Seven Ways a Japanese Salaryman Crosses Over to Silicon Valley
Being here, my network of Japanese contacts keeps expanding in various ways.
Let me organize the various “ways to make the crossing to Silicon Valley” that I’ve observed along the way.
The simplest and most common story, of course, is coming to America for a few years through a training program or an overseas posting. I won’t take that up here. Instead I want to think about crossing over with an eye toward something more permanent, further down the road.
I hope this proves useful to anyone, young or old, male or female, who thinks “I want to make it in Silicon Valley!” or “I want to live in California’s laid-back climate ♪”
This doesn’t cover people who already hold permanent residency. The focus here is strictly on the method: how does someone go from being an ordinary salaryman in Japan to crossing over to Silicon Valley.
I keep saying “Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley” simply because that’s where I am. Most of what I cover here probably applies to many other countries and regions as well.
<1. My own case: getting recruited by an acquaintance who runs a company> First, the case I experienced myself. This one is simple: get hired by someone running a company in Silicon Valley. There are several visa options depending on your position and characteristics, so you just apply for whichever suits you.
○Advantages
- In most cases things proceed smoothly
○Disadvantages
- If you get fired from that company, the norm is to return to Japan immediately (though there seem to be various loopholes)
- To begin with, you need to become acquainted with the person who will hire you while you’re still in Japan
<2. The case of an acquaintance who runs a company: start a company and issue yourself a visa> The next simplest case is starting your own company in America. This obviously requires working capital. As for the visa, various conditions attach to it too, such as “Japanese capital must account for at least a certain percentage of the equity ratio.” In other words, if you receive additional investment from an American angel investor or VC, you risk invalidating the visa. The simple way to avoid this is “run on your own funds at first,” which isn’t exactly simple.
○Advantages
- You can act immediately based purely on your own will and judgment
- The risk of starting a company
○Disadvantages
- You need money in various senses
- The risk of starting a company
*I wrote “risk” under both categories, following a friend’s remark that “risk means the range of swing, both positive and negative.”
<3. A common case among the older gentlemen I’ve met here: coming on an overseas posting and then quitting> An extremely common case among the Japanese people I’ve met here is “coming to America on a posting, then quitting the company when the order came to return to Japan.” People like this continue being “salarymen” here too, so they don’t show up in the flashy spotlight, but there are actually a great many of them.
The hardest part in this case is that normally, once you quit the company that posted you, you lose your right to stay in America at that point. In other words, you have to properly line up what’s next, whether that’s a visa transfer or a green card application. Also, even in cases where someone “wants to quit,” sometimes the company talks them out of it and they get “transferred” within the same corporate group instead. Unless it’s a kind company that values its people, this kind of selfish request usually doesn’t get granted, but it’s worth trying.
○Advantages
- If you go from posting to permanent residency, there’s no change in daily life (family care, etc.)
○Disadvantages
- You need to have properly built connections and secured a landing spot during the “posting” period
- To begin with, you have to work for a company with a base in Silicon Valley
- To begin with, you have to get posted overseas in the first place (not something you can normally aim for and achieve)
- All you can do is pray there’s no trouble when you quit
Hmm. It’s a fairly common case to see, but laying out the conditions like this, it might actually be quite difficult.
<4. A case among several of my friends: working at a foreign-affiliated company and transferring, not on a posting> About as common as case 3 is the case of “working at a foreign-affiliated company and transferring to headquarters.” This requires your interests to align with the company’s, so the bar is a bit higher, but depending on the company, transfers are sometimes actively encouraged, in which case things can go smoothly.
○Advantages
- In many cases the job barely changes even after moving to America, so people around you (especially family) feel reassured
- Since moving to America means transferring from the start, the impact on those around you at work is small
○Disadvantages
- First you have to join a foreign-affiliated company that permits transfers to headquarters
- You have to be talented enough within your department to be approved for a “transfer”
- You have to give up on enjoying the “perks” of an overseas posting
- Even after moving there, you’re treated as a “local,” so the position isn’t all that great
From here on these are somewhat brute-force approaches. But there are people who actually pull them off, so they’re naturally among the options.
<5. If you try hard, do dreams come true?: come on a student visa and get someone to hire you> One of the easiest visas to obtain is the student visa. American universities in particular are lax about admissions, so visa acquisition ends up lax too.
○Advantages
- As long as you can pay tuition, entering the country is easy
- As long as you keep paying tuition, the grace period is long
○Disadvantages
- Internships are extremely common in America, but a student visa doesn’t allow you to work. Under those conditions you have to manage to get someone to hire you anyway (getting involved in an industry-academia joint project might create connections, maybe…)
- The company has to be one willing to sponsor your visa (companies normally find this a hassle)
<6. Relying on luck: win the lottery and immigrate> I once met a lucky guy who said “Oh, I won the lottery so I quit my job. Figured I’d move over there first and look for work after.” Well, people like that do exist.
○Advantages
- Winning is winning
○Disadvantages
- Pure luck, nothing else
- You’re on your own for finding a job
<7. The ultimate brute-force method: marry someone with permanent residency or citizenship who plans to return to America> A case that occasionally comes up among the wives I’ve met here. They met their husband while he was posted in Japan, got married, and came over together when he returned.
○Advantages
- If the marriage has lasted long enough, moving to America goes smoothly
○Disadvantages
- That’s not something you can aim for on purpose, is it, is it
- Wait, are there even people like that around you?
Originally published in Japanese at https://clazytech.com/2014/02/101/. Translated with LLM assistance and reviewed before publication.