Teach English in Japan - Visa, JET and Salary Guide (2026)

Two visa types for English teachers in Japan

Every legal foreign English teacher in Japan holds one of two status-of-residence categories: the Instructor visa or the Specialist in Humanities / International Services visa. The category you receive is decided not by you but by who employs you. Public-school placements (JET, BOE direct hire, dispatch contractors like Interac) almost always result in an Instructor visa. Private-sector employers (eikaiwa conversation schools, juku cram schools, corporate training) hire under the Humanities visa. This sounds bureaucratic, but it determines what side jobs you can take, how easily you can switch employers, and whether you can pivot to a second school for extra income.

Both visas require a Bachelor's degree in any field, a sponsoring employer in Japan, and a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) issued by Japanese Immigration before you ever set foot in an embassy. Neither visa is something you can apply for as a tourist hoping to find work after arrival. The job offer is the trigger, the COE is the gate, and the embassy stamp is just the formality at the end. See the full teach abroad master guide for the comparison with Korea, China, and Taiwan if you are still choosing a market.

If you want side work outside your sponsored role (private lessons, online teaching, weekend eikaiwa) you must apply at your local immigration office for shikaku-gai katsudo kyoka, a permission-to-engage-in-activity-outside-status. It is usually granted up to 28 hours per week. Working without that permission can void your visa renewal even if no one ever paid you in cash.

JET Programme - the gold standard

The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme is run jointly by Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MEXT (the education ministry), and CLAIR. It is the single largest, best-paid, and most stable entry route into teaching in Japan, and 2026 placements are the highest since 2012 as the country addresses its assistant language teacher shortage.

First-year salary is ¥3,360,000 (~USD 22,400) and rises to ¥3,960,000 (~USD 26,400) by year five. Housing is heavily subsidised or free in many placements, return airfare to your country at the start and end of contract is paid, and national health insurance is enrolled automatically. JET partners with more than 40 countries, but the largest contingents come from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and South Africa.

• Application timeline: opens early autumn (typically late September to mid-November), interviews January to February, results in April, departure late July or early August.
• Acceptance rate hovers around 30 percent. Strong essays, demonstrable interest in Japanese language and culture, and any teaching or mentoring history matter more than test scores.
• Placement is mostly outside Tokyo and Osaka. If you want a major-city assignment, JET is the wrong programme. Roughly 70 percent of JETs are placed in towns under 100,000 people.
• Contracts are one year, renewable up to five years. Re-contracting is the participant's choice in most cases.
• JET pays for your flight in and out. No competitor matches that.

The catch: you do not choose where you live. CLAIR allocates placements based on board-of-education requests, and rural Hokkaido or Kyushu are as likely as suburban Saitama. If you cannot live without an urban setting, apply to direct-hire Tokyo BOE positions or eikaiwa chains instead. JET also requires a fresh medical certificate, transcripts, and two reference letters at application time, so begin gathering documents in August even if applications only open in late September.

Private ALT dispatch (Interac, JoyTalk, ALTIA)

Private ALT dispatch companies are the second-largest channel into Japanese public-school teaching, and frankly the easier one to enter. Interac is the biggest, with thousands of teachers across Japan. JoyTalk, ALTIA Central, Borderlink, and Heart English School round out the major players. Boards of education contract these companies to staff their elementary and junior-high schools, and the companies in turn hire foreign teachers year-round rather than once annually like JET.

Salaries run ¥200,000-250,000 per month (~USD 1,330-1,670), notably lower than JET. You typically receive Instructor visa sponsorship, but the company is your legal employer, not the school or board of education. Contracts are normally a school year (April to March), but Interac and others hire mid-cycle when teachers leave. The application path is direct: online application, Skype or in-person interview, mock teaching demonstration, offer, COE filing.

• Pros: year-round hiring, faster start than JET (4-8 weeks vs ten months), can request preferred region.
• Cons: lower salary, no flight reimbursement, housing through the company is usually market-rate not subsidised.
• Visa: Instructor, sponsored by the dispatch company.
• Best for: teachers who missed the JET cycle, those who want to start within months, and those who applied to JET but were waitlisted.

