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Pitarou
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 1116
Location: Narita, Japan
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 Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 10:08 pm Post subject: Visa renewal being tied to social insurance again?!? |
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I've heard a rumour that the government is making enrollment in one of the social health insurance schemes (kokumin kenko hoken or shakai hoken) a condition of visa renewal again. Not just talking about it: actually doing it! And this time, you have to join the pension system (nenkin) too. Can anyone confirm or deny this?
If the rumours are correct, and if you haven't been paying in, and if you plan on staying in Japan, you might have a heavy bill to pay before you renew your visa.
Here's the scary message that was forwarded to Debito Arudo's blog:
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... They are looking into NJ with the help of that new IC chip torokusho card and making people pay for the kokumin hoken health insurance AND nenkin pension they have never paid into.
I know several people who have been hit with this and it has drained their bank accounts. They can�t even afford the plane ticket to go back home and see ailing parents. They said a lien would be put on their account/pay checks if they didn�t pay.
A teacher I know (in his 40s) has been here some 10 years and has NEVER paid into the health insurance scheme nor nenkin. He called up city hall inquring about this and they said yes indeed he is delinquent will have to pay up all those missed years! They asked his name and he said thank you and hung up the phone!
Another friend of mine got zapped for back payments. Every month he was being charged fines/penalties for late payments. So even if he negotiated returning to a monthly fee he would still have to pay a huge amount in extra fees. So he paid it off lump-sum and has depleted all of his savings.
The health insurance is important as one needs that to ensure treatment here, but having NJ pay into the nenkin scheme if they feel they will not be here forever to pay into it is ridiculous. Any advice on how to get around this? I�d love to hear what you think on the matter. |
Background
The long-timers on this forum may recall that, in 2009, the government announced its intention to make enrollment in the national health insurance system (kokumin kenko hoken, shakai hoken or equivalent) a condition of visa renewal.
This was going to hit conversation school teachers hard. Many were on private health insurance schemes through their employers, and had been lead to believe that there was no problem. They didn't know that, legally, they should have enrolled in one of the social schemes. When they finally tried to enrol, were told they would have to make up 2 years of backpayments.
After a big outcry, the government backpedalled and said that health insurance "might be a factor taken into consideration". Some pessimists (i.e. yours truly) voiced the opinion that it was only a matter of time before they tried again. |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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| Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:14 pm Post subject: |
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| If the Japanese government really wants English teachers to be able to afford especially pension payments, it should consider actually banning indirect hiring for a start (too little of the taxpayer money hosed down the drain in the name of English education finds its way into teachers' pockets - most goes to the intermediate exploiters, who surely fib about the amount they're passing on to the teacher). I am talking about dispatch AET work here, which is a big sector. |
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Rooster.
Joined: 13 Mar 2012
Posts: 247
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| Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 2:09 am Post subject: |
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| fluffyhamster wrote: |
| If the Japanese government really wants English teachers to be able to afford especially pension payments, it should consider actually banning indirect hiring for a start (too little of the taxpayer money hosed down the drain in the name of English education finds its way into teachers' pockets - most goes to the intermediate exploiters, who surely fib about the amount they're passing on to the teacher). I am talking about dispatch AET work here, which is a big sector. |
How are teaching requirements set up? Are there national requirements and then prefectural requirements? Does the prefecture act like like an American state?
I'm asking because then instead of dispatch companies maybe everythings could be run through the prefecture? But then what differentiates between a direct hire and the JET Program? |
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qwertyu2
Joined: 13 Mar 2012
Posts: 93
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| Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 2:37 am Post subject: Re: Visa renewal being tied to social insurance again?!? |
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| Pitarou wrote: |
| I've heard a rumour that the government is making enrollment in one of the social health insurance schemes (kokumin kenko hoken or shakai hoken) a condition of visa renewal again. Not just talking about it: actually doing it! And this time, you have to join the pension system (nenkin) too. Can anyone confirm or deny this? |
I can't confirm or deny, but I don't think linking pension and health insurance payments with visa renewal is such a bad idea. Japan is broke. Expecting those who want to live and work in the country to pitch in to pay some of the costs is not unreasonable. |
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Pitarou
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 1116
Location: Narita, Japan
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| Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 4:16 am Post subject: Re: Visa renewal being tied to social insurance again?!? |
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| qwertyu2 wrote: |
| Pitarou wrote: |
| I've heard a rumour that the government is making enrollment in one of the social health insurance schemes (kokumin kenko hoken or shakai hoken) a condition of visa renewal again. Not just talking about it: actually doing it! And this time, you have to join the pension system (nenkin) too. Can anyone confirm or deny this? |
I can't confirm or deny, but I don't think linking pension and health insurance payments with visa renewal is such a bad idea. Japan is broke. Expecting those who want to live and work in the country to pitch in to pay some of the costs is not unreasonable. |
I agree about health insurance, but I wish there was some kind of amnesty for the teachers who -- to put it bluntly -- have been duped by their employers. Take Shane. When they hired me from the UK, they all but forced me to join their private insurance scheme. I was only able to wriggle out of it because I was helped by a Japanese payroll expert. And this was in 2010, when the previous visa scare was fresh in everyone's mind. Shane had no excuse.
The backpayment rule is designed to discourage people from playing the system. But at firms like Shane it's the employer who's playing the system; it's awful to think that it's the workers who will end up paying twice for their health insurance.
But I disagree about pensions. It's a slightly different matter for Americans but, as a Briton, I'm very unlikely to get anything in return for my nenkin contributions (except the right to keep living here). |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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| Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 8:24 am Post subject: |
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@Rooster: The only requirements are those set by Immigration, for the purpose of issuing teaching-related visas (i.e. that one possess any old degree and/or 3 years' experience TEFLing or ELTing). If one fulfills those requirements, one can be hired by employers direct or indirect, good or bad. Obviously individual employers may have particular demands beyond the general.
There are probably a number of differences in perks between JETs and direct hires (e.g. paid flights, subsidized accommodation, amount of paid leave, and enrolment in NHI and pension), but the main difference is probably just that more JETs are newbies to Japan, whilst most direct hires (who may be ex-JETs) have had to be experienced and on the ground locally to get wind of the direct openings and stand much chance of being hired. As for the contracting organizations, they may have been with JET or gone with direct hire or dispatch and even back again - it comes down to yearly budget decisions and the willingness of the BOE folk to be nice and accommodating (or not so ~ ). |
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