Can You Get a Work Visa as a Prompt Engineer? Legal Practices to Avoid Being Seen as a “Simple AI Questioner”

As generative AI like ChatGPT becomes commonplace in business, a new profession is gathering attention: the “Prompt Engineer,” a specialist who extracts optimal answers from AI. The need to hire talented foreigners as prompt engineers is rapidly increasing, not only in IT companies but also in DX (Digital Transformation) and marketing departments of general corporations.

However, when applying for the “Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services (Gijinkoku)” visa for this new role, there is a surge in cases where applications clash head-on with the Immigration Services Agency’s outdated screening criteria, resulting in swift rejections.

This article thoroughly explains how non-engineering (humanities) prompt engineers who do not write code can logically refute the inspector’s doubts, prove their expertise, and successfully obtain a visa.

1. Immigration’s Strict View: “Isn’t This Just Simple Labor Inputting Questions?”

The Gijinkoku visa is only granted for “work requiring advanced specialized knowledge acquired at a university.” The biggest wall in a prompt engineer’s visa application is that inspectors often misunderstand (or underestimate) the job duties as follows:

“A prompt engineer basically just types questions in Japanese into ChatGPT and copy-pastes the output, right? That is ‘simple labor’ that anyone can do by reading a manual, without any specialized knowledge.”

Under the Immigration Control Act, simple labor (simple clerical work) is not eligible for the Gijinkoku visa. If you carelessly write in the Statement of Reasons for Employment that “they will input prompts to utilize generative AI internally,” it will almost certainly be rejected.

2. The Path Forward for Humanities Prompt Engineers: “Domain Knowledge × AI”

The biggest key for non-engineers (humanities graduates) who do not develop systems to get a visa as a prompt engineer is to push forward their “domain knowledge (specialized field knowledge) to evaluate and utilize AI outputs,” rather than just their “AI operation skills.”

Example of Proof in the Marketing Domain

If you are hiring a foreigner who majored in business administration or marketing at university, you must not describe the job as “writing blog posts using AI.”

Instead, prove it like this: “Based on the company’s overseas marketing strategy, they will design complex prompts (condition definitions) incorporating consumer psychology of the target market and SEO expertise. Furthermore, they will professionally verify (eliminate AI hallucinations) whether the AI-generated copywriting complies with local culture and legal regulations, integrating it into the final business strategy as an advanced marketing task.”

In other words, you logically explain that the essence of the job is not “inputting prompts,” but “utilizing the humanities knowledge learned at university (marketing, law, economics, etc.) to master AI as an advanced tool and solve business challenges.”

3. A “Prompt Portfolio” to Objectively Prove Expertise

Because it is a new profession, inspectors cannot easily visualize “exactly how advanced this work is.” Therefore, it is extremely effective to voluntarily submit visual, objective evidence in addition to verbal explanations.

1) Submitting Actual Prompt Architecture Diagrams

Instead of a simple one-line prompt like “You are an expert in [X],” submit a “Prompt Design Document” that shows the use of advanced prompt engineering techniques, such as Few-Shot prompting (providing specific examples) or Chain of Thought (breaking down the reasoning process).

2) Submitting Business Flowcharts

Illustrate the entire PDCA cycle: “Define the Issue” → “Design the Prompt” → “Professionally Evaluate the Generated Output” → “Tune the Prompt” → “Implement in Business.” This appeals that the job is far from mere data entry.

4. Summary: The Golden Rules for Visa Applications When Hiring Prompt Engineers

Prompt engineers are indispensable for the future of business, but visa screening criteria have not yet fully caught up with this change.

• Break Away from the “AI Data Clerk” Image: Thoroughly eliminate expressions that could be seen as simple text entry or copy-paste work.
• Link to the University Major: Align the candidate’s university major (whether humanities or sciences) with the “specialized background knowledge” required to give instructions to the AI.
• Visualize with Design Documents: Illustrate the structure of the prompts and the business flow to objectively prove that “this is not a job anyone can do.”

There is no need to give up, thinking, “I’m worried about getting a visa because it’s a new job type.” If you can translate and connect cutting-edge AI trends with the “high-level expertise” required by the Immigration Control Act, approval is entirely possible. Before making a hiring decision or job offer, please consult with an Administrative Scrivener who specializes in IT-sector visa practices.