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Working on a Working Holiday visa in Japan

A Working Holiday lets young people from 32 countries and regions spend up to a year in Japan and take jobs to pay for the trip. Who can come, where you may and may not work, which jobs people usually find, what to do in your first 14 days, insurance, taxes, studying Japanese on the side — and what happens when the year ends.

Who can come

Working Holiday visa

Checked against the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japanese embassies, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the National Tax Agency on October 7, 2026 · Your first 30 days · Income tax

Countries and regions in the scheme (MOFA, April 1, 2026)32

Age when you apply, in most agreements18–30

To report your address after you settle down14 days

Usual length of stay1 year

In short

A working holiday in six lines

  • A holiday first. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) describes the programs as a chance for young people to experience Japan’s culture and way of life. Work is allowed to help pay for the trip — it is not a work visa.
  • Who: citizens of 32 countries and regions with an agreement with Japan, usually aged 18–30 when they apply, without dependents or children coming along.
  • Status of residence: you enter on Designated Activities (特定活動, tokutei katsudō) and get a residence card at major airports (elsewhere it is mailed to you after you register your address).
  • Off limits: bars, cabarets, nightclubs, gambling establishments and other premises affecting public morals — even for cleaning or the kitchen.
  • Within 14 days of settling down, report your address at your city or ward office. There you also sort out health insurance and pension.
  • Your income is taxed like anyone else’s — and Employment Insurance does not cover working holiday makers.

Who can come

32 countries and regions, aged 18 to 30

As of April 1, 2026, Japan has working holiday programs with 32 countries and regions: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Republic of Korea, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Iceland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Sweden, Estonia, the Netherlands, Uruguay, Finland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta and Italy. The official list and the conditions for each country are on the MOFA Working Holiday page.

Condition (MOFA) What it means
Age 18 to 30 inclusive when you apply. For Australia, Canada, the Republic of Korea and Ireland the agreements say 18 to 25, unless the two countries agree to extend it; the Japanese consulates in Australia and Canada state 18 to 30 for their citizens — check your embassy’s page for the current limit
Purpose Intending primarily to spend a holiday in Japan
Family Not accompanied by dependents or children
Money and ticket A valid passport and a return ticket, or enough money to buy one
How many times As a rule once. Under changes in force from dates between December 1, 2024 and February 1, 2026, nationals of Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Ireland, Slovakia, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan may take part twice (Canadians may instead take one stay of 2 years)
Quotas Set by each agreement: no limit for some countries (Australia, New Zealand, Germany and others), 10,000 a year for the Republic of Korea and Taiwan, 30 a year for Iceland
Where to apply At the Japanese embassy or consulate in your country (in Taiwan — the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association)
Other conditions Reasonable funds for the first part of your stay, good health and the other conditions on the MOFA page

Your country is not on the list? Then there is no working holiday for you — India, Vietnam, Nepal, the Philippines and Indonesia, for example, have no program. The usual route to live and work in Japan is a Student visa with part-time work, or a work visa: jobs by profession. How to apply for the working holiday visa itself, with documents: Working Holiday visa for Japan.

Where you may work

Work is allowed — as part of the holiday

Japanese embassies describe work on a working holiday as incidental: a way to fund your travels, not the reason for the trip. The Tokyo Labour Bureau puts it the same way — work within what you need to supplement your travel funds.

  • No full-time career job as the goal. The embassy in Canada (Montreal) writes that the visa is not for people who want to enter Japan for full-time employment; the embassy in Germany, that it is not intended for applicants whose main intention is to work.
  • Strictly prohibited workplaces (MOFA): bars, cabarets, nightclubs, gambling establishments and other premises affecting public morals. The embassies add businesses under the adult entertainment law (風俗営業), dance halls and pachinko parlors. This applies to any job there, not only serving customers.
  • Your employer checks your residence card and the designation paper (指定書, shiteisho). The card shows only Designated Activities (特定活動); the designation paper stapled in your passport is what shows it is a working holiday — keep your passport with it.
  • Your rights are the same as any worker’s: minimum wage, the late-night premium, paid leave after 6 months, accident insurance at work — see your rights at work and working hours and overtime.

If an employer offers a job at a bar or a host or hostess club, say no — even if they call it “just the kitchen”. Working there breaks the conditions of your visa, and the risk is yours.

Typical jobs

Where working holiday makers often work

Common examples, not statistics — there is no official count of working holiday jobs by sector.

Ski resorts

Hokkaido and Nagano in winter: lift staff, rental shops, hotels and restaurants at the resorts. Seasonal, often with staff housing.

Hotels, ryokan and hostels

Front desk at places with many foreign guests, housekeeping, kitchen. English helps; Japanese widens the choice.

Cafés and restaurants

Kitchen and floor jobs in cities and tourist areas. For floor work some Japanese is usually expected.

Farms and countryside

Seasonal farm work and rural guesthouses — a way to see the Japan outside the big cities.

