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How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

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Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#171

Post by toomuchtodo »

CuriousCosmic wrote: post #134
dagw wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cannot think of any circumstances where someone would be demanding to see your passport and then accept a photo of your passport instead. That being said having a photo of your passport and relevant stamps is good advice, but only to make it slightly easier to deal with all the hassel that comes if you do lose your passport.

In most countries you can get what is called a notarized or certified "true copy" of identifying documents (passports being one of them). The intent is for you to submit them with applications so you don't have to submit the original copy. Now how you get a true copy depends on the country. Canadian passports for example can only have true copies made by their embassy or immigrations offices. Note that this doesn't i…

I loved the QR code passport stamps Japan previously used. Are those no more?

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#172

Post by knubie »

jonatron wrote: post #107
andy_ppp wrote: post #106

When the girlfriend was living in Japan I stayed for 89 days and then went to Taiwan (amazing country, highly recommended) and came back for another 87 days and nobody cared. I guess if you did this a lot it would be an issue but you’re reasonably fine to do it once I think. I was not working but I did have “free” accommodation in the smallest apartment I’ve ever been in so I’d be more concerned about this if I was a…

"You are only allowed to stay as a "Temporary Visitor" for a total of 180 days during a 12-month period." Similarly, the EU has a 90/180 day rule, so it doesn't work long term.

Curious what the source of the quoted portion is, if I may ask?

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#173

Post by forgotoldacc »

carlosjobim wrote: post #161
rty32 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why the original post says "like Airbnb", and laws like those in NYC ban all of them.

What does that have to do with my comment? The blame is squarely on the landlords, blaming AirBnB or other similar websites is just because people can't deal with the fact that the persons harming them are nearby. So they need an outside force to put the blame on. Good on NYC to ban short term rentals of residential properties. Short term visitors should stay in buildings especially made for that purpose, such as hot…

AirBnB is a middle man for an awful activity.

Saying "I didn't do it. I just facilitate it" doesn't absolve them of responsibility for killing cities. And AirBnB is lobbying to get their city destroying service legalized in more areas. They know what they're doing. They deserve the criticism. They could back off at any moment, but choose not to for personal gain.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#174

Post by patrakov »

carlosjobim wrote: post #111
morpheuskafka wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's at least one company (Mobal) that will give you a "real" (not VoIP prefix) phone number with a passport as a tourist, so that would work for DN too. The data part of their eSIM wasn't great but the voice part worked fine when I tried it. If you need health care it would definitely be a hassle at least if you don't have a lot of spare cash--you'd have to see if the mandatory travel insurance you purchased has…

Can't you do international wires to Japanese bank accounts for paying rent?

I don't know for Japan, but it did work during my previous trip to the Philippines (November 2017 - August 2018). The only problem is that you will not be able to pay the exact amount if the source bank does not support the destination bank account's currency, which is quite often the case for Philippine peso.

But JPY is quite popular; I have just checked that Raiffeisen Bank in Russia still allows selecting it online as a currency for a foreign transfer. It's too bad I won't be able to do the same online from my Metrobank account in the Philippines.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#175

Post by notpushkin »

michaelt wrote: post #53
notpushkin wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is then why we often see "remote" coming with all kinds of conditions like US remote or EU remote etc because the reality of legal compliance for HR is a huge headache. Could they just hire those individuals as contractors instead? It should be up to the contractor to ensure compliance then. (IANAL)

First of all, that's complicated and employees can easily fuck it up. I once worked at a tiny company, and their first 'contractor' employee didn't realise he had to set aside money for certain taxes, and didn't realise he'd have to record certain details to be able to fill out certain forms, and things like that. This ended up being a bunch of hassle for the company as he... thought? hoped? expected? that they were…

> I once worked at a tiny company, and their first 'contractor' employee didn't realise he had to set aside money for certain taxes

It's a valid concern. Should be easy to solve though: add a reminder to the employee handbook, and also remind them to check out local tax codes and set aside money.