Eikaiwa (conversation schools)

Eikaiwa are private English-conversation schools that target adults, university students, and children outside of regular schooling hours. The major chains are AEON, NOVA, ECC, Berlitz, Gaba, and Shane. They hire all year, run interview events in major Western cities and online, and almost always sponsor the Humanities visa. Pay sits at ¥250,000-280,000 per month (~USD 1,670-1,870) with sales bonuses at some chains and overtime at others.

The eikaiwa lifestyle is fundamentally urban. AEON and ECC have schools across mid-sized cities, but NOVA, Gaba, and Berlitz concentrate in Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Nagoya, and Fukuoka. Shifts are typically 1pm to 9pm because students come after work or school, and Saturdays are standard working days with Sunday and Monday or Tuesday off. If you want weekend nightlife and weekday daylight, eikaiwa is not for you. If you want to live in central Tokyo and have a stable paycheck within three months of applying, it is the most direct route.

• AEON: known for structured curriculum and corporate professionalism, mid-tier pay.
• NOVA: largest chain, easiest to get into, salary on the lower end.
• ECC: long established, slightly better pay than NOVA, similar conditions.
• Berlitz: premium brand, corporate clients, higher hourly rate but fewer guaranteed hours.
• Gaba: one-on-one only, freelance contractor model, you set your schedule.

COE and visa process step-by-step

1. Secure a job offer with a sponsoring employer in Japan (JET, BOE, dispatch, or eikaiwa). The offer letter and contract are the first paperwork in the chain.
2. Your employer files for the Certificate of Eligibility (COE) at the regional Immigration Services Agency office in Japan. They submit your degree copy, contract, the company's tax and registration documents, and the application form. You do nothing in Japan at this stage.
3. COE is issued in 1-3 months. JET is faster because applications are batched at MEXT. Eikaiwa and dispatch are typically 4-8 weeks.
4. Your employer mails the original COE to you. You take it to the nearest Japanese embassy or consulate with your passport, application form, passport-style photo (see visa photo specifications), and the COE original.
5. Visa is issued by the embassy in 1-2 weeks. It is a single-entry visa valid for 90 days to enter Japan. You enter Japan, the immigration officer at the airport converts your COE into a residence card (zairyu card) on the spot. Within 14 days of arrival you register your address at the city or ward office, which activates national health insurance and gives you a basic My Number registration.

Required documents

• Valid passport with at least one year of remaining validity and two blank pages.
• Original Bachelor's degree certificate (you keep this; employer needs a notarised copy).
• Sealed official transcripts in English.
• Resume (Japanese format preferred for eikaiwa and dispatch, Western format fine for JET).
• Police background check (FBI for US applicants, ACRO for UK, RCMP for Canada).
• Recent passport-style photos: 4cm x 3cm, white background.
• Self-introduction or motivation letter. The cover letter format guide has Japan-specific tips.
• TEFL certificate (required by some eikaiwa and most international schools, not required by JET).

Can you teach in Japan without a degree?

Not on a teaching visa. Instructor and Humanities visas both demand a Bachelor's degree. The one legitimate exception is the Working Holiday visa, available to citizens of Australia, UK, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, France, Germany, Korea, Taiwan, and a growing list of bilateral partners.

The Working Holiday visa lets you stay in Japan for 12 months (extendable to 18 for some nationalities), work in any field including teaching, and you do not need a degree. Eikaiwa chains hire working-holiday teachers regularly. The catches: it is non-renewable, you can only use it once in your lifetime, and your employer has no obligation to sponsor you onto a proper Humanities visa at the end. About one in four eikaiwa teachers who go this route do successfully convert to a Humanities visa before the working-holiday expires, but it depends entirely on the employer wanting to keep you.

Cost of living and realistic savings

Tokyo is famously expensive but JET-style subsidised housing flips that math entirely. A teacher placed in suburban Nagano on JET clears about ¥100,000 per month in savings comfortably; a NOVA teacher in Shibuya may save almost nothing for the first year while paying off key money and a guarantor fee. Going regional is the financial cheat code for teaching in Japan.

