Student Visa Part-Time Work: the 28-Hour Rule and Restrictions

Part-time work helps many international students cover living costs in Japan — but the Student status only allows it within carefully defined limits, and the rules are now being actively monitored. Getting this wrong can cost you your status and your future in Japan.

This guide explains the permission you must obtain first, the 28-hour weekly limit during term, the more generous 8-hour-a-day rule during long vacations, what work is banned, how to apply, and what happens if you break the rules. For the Student status overall, see our Student visa application guide.

You Must Get Permission Before Working

The Student status authorises study, not paid work. In most cases, before taking ordinary part-time work you must first obtain permission to engage in activity other than that permitted from the Immigration Services Agency. Until that permission is granted and recorded on the back of your residence card, you may not work ordinary shifts. A limited exception exists for paid education or research assistance performed under a contract with the university where the student is enrolled, or with a technical college for 4th/5th-year or advanced-course students; confirm on-campus TA, RA, tutor, or research-assistant work with your school.

The usual permission for students is the comprehensive permission, which generally lets you do ordinary part-time work for any employer without naming a specific job, as long as the activity stays within the hour limits below and is not in a prohibited business. Work whose hours cannot be objectively confirmed, or activities outside the blanket-permission scope, may require individual permission.

The 28-Hour Weekly Rule (Term Time)

During periods when your school is in session, you may work up to 28 hours per week. Two details catch students out:

• Any seven-day window. The 28 hours are measured across any seven consecutive days, not just a fixed Monday-to-Sunday week. You cannot work 40 hours one week and 16 the next and call it an average.
• All jobs combined. If you have two or more part-time jobs, the hours add together. The 28-hour cap is on your total work.

Keep your own tally of hours across every employer. If an employer rosters you beyond 28 hours, it is still your status on the line.

The 8-Hour-a-Day Vacation Rule

This is the advantage students have over most other restricted statuses. During the school's officially designated long vacations — such as summer, winter, and spring breaks — the immigration limit rises to 8 hours per day. In practice, standard labour-law limits also apply, including the general 8-hour-per-day and 40-hour-per-week statutory working-time rules. This lets students work more intensively when they are not in class, but it is not an unlimited-work period.

Work That Is Never Allowed

All other ordinary part-time work — convenience stores, restaurants outside that category, retail, delivery, warehouses, tutoring, and the like — is fine within the hour limits.

How to Apply for the Permission

The permission is free. There are two convenient timings:

Your school's international office can usually help you complete the form. Because the permission is comprehensive, you do not need a job lined up to apply.

Penalties for Breaking the Rules

Working without permission, exceeding the hour limits, or working in a prohibited business is an immigration violation, with consequences that go well beyond a warning:

• Refusal of your next renewal or change of status. Over-working is one of the most common reasons a student's extension — or later change to a work visa — is refused.
• Deportation in serious cases. Substantial or repeated over-working is a ground for deportation under the Immigration Control Act.
• Damage to your future. A record of unauthorised work counts against a later Permanent Residency or naturalisation application for years.
• Employer liability. An employer who knowingly over-works you can be punished for promoting illegal work.

The hour limits are not guidelines. Treat 28 hours (term) and 8 hours a day (vacation) as hard ceilings.

New 2026 Monitoring of Student Work

Oversight has stepped up. From April 2026, Japanese language institutions are required to check each student's work situation about once every three months — whether they hold the permission, where they work, what they do, and how many hours — specifically to catch over-working. Schools must give guidance when problems are found and report suspected illegal work to the Immigration Services Agency if it is not corrected. This means the days of quietly working more than 28 hours are ending: schools and immigration are now sharing information much more closely.

Frequently Asked Questions

Summary

Part-time work is a normal part of student life in Japan, and the rules are manageable if you respect them: get the permission, keep to 28 hours in term and 8 hours a day in the official vacations, avoid the adult-entertainment business, and track your hours across every job. With monitoring tightening in 2026, staying clearly inside the limits is the surest way to protect your studies and your future here.