Instructor Visa
The Instructor visa is the status of residence for teaching inside Japan's formal school system, and it is the standard status behind JET Program placements in public schools.12 Filing under the wrong teaching status, or lingering on this one after leaving school employment, is how teachers drift into unauthorized activity, so the school-scope test below comes before everything else.
This article serves two readers: a prospective ALT or teacher confirming this is their status, and a current holder facing renewal, a school change, or an exit from the public-school track.
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Immigration Services Agency's status page for the Instructor status. This article is general information, not legal, tax, or immigration advice; for your specific case, consult a licensed gyoseishoshi (administrative scrivener) for an eligibility read, or an immigration lawyer for a contested renewal or appeal.
Last verified: 2026-09.
Overview
The Instructor status, or 教育 (kyōiku, "instructor"), covers 語学教育 (gogaku kyōiku, "language education") and other teaching at qualifying schools. ISA's own stated example is junior-high and high-school language teachers, which maps directly onto the ALT world.1
Grants run 5 years, 3 years, 1 year, or 3 months.1 Eligibility is statutory and national; no board of education improvises the criteria, though hiring channels differ by contract as described below.
Unlike the Engineer/Humanities/International Services status, which covers corporate language instruction, this status belongs to schools only. The employer's nature decides the status, not the classroom activity alone.
Which schools count
Qualifying institutions are elementary schools, junior high schools, compulsory-education schools, high schools, secondary schools, special-needs schools, 専修学校 (senshū gakkō, "specialized training colleges"), kakushu (miscellaneous) schools, or institutions equivalent in facilities and organization.1
Two common confusions end here. University teaching sits under the Professor status, not this one. Private eikaiwa conversation schools are businesses, not qualifying schools, so their instructors fall under ESHI international-services duties instead.13
The three applicant categories
ISA sorts applicants by post type, and the document weight follows the category.
| Category | Who | Document weight |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Full-time at elementary, junior-high, high, secondary, or special-needs schools | Lightest: beyond the common documents, other materials are basically unnecessary |
| 2 | Full-time at other qualifying institutions | Heavier: employment terms, CV, education/career proof, employer profile, registry certificate, plus financial documents |
| 3 | Part-time teaching | Heaviest relative to hours: Category 2-style evidence for every contracting institution |
These category definitions and their document lists are ISA administrative classifications, so confirm the current checklist before filing (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with the Immigration Services Agency).1
Qualification paths: degree or experience
The education and career proof offers four doors, and you need only one: university graduation (or equivalent education, or a Senmonshi or Kodo-Senmonshi title); a license or qualification; for language teaching, proof of 12 or more years of education in that language; or for non-language subjects, proof of 5 or more years of practical experience.1 Practitioner sources describe the bachelor's degree as the firm standard path for both Instructor and ESHI teaching roles.4
Twelve years of schooling in the taught language substitutes for a degree for language teachers. Native speakers who completed primary through secondary education in that language typically clear this bar with school records alone.
JET and the ALT reality
The JET Programme places Assistant Language Teachers, Coordinators for International Relations, and Sports Exchange Advisors with contracting organizations such as local governments, boards of education, and schools.2 JET ALTs in public schools reside on Instructor status as the standard issuance.2
Two hiring channels feed the same status. Direct-hire ALTs contract with the board of education itself; dispatch ALTs contract with a private dispatch company that posts them to schools. The status is identical either way, but the contracting organization differs, which changes who you name in the 14-day notification when the relationship changes.1
Instructor vs Engineer: the eikaiwa line
The test is the employer's legal character. Teaching English at a city junior high school is Instructor activity. Teaching the same English at a private conversation school is ESHI international-services activity, because the employer is a company rather than a qualifying school.13 Accepting the wrong status for the employer type is a refusal or revocation waiting to happen.
Required documents
The common set is the application form, a photo, and for in-Japan filings the passport and residence card, with category-weighted extras layered on: employment-terms documents, a CV, education or career proof from the four doors above, employer profile material, and for Category 2 and 3 the registry and financial documents ISA lists.1
Two standing ISA rules apply to every filing. Japan-issued certificates must be within 3 months of issuance, and foreign-language documents need Japanese translations attached.1 ISA warns that incomplete sets cause major delays or disadvantageous dispositions, so treat the checklist as mandatory, not advisory (as of 2026-09).1
Application process
Overseas entry runs through a Certificate of Eligibility filed by a proxy, with no application fee and electronic issuance available since March 2023.5 In-Japan applicants, often graduating students taking school posts, file a change of status instead.6 Holders changing schools without changing status type generally proceed through renewal and notification rather than a fresh change application.