First-month costs in Tokyo are the hidden killer. Standard private rentals demand reikin (key money, typically one to two months rent given to the landlord as a non-refundable gift), shikikin (security deposit, one to two months), agent fee (one month plus tax), guarantor service (around half a month), and the first month's rent upfront. On a ¥90,000 rent that totals ¥540,000-720,000 (USD 3,600-4,800) in cash before you have moved in. Eikaiwa and dispatch employers sometimes offer subsidised company housing for the first six months which bypasses this entirely. Always ask before signing.

Tax, pension, and the lump-sum withdrawal

Japanese income tax for foreign teachers earning under ¥4 million per year sits at roughly 5-10 percent at the national level, plus a flat 10 percent resident tax that kicks in your second calendar year. Your first year in Japan therefore feels noticeably more profitable than year two, because resident tax is calculated on the previous year's income and bills land in June of year two.

All teachers on Instructor or Humanities visas must enrol in Japan's national pension (kokumin nenkin) and national health insurance (kokumin kenko hoken) or, more commonly, the employer-administered shakai hoken combined package. Monthly deductions are around 14 percent of gross. The good news: when you eventually leave Japan, you can claim a lump-sum withdrawal payment (dattai ichijikin) covering up to 5 years of pension contributions. For a teacher who stayed 3 years on ¥280,000 monthly, this can amount to roughly ¥600,000-900,000 (USD 4,000-6,000) paid out within 4-6 months of departure.

There are two steps to claim the lump-sum: file the withdrawal application from outside Japan within 2 years of leaving, then file a separate tax-refund application through your appointed tax representative in Japan to recover the 20 percent withholding tax on the lump sum. Combined, this can return roughly USD 5,000-7,000 to your pocket from a typical 3-year contract. Many teachers leave this money on the table by not knowing the process; do not be one of them.

Renewal and the long road to permanent residency

Instructor and Humanities visa renewals are generally straightforward if you have the same employer and clean tax filings. Submit at your regional immigration office 1-3 months before expiry, pay ¥4,000 in revenue stamps, receive a new card in 2-6 weeks. After your first 1-year renewal, immigration typically upgrades you to a 3-year card; after another renewal or two, a 5-year card becomes available, which is the gold standard for teachers who plan to stay.

Permanent residency (eijuken) is theoretically available after 10 consecutive years in Japan, of which at least 5 must be on a work visa, and with a clean tax and pension record. The Highly Skilled Professional (HSP) visa shortens this to 1-3 years depending on point score, but few classroom teachers meet HSP point thresholds (you need a Master's, high salary, and Japanese ability typically). For most teachers, permanent residency comes after 10 years of consistent contributions and clean paperwork. Once granted, you lose the employer tie, can work in any field, and can sponsor your own family with broader rights than dependent visas allow.

Marriage to a Japanese national is the fastest practical route to long-term residency for teachers who marry locally. The Spouse of Japanese National visa is issued for 1, 3, or 5 years and carries no employer tie, allows any work, and after 3 years of marriage with 1 year of residency in Japan (or 5 years of residency regardless of marriage length) you can apply for permanent residency. Many career teachers who started on Instructor or Humanities eventually transition through marriage. The visa is not granted automatically and requires proof of genuine relationship including photos, communication records, joint accounts, and an interview with immigration.

Where to find legitimate job listings

The Japan teaching job market has three main channels: official programmes (apply through your country's JET embassy office), dispatch and eikaiwa recruitment sites (gaijinpot.com, ohayosensei.com, jobs in Japan section of teachaway.com), and direct hiring through individual school websites. JET applications open in your country, not in Japan. GaijinPot lists eikaiwa and dispatch positions year-round with applications going directly to the school or company. Ohayo Sensei is a long-running newsletter sent twice monthly with curated listings.

Avoid Craigslist Japan, which has historically been a magnet for schemes and dubious employers. Avoid recruiters who promise guaranteed visa sponsorship without an interview. Avoid any school that asks you to wire money for visa fees before you have a contract in hand. Legitimate Japanese employers always pay COE filing fees themselves and provide a written contract before any payment changes hands. The master Teach English Abroad guide has a global recruiter blacklist worth checking.