English and other languages

Conversation cafés, private lessons and tutoring. Long-term teaching contracts are a work-visa job.

Shops and tourism

Souvenir and outdoor shops, tour desks and travel agencies in places with many visitors.

How to find a job

  • Hello Work (ハローワーク), the free public employment service. In Tokyo the Shinjuku Foreigners’ Employment Assistance and Guidance Center offers job counseling and placement for working holiday visa holders, with English and Chinese interpreters by appointment. More: Hello Work for foreigners.
  • Job sites in English and staffing agencies: job sites and agencies. As a rule, an agency may not charge you a fee for finding you a job.
  • Resorts and hotels directly: many hire for the winter season months in advance. A short resume in Japanese helps — Japanese resume.

Your first 14 days

Register your address — and everything that comes with it

MOFA: working holiday participants must visit the municipal office where they live and notify the Ministry of Justice of their address within 14 days of finding a place to settle down. You do it at the city or ward office, with your residence card.

  1. AirportAt major airports you get a residence card (在留カード, zairyū kādo) showing Designated Activities; elsewhere it is mailed to you after you register your address. Keep it with you.
  2. Within 14 days of settling downReport your address at the city or ward office — the moving-in notification (転入届, tennyū todoke). The address is written on the back of your card.
  3. At the same visitAsk which health insurance and pension you join, and get your My Number (マイナンバー). Your employer will need it.
  4. Before your first paydayOpen a bank account and give your employer your My Number and, for your main job, the dependents form for withholding tax.

The whole first month step by step: your first 30 days in Japan. Moving to another city later? Report the move again within 14 days.

Insurance and pension

Register at your city office; it tells you which insurance and pension you join

We found no official page that sets special insurance rules for working holiday makers. The general rules that the official pages do state:

  • National Health Insurance (国民健康保険, kokumin kenkō hoken). Foreign residents with a registered address and a stay of more than 3 months who are not in a workplace health insurance must join, according to city offices such as Shinjuku. The exclusions listed there are Designated Activities for medical treatment, tourism or recuperation — working holiday is not among them. The Embassy of Japan in Germany writes that since May 2015 all foreign holders of long-term visas are obliged to register with National Health Insurance.
  • Travel insurance. Embassies accept either travel health insurance for the whole stay or a written pledge to join National Health Insurance when you apply. Travel insurance does not replace registration at the city office if the city tells you to join.
  • National Pension (国民年金, kokumin nenkin). The Japan Pension Service rule is that residents aged 20–59 who are not in Employees’ Pension Insurance join the National Pension, regardless of nationality. Its list of foreigners excluded (Designated Activities for medical stay or long-stay tourism) does not mention working holiday.
  • Workplace insurance. If you work long hours for one employer, the employer may enroll you in its Health Insurance and Employees’ Pension Insurance under the same rules as other workers — ask your employer. How it works: social insurance.
  • Employment Insurance (雇用保険) does not cover people who entered on a working holiday (Tokyo Labour Bureau). So there are no unemployment benefits after a seasonal job ends.
  • Leaving Japan: pension contributions paid for 6 months or more can be partly refunded — Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment.

Simplest rule: when you register your address, ask the city office in plain words: “Do I join National Health Insurance and the National Pension?” It will tell you and give you the forms. If you cannot pay the premiums, ask about reductions there and then — unpaid premiums follow you.

Taxes

Income tax and resident tax on a working holiday

Your pay in Japan is taxed in Japan, whatever your visa. What changes is whether you count as a resident or a non-resident for tax.

Tax status Who (National Tax Agency) What it means for your pay
Resident (居住者, kyojūsha) Has a domicile — the center of life — in Japan, or has lived here for a year or more. Domicile is judged by objective facts Income tax is withheld every month by the normal tables; the employer may do a year-end adjustment, or you file a return
Non-resident (非居住者, hikyojūsha) Everyone else 20.42% withheld from Japanese salary, with no deductions
  • Which one are you? On a working holiday of a year or less it depends on the facts of your stay, and employers handle it differently. Ask your employer how they withhold tax, and keep your payslips. If too much was withheld, a tax return can get part of it back: filing a tax return.
  • Resident tax is charged by the city where you were registered on January 1, on last year’s income. If you arrive in the spring, there is usually none in your first year; if you are still registered on January 1 after a year of work, a bill can follow — resident tax.
  • Your home country may tax the same income too. Ask your employer for a statement of earnings in English before you leave, as the embassies in Canada advise — you will need it for your tax return at home.

Rates, deductions and withholding: income tax in Japan. Leaving with a tax still to pay: leaving Japan.

Studying Japanese

A language course on a working holiday

No MOFA or embassy page we read sets a maximum number of hours or weeks of study on a working holiday. What embassies do say:

  • Germany: for a mainly long-term language school visit or a long-term internship, apply for the appropriate visa.
  • Canada (Montreal): the working holiday visa is not for people who want to enroll in academic institutions.
  • Australia (Brisbane): if you will attend a casual language course, details of the language school are required in your application.

