The Digital Nomad visa, and Yugawara

The stay is six months. It is not extended. After you leave Japan at the end of it, you wait six months before you apply for the same status again. You can spend those months in Yugawara, or move on to another town, with no extra procedure.

You need an annual income of at least ¥10 million at the time you apply, and private medical insurance that covers death, injury and illness while you are here. The cover for medical treatment has to be ¥10 million or more. You also have to be a national of a country that is both visa-exempt for a short stay and party to a tax treaty with Japan. The Immigration Services Agency publishes the chart. A spouse or child can come for the same six months, with the same insurance, if their nationality is on the visa-exemption list.

Two kinds of work are allowed. One is your job for a foreign employer, done from Japan over the internet. The other is paid work or sales for people who are outside Japan, also over the internet, and only where you don't have to be in Japan to deliver it. An employment contract or a client contract with a Japanese company, a Japanese public body, or a person in Japan is not allowed.

No residence card (在留カード) is issued. The Immigration Services Agency's reason is that this stay is not mid- to long-term residence under the law. You are not entered on Yugawara's resident register.

That is why a digital nomad visa can't be used for the town's moving grant. The grant asks foreign residents to hold a status such as permanent resident, spouse of a Japanese national, spouse of a permanent resident, long-term resident or special permanent resident. Designated activities for a digital nomad is none of those. A Japanese bank account and a monthly flat lease are built around the same card, so plan on a room or a house you can book, and keep the bank account and the insurance you already have.

Where to stay as a nomad

Rooms and houses you book, rather than a monthly lease.

The moving grant

Who it is for, the 23-ward rule, and the repayment.

The application, the country chart, a spouse or child, the other ways to stay, and life in Yugawara with no residence card each have their own page.

How to apply

Documents, the embassy or a certificate of eligibility, timing and the fee.

Eligible countries and regions

51 for the worker, 73 for a spouse or child.

Beside the other ways to stay

A 90-day visit, a working holiday, Business Manager, Highly Skilled Professional.

Yugawara with no residence card

Moving towns, tax, insurance, and rooms you book.

A spouse or child

The accompanying status, insurance, and the papers.

Questions

The short answers, with the longer pages behind them.