Costs and timelines
Fees and processing times below reflect ISA's published figures. Confirm current fees and timelines with the Immigration Services Agency before filing, since both can change (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with the Immigration Services Agency).
Fee schedule
| Item | Amount | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate of Eligibility application | No fee | 2026-09 | 5 |
| Status change grant (in person or paper) | ¥6,000 | 2025-04-01 | 7 |
| Status change grant (online) | ¥5,500 | 2025-04-01 | 7 |
| Period-of-stay extension grant (in person or paper) | ¥6,000 | 2025-04-01 | 7 |
| Period-of-stay extension grant (online) | ¥5,500 | 2025-04-01 | 7 |
Fees ride on a revenue stamp (収入印紙) under the April 1, 2025 revision (as of 2025-04-01).7
Processing times
| Application | Standard published range |
|---|---|
| Certificate of Eligibility | 1 to 3 months |
| Status change | 1 to 2 months |
| Period-of-stay extension | 2 weeks to 1 month |
These are ISA's standard published ranges, not guarantees (as of 2026-09).568
Period of stay and renewal
Grants come as 5 years, 3 years, 1 year, or 3 months. File renewal before expiry, about 3 months ahead per ISA's general guidance.18
Renewal carries a notable ISA demand: Category 1 applicants must submit residence-tax taxation (or non-taxation) and payment certificates showing a year of income and payment status.1 This is the rare status where the tax check is not inference but an explicit document requirement, which makes the Good to know section below unusually literal. Category 2 and 3 holders file extra employer and activity evidence at the first renewal after a job change.1
Leaving the public-school track
ALTs leaving public-school teaching for private-sector, eikaiwa, or freelance work must change status, typically to Engineer/Humanities/International Services, promptly. Continuing the new activity on Instructor status risks revocation, and ISA's change-of-status page says to file swiftly when the activity changes for exactly this reason.16 The change is a fresh examination, not a paperwork update.6
Starting eikaiwa shifts before the ESHI grant lands means working outside the authorized activity. Time the contract start to the permission, not to the employer's preferred first day.
Good to know
The items below are the ones most likely to end a renewal, break a school move, or strand a contract gap.
Tax and pension arrears sink renewals
ISA demands residence-tax certificates at Instructor renewal, so arrears surface by design rather than by audit luck.1 Pension and health-insurance arrears weigh the same way. The Residence-Tax Year-Two Surprise explains the year-two bill; the Shakai Hoken Overview maps enrollment. Clear arrears before filing, not after a denial.
The 14-day school-change notification
Under Immigration Control Act Article 19-16, affiliated-organization changes must reach the regional bureau within 14 days.9 School changes, board-of-education reassignments that alter the contracting party, and dispatch-company switches all count. File through Notifying Immigration of the Employer Change channels; dispatch ALTs notify against the dispatch-company relationship.
Contract gaps and the 3-month inactivity rule
Under Article 22-4, ISA can revoke a status where the holder continuously fails for 3 months or more to do the authorized activity without legitimate reason.10 Yearly ALT contracts with spring or summer gaps need continuity evidence, and the 3-Month-Unemployment Renewal Risk article traces how examiners read gaps. Keep the next contract or active same-field job seeking on record.
Criminal penalties end this status fast
Convictions that trigger deportation grounds end residence, and schools add employment consequences on top of immigration ones. Anyone charged should consult an immigration lawyer before engaging with examiners; the Bengoshi, Gyoseishoshi, Shiho-shoshi, and Zeirishi: Who Does What guide sorts which professional fits which problem.
Part-time hours and the Category 3 paper trail
Part-time teachers carry the heaviest evidence load relative to hours: employment terms and career proof for every contracting institution, not just the main one.1 Collect each school's paperwork at signing time; reconstructing it across multiple employers at renewal season is where Category 3 filings stall.
See also
- Engineer/Humanities/International Services Visa
- Student Visa Process Through a Language School
- Tenshoku Procedure: The Job-Change Sequence
- The Gyoseishoshi for Visa and Immigration
- How Residence Tax Is Calculated