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Japan implements language proficiency requirements for certain visa applicants

japantimes.co.jp

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Re: Japan implements language proficiency requirements for certain visa applicants

#101

Post by optionalsquid »

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #65
cute_boi wrote: post #25

I think every country should do this. What I am seeing these days is that people who deserve visas are struggling with visa issues, while untalented people are getting visas easily

I agree too. And before the pearl clutching starts, I’m very much practicing what I preach as an American seriously considering retiring to a Spanish speaking country and who just came back from the target country after spending six weeks there - and planning on returning once or twice a year. I’m learning Spanish and find it disheartening that many of the ex-pats [1] I hung out with don’t even attempt to learn Spani…

It depends on the work you are going to be doing. For example, if you are going to do research, then it is more important that you speak and write fluently in English, than whatever language is spoken in the country you'll be working in.

Though being fluent in the local language will, of course, make your life a lot easier

Re: Japan implements language proficiency requirements for certain visa applicants

#102

Post by hogehoge51 »

laurieg wrote: post #88
dudeinjapan wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Company founder in Japan here. This is largely how I read this specific news--its narrowly scoped to prevent patterns of abuse, which there have indeed been isolated cases tantamount to human trafficking. That being said, there is a broader trend, that Japan's immigration authorities are becoming more foreigner-hostile, reflecting a broader political view shift in Japanese society (see: Sanseito political party) and…

Relatively small clerical errors causing people to get permanent residency applications denied is becoming a trope. The ones I have heard: - Client company address changed 4 years ago and the paperwork wasn't filed within 2 weeks. - A late pension payment 2 years ago. - Pension and health insurance were paid on time, but the date stamp on the physical payment slips was smudged and so "did not prove" that it was paid…

Unfortunately, tbis may be the simplest and most cost effective way to clear the backlog. It's unfortunately for people who in good faith made honest mistakes or were victims of honest mistakes. But it also may be a low cost way to filter out bad faith applicants who were never planning to pay pensions/taxes fully. An assymeytry of information means we never see the balance of honest mistake vs dodgy excuse makers.... Alos, Japan tends to play the grey zone of rule interpretation as a buffer zone for signalling hard feedback. it is generally periodic and ends after a while.

Re: Japan implements language proficiency requirements for certain visa applicants

#103

Post by triceratops »

FabCH wrote: post #78
vr46 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except the Swiss are total arseholes about it, they won't even grant citizenship to people born there or who've lived there for twenty years and speak the language. Many want to cap total population at 10 million, we'll see what happens in June. And twelve years ago, the Swiss voted to restrict EU FoM for itself and the backlash was instant. Can't blame the government, this is the Swiss voting public doing their best…

No country in Europe automatically grants citizenship just because you were born there. That’s a US thing. The closest are places like France where you can get it at 18 if you were born in France and meet a few more criteria. And because Switzerland has mandatory military service, a lot of men born in Switzerland don’t _want_ to naturalize, especially those with EU passports. Switzerland isn’t really that much differ…

> [Jus soli]'s a US thing

More accurately it's a New World thing. Almost all (30 out of 35) of the countries that have jus soli are North or South American. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli

Re: Japan implements language proficiency requirements for certain visa applicants

#105

Post by hogehoge51 »

mothballed wrote: post #60
nvch wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not exactly. I got (and renewed) the Swiss permit with zero knowledge of any official language. However, my wife had to present the basic certificate or my promise that she would learn the language.

Japan, ~like the US~, has no official language. (edit: ~strike~)

Japan also tends to leave many contextual and obvious things unstated, and relies on group concensus and information exchange between in group peers over top down authority, so may consider the ultimate group concensus, language, not needing to be codified.

Although i do wonder what my son's 国語 text books teach if Japanese is not the official 国語.

Re: Japan implements language proficiency requirements for certain visa applicants

#106

Post by Starman_Jones »

rayiner wrote: post #56
GuB-42 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switzerland has a fertility rate of about 1.4 and decreasing, unless they do something, there won't be much of a country left in a few generations. Solutions can involve immigration or natalism, but something has to change. Japan is worse.

I don’t know anything about Switzerland, but immigration isn’t a solution to the prospect of Japan “not having a country left in a few generations.” There might be more or fewer people living on the islands, but “Japan” will be gone either way.

I can’t parse this statement. I’m not sure if this about culture changes or about climate threat.

Re: Japan implements language proficiency requirements for certain visa applicants

#107

Post by mc3301 »

m463 wrote: post #85
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did two years in Lausanne without speaking French and 9 years in Beijing with…maybe 2nd year proficiency in Chinese (better than most foreigners, but hardly fluent!). You can totally live in society without fluency, Switzerland being harder only because I never studied French before. If you are doing work with a world market, you are kind of expected to speak the language of that work and not necessarily the countr…

Sounds like freetime2 is taking personal responsibility for his deficiencies which is a pretty japanese way of thinking. YMMV in the rest of the world.

From where comes the idea that taking responsibility for one's deficiencies is a Japanese way of thinking?

Re: Japan implements language proficiency requirements for certain visa applicants

#109

Post by mc3301 »

dudeinjapan wrote: post #34
lamasery wrote: post #5

Key detail: > Immigration authorities say the move is aimed at preventing cases in which foreign workers obtain visas under one category, but then engage in unrelated or lower-skilled work. The claim appears to be that people were using up visa slots for things like interpreters or other jobs where clearly you'd need good language skills to actually do the job, including in Japanese, with the intent all along of doin…

Company founder in Japan here. This is largely how I read this specific news--its narrowly scoped to prevent patterns of abuse, which there have indeed been isolated cases tantamount to human trafficking. That being said, there is a broader trend, that Japan's immigration authorities are becoming more foreigner-hostile, reflecting a broader political view shift in Japanese society (see: Sanseito political party) and…

I hate to say this is a strange "win-win" in the end (politically speaking). It'll be a little harder for Japanese companies to take advantage of foreigners, often trafficking them to quite shady working and living conditions with very little pay. This has potential to protect some foreigners from that situation here. Additionally, this looks like a "win" for the anti-foreigner crowd, because "now it's tougher to get a visa here, haha!"

So it's good for foreigners, while also placating the anti-foreigner group.

I know many foreigners here that work in absolutely atrocious working conditions, getting kicked by bosses, seeing crushing death of their coworkers in the factory (and still expected to return to the same unsafe work the next day), tiny wages while living half-dozen people in tiny apartments. It really is sad, and the problem is the companies... not the foreigners.

Re: Japan implements language proficiency requirements for certain visa applicants

#110

Post by platinumrad »

Starman_Jones wrote: post #106
rayiner wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know anything about Switzerland, but immigration isn’t a solution to the prospect of Japan “not having a country left in a few generations.” There might be more or fewer people living on the islands, but “Japan” will be gone either way.

I can’t parse this statement. I’m not sure if this about culture changes or about climate threat.

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