So a short or part-time course alongside your holiday is something embassies expect people to do; studying as the main purpose of your stay is what the Student visa is for. If learning Japanese is your goal, a language school on a Student visa gives you up to 2 years of study and part-time work of up to 28 hours a week with permission — see Japanese language schools and the long-term program.

When the year ends

Extending, switching to another status, or going home

  • Extension. Some agreements allow it: the consulates in Canada write that the stay may be extended by up to 1 more year by immigration in Japan, the consulate in Brisbane that it can be extended at an immigration office in Japan if deemed appropriate. Check your own embassy’s page — it differs by country.
  • Switching to another status. If you find a job that fits a work status — for example Engineer/Specialist with a degree that matches the job — or decide to study, you apply to immigration for a change of status of residence. There is no published rule that guarantees it: immigration decides case by case. Ask the immigration office before you plan on it — changing your status of residence.
  • Going home. File the moving-out notification (転出届, tenshutsu todoke) at the city office, close your insurance, settle resident tax and claim your pension refund from abroad — leaving Japan: a checklist.

Linked to your visa.

  • A working holiday is Designated Activities (特定活動) with the conditions of your country’s agreement — work at prohibited workplaces breaks them.
  • You cannot bring a spouse or children as your dependents on a working holiday.
  • Report your address within 14 days of settling down, and every move afterwards.

Working Holiday visa · Change of status · Designated Activities

Free help in English

  • Foreign Residents Support Center (FRESC), Yotsuya Tower, Tokyo: 0570-011000, weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Status of residence, work, legal questions — in many languages.
  • Telephone Consultation Service for Foreign Workers (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare): English 0570-001-701, Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (closed noon to 1 p.m.); the consultation is free, a call charge applies.

Deadlines

Deadlines, and what happens if you miss them

What When If you miss it
Enter Japan after the visa is issued within the validity of the visa (Sweden, for example: 3 months from issue) the visa expires and you apply again — if your country allows it
Report your address at the city office within 14 days of settling down a violation of the notification duty; also no health insurance and no My Number until you register
National Health Insurance and National Pension when you register your address NHI premiums are charged from the month you moved in, even if you join late
Resident tax for the city where you were registered on January 1; first payment by June 30 late-payment charges; unpaid tax counts against later visa applications
Leave or change status before your period of stay on the residence card ends overstay — deportation and a ban on returning to Japan

FAQ

Working holiday questions

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Which countries can get a working holiday visa for Japan?

As of April 1, 2026, 32 countries and regions: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Republic of Korea, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Iceland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Sweden, Estonia, the Netherlands, Uruguay, Finland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta and Italy. The current list is on the MOFA Working Holiday page.

In most agreements 18 to 30 inclusive when you apply. For Australia, Canada, the Republic of Korea and Ireland the agreements say 18 to 25 unless the two countries agree to extend it, so check the current limit on the page of the Japanese embassy in your country.

At bars, cabarets, nightclubs, gambling establishments and other premises affecting public morals. Embassies also name businesses under the adult entertainment law, dance halls and pachinko parlors. The ban covers any job there, including cleaning or the kitchen.

We found no official page with special rules for working holiday makers. The general rules: residents staying over 3 months who are not in a workplace health insurance join National Health Insurance, and residents aged 20 to 59 who are not in Employees’ Pension join the National Pension, regardless of nationality. Register your address at the city office; it will tell you which insurance and pension you join.

No. According to the Tokyo Labour Bureau, Employment Insurance does not apply to people who entered Japan on a working holiday, so there are no unemployment benefits when a job ends.

A short or casual course alongside your holiday is common, and the consulate in Brisbane asks for the school’s details in the application. But studying as the main purpose is not what the visa is for: the embassy in Germany tells long-term language-school students to apply for the appropriate visa. If learning Japanese is your goal, a Student visa is the right status.

You can apply to immigration for a change of status of residence if you find a job that fits a work status, for example Engineer/Specialist with a degree that matches the job. No published rule guarantees approval; immigration decides case by case. Ask the immigration office before you rely on it.

Yes. Pay for work in Japan is taxed in Japan. Whether you are treated as a resident, with monthly withholding by the normal tables, or as a non-resident, with 20.42% withheld and no deductions, depends on the facts of your stay. If you are registered in Japan on January 1 and had income the year before, the city also charges resident tax.

Sources

Where this information comes from

Rates, limits and deadlines on this page were checked against the official websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japanese embassies, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Japan Pension Service, the National Tax Agency and city offices on October 7, 2026. Amounts are in Japanese yen. When a rule changes we update the page and the date above.

Results and examples are estimates, not your employer’s payroll. The amounts on your payslip and in your resident tax notice are the ones that count. For a complex case, talk to a licensed tax accountant (税理士) or a Labor and Social Security Attorney (社会保険労務士, sharōshi).

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