| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
CresencioHernandez
Joined: 10 Apr 2004
Posts: 3
|
 Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 8:04 am Post subject: Paying for Visa Sponsership |
 |
|
I just got a job and my employer ask me to pay 20,000 yen for my visa sponsership. Is this poplular among smaller schools?
Does anybody know how much the school has to pay to sponser somebody? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 8:13 am Post subject: Re: Paying for Visa Sponsership |
|
|
| CresencioHernandez wrote: |
I just got a job and my employer ask me to pay 20,000 yen for my visa sponsership. Is this poplular among smaller schools?
Does anybody know how much the school has to pay to sponser somebody? |
Visa sponsorship is FREE as all he does is hand in paperwork to immigration. It doesnt cost the employer anything to sponsor you. Sounds like he has a good racket going there. Maybe the unions need to take a look at it. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
CresencioHernandez
Joined: 10 Apr 2004
Posts: 3
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 8:33 am Post subject: |
|
|
| How should I handle the situation? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 8:42 am Post subject: |
|
|
| CresencioHernandez wrote: |
| How should I handle the situation? |
Where are you by the way?
(If you are in Japan) Tell him you refuse to pay and perhaps tell immigration your employer is charging you for sponsorship which I believe is probably illegal. Immigration certainly doesnt charge him anything. They may even take his sponsoring privileges away from him.
My guess is he has done this before and people are too cowed to say no.
Its your choice as to whether you pay or not, but its really a form of legalised blackmail.
MY guess is he is worried that he sponsors your visa and you will do a bunk on him in three months and still have a valid visa. Making you pay is one way of making sure you stay out your contract.
AEON makes teachers pay $200 when they apply for a job in the US but they get it back when they arrive in Japan. They have a lot of trouble with people they sponsor in the US but disappear as soon as they get here. Knowing they have paid out money makes them think twice about doing that. Sponsorship of a visa itself through immigration is free though.
What does this guy do? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gordon
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 8:47 am Post subject: |
|
|
| If he is trying to rip you off now, what does that say about what kind of employer he is? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 8:49 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Gordon wrote: |
| If he is trying to rip you off now, what does that say about what kind of employer he is? |
You want to tell us what other goodies he has lined up for you in his contract? Sounds like he takes you for an incredible sucker who will roll over and play dead at anything he says, just so you can get a visa and work here. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
CresencioHernandez
Joined: 10 Apr 2004
Posts: 3
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 8:53 am Post subject: |
|
|
| I am in JAPAN, and I have already gave him 10,000 yen, just because I dident know the process, and figured it was kinda insurance of some sort just to make sure that I dident bail out before my contract is up. I really need this visa sponsership. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Iwantmyrightsnow
Joined: 12 Feb 2004
Posts: 202
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 9:52 am Post subject: |
|
|
Get the visa and don't pay anymore if you can. Be quite about it until you are ready to leave and then go to immigration and report him. Try to get a receipt stating what the money was for. tell him you need it for a tax deduction.
but others have said. If he is doing this wait and see what else he has install for you. Unless you need the visa (but guess you do), don't take the job and report him now! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 10:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
| CresencioHernandez wrote: |
| I am in JAPAN, and I have already gave him 10,000 yen, just because I dident know the process, and figured it was kinda insurance of some sort just to make sure that I dident bail out before my contract is up. I really need this visa sponsership. |
1. If you are giving him money and your employment is dependent on you giving him money before you have even worked for him its tantamount to bribing him to employ you. Totally unethical and not done in Japan.
2. If he takes money from you and you dont know what its for it means he is stealing from you. Your BAD for giving him money without asking for a receipt or asking what its for. Any deductions have to come out of your payslip and be declared as legal deductions (rent insurance etc) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 12:11 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| CresencioHernandez wrote: |
| I am in JAPAN, and I have already gave him 10,000 yen, just because I dident know the process, and figured it was kinda insurance of some sort just to make sure that I dident bail out before my contract is up. I really need this visa sponsership. |
You can 'bail out' of your contract any time during the period of your contract as long as you provide notice to quit of at least one month in the first year and two weeks in the second. If he wants insurance against you quitting on him he should provide it himself, you dont pay your own insurance in case you quit your job early. You might pay insurance against an accident or unfair dismissal, but not if its you doing the quitting. What he is doing is getting you to cough up in case you want to quit your job, (which you can do legally anyway) and you are gladly obliging him. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Laura C
Joined: 14 Oct 2003
Posts: 211
Location: Saitama
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:58 am Post subject: |
|
|
Interesting topic.
My last company in Saitama had a clause written into their contract that if you quit early, they will charge you 20,000 yen as part of the 'cost' of a visa for your replacement. I did leave early but didn't get charged (wasn't really my fault I left so maybe that had something to do with it), but my friend who is still chasing them for her August pay (the thread entitled Unpaid Salary) has received an email from them saying they are deducting this charge for visa costs (IF they ever pay her, that is). It's very nice to know this is illegal -- I always thought this was a dodgy company, and this is just one more thing they are doing which is illegal/unethical. I'm sure their reputation will precede them before long.
L |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Laura C wrote: |
Interesting topic.
My last company in Saitama had a clause written into their contract that if you quit early, they will charge you 20,000 yen as part of the 'cost' of a visa for your replacement.
L |
Writing a penalty clause and saying you will deduct salary or otherwise punish a teacher for quitting a contract is illegal under the Labor Standards Law. You can protest the clause and report them for such illegal clauses.
From someone connected to Winbe:
Previously, there was a clause in the contract as follows -
If an instructor breaks the contract without an unavoidable reason, the instructor will incur a feee of \60,000. This will be deducted from the final paycheck...........
The clause is totally illegal and as such we have had success in recovering the money in the past. I have heard that in Tokyo they have been successful in having the clause removed from the contract recently. See http://winbeunion.org
Perhaps they have now instituted another clause but I doubt it. I have never seen a clause about suing teachers for damages but it is a possible route they could take. We have only ever seen it once in Osaka but it is a very difficult thing to prove as usually schools find another teacher and do not incur damages as such.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mr. Man
Joined: 29 Nov 2004
Posts: 1
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:08 am Post subject: |
|
|
| If you are already working for them don't you think that saying that you are going to sue him will get you fired or leave a bad working enviroment. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Laura C
Joined: 14 Oct 2003
Posts: 211
Location: Saitama
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 7:06 am Post subject: |
|
|
Thanks Paul.
I really don't know why alarm bells didn't start ringing when I read that clause, as a lot of their practices seemed a bit iffy after I arrived. Still, I'm in a great new job so all's well and all that...
Btw, they told my friend they were entitled to take legal action against her as she quit without notice. I did splutter at that one as she has been waiting 3 months for her last paycheque and they have been trying every move in the book not to pay her. I still don't know if they will.
Also (sorry to hijack, OP) -- they also said if they do pay her for July (a month in arrears so pay on 31 August was for 1-31 July), they are taking rent for September, and car for August and September when she wasn't here -- legal? I can't see that they wouldn't have been able to let her room once they knew she wasn't coming back -- when we all arrived in March we were sleeping 2 or 3 to a room the first week or two until most of us went off to our various school areas.
Thanks,
L |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gordon
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 8:00 am Post subject: |
|
|
| I have said it before and will again. Lingo School in Takamatsu has a clause in their contract saying you have to give them 1,000,000 yen (yes, six zeros) if you leave their contract sooner. They advertise on Dave's ALL THE TIME. I saw the contract (offered to a friend) with my own eyes. This was 14 months ago, but I doubt it has changed. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
