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[zanat0s]

παιδιά επειδή το εγραψά αυτό το κείμενο για τους φίλους μου στα αγγλικά παρακαλώ μην κάνετε φλέημ. Θεωρώ ότι θα βοηθήσουν οι πληροφορίες αρκετούς από εσάς! Εδώ έχω ποστάρει μόνο αυτά που σας ενδιαφέρουν και όχι όλη την ιστορία!

για παρομοιά θέματα και ολοκληρό το κείμενο πάτε εδώ!!!!!!!!! εάν εχετέ συγκεκριμένη ερωτήση επικοινωνήστε μαζί μου. Επειδή δεν έχω κεφία να βγαίνουν εξυπνή και να κάνουν προσωπικές επιθέσεις, αναφέρω ότι θα αποσύρω το κείμενο(που μπορεί να είναι χρήσιμο σε μερικούς) εάν παρουσιαστούν τέτοια φαινόμενα

So after I “accepted” the offer I needed to overcome the Japanese bureaucracy, which is really a burden. Here is the process for most foreigners. First of all whoever wants to work/live in Japan needs to have a reason to do so. For example people who would like to work in Japan, cannot just move there. A company must hire the foreigner in advance in order to get permission to enter and stay/work there. There are some steps which need to be taken before the official work can begin. The biggest time consuming process is to get permission by the Japanese state to be employed there. Unless foreigners bring know-how or money, they are not welcomed

The certificate in question is called Certificate of residential eligibility which is issued by the immigration department. This Certificate which takes almost a month to be prepared is more or a pain in the neck(to be politically correct). The employer is supposed to take care of it(since it is he who needs you). You send to your employer tons of different documents(degrees, language certification, CV, resume, criminal records and Passport copies). The employer needs to draft a reason for recruitment. After the procedure has been finalized the employer will mail to the potential employee the employment contract and also the certificate of eligibility to the country of residence.

Then there is the easy part, which takes 4 working days, of applying for a working visa. In my case I was advised to this in my country of residence, according to the Japanese embassy though in Singapore If I have the COE I can apply for a working Visa all over the world(no limitations). The trip to Japan is next step. But not everything is over yet. What about Alien registration, payroll accounts and housing? I have no previous experience with the aforesaid other this: to get a place in Japan, I mean a room(pretty small compared to European standards) means that the tenant needs to pay 6 rentals in advance( 2 are agent’s fee, 2 are key-money and 2 for deposit). That is a huge investment! Someone also has to “guarantee” for the renter just in case. Personally I am lucky since due to my position and level all of these are being take care for me.

A minor detail: Although an employee has the COE, it is tied to the company he is working for. So if the employee is fired or changes his work he needs to go through the procedure once again. The only difference that now the “new” company doesn’t need to re-issue a new COE. Why is this important? Let me give a vivid example. Let’s suppose Mister Y has signed a contract with company A for 5 years. He receives a COE and a working VISA for 5 according to his COE. If during those 5 years there is a new chance and Mr. Y wants to jump ships then his 5 years COE is annulled and he will receive a new (the duration depends on the contract’s duration) which may last only for 1 year.

According to some friends of mine (Chinese origin) you can get the Japanese citizenship (passport) after 4 years of permanent residence(not studying) in Japan. I called the embassy but they couldn’t confirm it. Most of those who gave me this number I should also say the studied in Japan for 4 years before they started working. Getting the Japanese passport means getting rid of your European passport, or whatever passport you hold (not a good trade-off If you ask for my opinion).

There is also the issue of double taxation. You are required to pay payroll taxes and also income taxes. There is an agreement between EU and Japan which lets you pay taxes to the country where you are based for more than 181 days per years. Otherwise you may pay taxes not only in Japan but also your original country. This must be taken into consideration since Japan is not a high-tax country(compared to most Europeans). Something I learnt from my boss is that foreigners pay also residence taxes(something like local taxes) after they have stayed in Japan more than 2 years.

Last but not least health insurance is covered by contributions and offered by the employer. I do not know any details about this subject since it is in my contract.

I hope you will find this article interesting and helpful.

Zani out!