Immigration/Visa Sponsorship question
 

So, I was reading debito.org (a dangerous move, at times, so I'm told) and I stumbled across a paragraph that raised a very important question:
"Immigration
"Your company does not sponsor your visa, even though a lot of companies say so: There is no formal relationship between an employer and the immigration office. When you go to renew your visa at the immigration office, you take your certificate of insurance, your employment contract and your tax-paid certificate. Those are the documents you need * that's it, and your employer is obliged to provide you with those, for whatever reason, on request, within 24 hours."

"If you think (bankruptcy is) gonna happen and, for example, your visa is coming up for renewal in one or two months, apply for a renewal now and present the documents that you have. You can ask for a new certificate of insurance, tax certificate and your current contract, which has an expiry date coming up, and present that to the immigration office saying: 'I'm expecting to be renewed,' and you get your visa renewed. All you have to do is say something like, 'I'm thinking of taking a holiday at the time of renewal, so I need to renew now,' because while your visa renewal is in you're not allowed to leave the country, so it's a perfectly valid excuse. . . . I would advise anyone to do that if they're in that situation." (Bob Tench)"

If I read this correctly, this means that your company does not have the right to deny/simply not offer your sponsorship. So, theoretically, you could go into any line of work and as long as you have insurance and a contract, you get a visa?

The government must approve your visa application. They mean you have a sponsoring company. Basically, that company is agreeing to hire your for a certain length of time. Once you have the contract and visa, you could also legally work in other jobs in addition to your sponsor job, (you don't need multiple work visas) but many times the host company will say in the contract you are not allowed to work anywhere else.

If you quit or are fired your visa could also be revoked.

Wonderful. Thanks for the information, this will definitely make a difference in my living-abroad decision process.

This is technically true, but you are still required to have a sponsor of some sort. There is no formal agreement between a company and immigration, but there is one between your company and you. In most cases, you are sponsored by your company, but you can sponsor yourself. You do need to show proof of insurance and proof of tax payments, but a work contract is not really necessary if you can prove your income in another way, via pay stubs, bank deposits, etc.

pls keep in mind that even though the visa might enable u to work different jobs, it still needs to be within the visa category. an instructor's visa or an international services visa doesn't according to law give you the right to work in as a bartender.

different visas

Also not every business can sponsor your visa. They have to show immigration that they have a certain amount of money on hand (especially true after the Nova incident) and will pay you a "livable wage."

As for the part about insurance, I was only asked for my first visa. Ever since then I have not had to show any proof of insurance.

Are there any particular circumstances for this?

because a company is sponsoring you, saying they will pay you X amount of Yen...thus giving the govt security in you being able to live and stay in japan, and not be homeless, overstay your visa and result in theiving or something of the like :p