Japan Digital Nomad Visa: $90K Annual Income Required

Japan’s digital nomad visa is the latest one announced this year, with strict and demanding policies to apply. Digital nomads do freelance work from home or remotely for foreign employers. Japan will launch its “Japan Digital Nomad visa” in March with a visa validity of 6 months.

Remote workers, freelancers, and self-employed individuals from over 40 countries, including America, Singapore, and Australia, can join this program. Applicants must earn more than 90,000 dollars annually and have private insurance. People with spouses and children are also eligible for the Japan digital nomad program. Visa holders can do remote jobs or freelance work from anywhere in the country, but those with digital nomad visas will not get residence cards.

According to Travel Daily Media, A self-employed individual cannot be eligible to apply for an immediate extension of his digital nomad visa after six months; they need to depart from Japan and resubmit the application to live in Japan on a digital nomad visa for another six months.

Japan Digital Nomad Visa Initiative

The Japan digital nomad visa initiative from the Japanese government is a broad initiative to attract more tourists and foreigners to work in their country and be a part of their economic growth. Japan joins the growing number of countries offering digital nomad visas, like Malaysia, Spain, Estonia, and many more.

However, digital nomad communities worldwide are raising questions and pointing out concerns about restrictive policies to be a part of this program, according to various forums where digital nomads are discussing. They are saying that the six-month validity for this program is too short, and the annual income requirement needs to be revised for fresh startups, remote employees, and freelancers.

Most other countries are also offering digital nomad visas. Still, they are giving a minimum validity of 1 year and renewable for another year, which is two years to stay in their country. Also, the minimum requirement for annual income is between 2000$ and 5000$ a month. Elsewhere in Malaysia, they also offer the same digital nomad visa, allowing all nationalities to work in their country for up to two years, and the required minimum income is around 32,500$ annually.

Still, despite Japan’s seemingly stricter terms, the BBC report said that its visa is likely to be popular.