce what you receive.

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