> Some countries have problems with sham contractor arrangements

This usually doesn't apply to cross-border relationships though (which we implicitly focus on here I think, given this is a thread about moving to Japan). It is possible in theory, of course, for tax authorities to go after international contractors clayming they are international employees, but I haven't heard about such cases yet.

But there's an easy way to distinguish employment and contractor relationships: if you set a specific goal and a deadline, and do not tell them how to do the job, you have a contractor. (The goal does have to be specific, though, but you can say in your contract that you will use Jira tickets for that, I believe.)

I think that overlaps pretty well with most remote work. Specifics might differ, but as a general rule this is it what tax authorities pretty much everywhere will look for.

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer nor a tax advisor, just doing a lot of freelance and run an Estonian LLC for fun

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#176

Post by notpushkin »

dagw wrote: post #70
notpushkin wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a mixed bag: apartments can be pretty expensive, especially in Greater Tokyo area. Food is pretty cheap IMO. Taxis are prohibitively expensive, but railroad system is really really good and compensates for that pretty well. But people don’t go to Japan because it’s cheap – it’s just a really nice place to live for some.

apartments can be pretty expensive Poking around sites online it was quite easy to find apartments fairly centrally in Tokyo for $1000-1300/month if you were staying for 3-6 months. While that is far from cheap, I certainly wouldn't call it expensive in the grand scheme of major international cities.

Actually yeah, sounds pretty reasonable. I haven't looked into it much yet myself – could you share some links where to start, please?

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#177

Post by jalapenos »

bamboozled wrote: post #103
lIl-IIIl wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently they do, from the article quoting the US Embassy: Japanese Immigration officials are aware of the pattern of people staying for 80-90 days as “tourists,” spending a few days in Korea, Guam or some other nearby area and then seeking to re-enter Japan for another 90 days. Persons with such a travel pattern can expect to face questions at Japanese Immigration and may be denied entry with the suspicion that th…

Imagine if they just had a sane immigration policy instead ?

I'm guessing your opinion is that western immigration policies, shall we say "unique" vs the rest of the world, are "sane". Maybe you're not aware on which side of the asylum walls you're standing.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#178

Post by jalapenos »

notpushkin wrote: post #26
djtango wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are being too individualistic here - Japan or any other country is never going to go after individuals who happen to work for remote companies or freelance while they globe trot working on tourist visas. But when companies like Shopify go fully remote, if they suddenly have a lot of employees who are frequenting Japan, they are painting a giant target on their back and exposing themselves to legal risk. A comp…

> This is then why we often see "remote" coming with all kinds of conditions like US remote or EU remote etc because the reality of legal compliance for HR is a huge headache. Could they just hire those individuals as contractors instead? It should be up to the contractor to ensure compliance then. (IANAL)

Long story short, it's a complete quagmire, especially since you're bringing cross-border tax issues into play.

A small company that doesn't know much about compliance may be happy to call it "freelance", but any bigger company with a professional HR person is going to balk at it, because they want certainty they're compliant, e.g. no misclassification.

They're much more likely to be happy about it if you can stick a local LLC between you and them though.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#179

Post by notpushkin »

wodenokoto wrote: post #109
notpushkin wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a mixed bag: apartments can be pretty expensive, especially in Greater Tokyo area. Food is pretty cheap IMO. Taxis are prohibitively expensive, but railroad system is really really good and compensates for that pretty well. But people don’t go to Japan because it’s cheap – it’s just a really nice place to live for some.

I don't know what you are comparing against, but taxis are not expensive, though I wouldn't call them cheap either.

> I don't know what you are comparing against

Maybe it’s selection bias, but pretty much anywhere I’ve been lately taxi (or actually ride hailing) is at least pretty affordable. E.g. a half hour ride I took late at night in HK was US$30, and about US$10 in Singapore. In Tokyo it was $60.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#180

Post by ethbr1 »

shiroiushi wrote: post #165
MichaelZuo wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much all non-luxury housing in Tokyo is built to a much lower standard than equivalent housing built in say Canada or the US in the same time period. Much thinner wall insulation, single glazed windows (until recently), much smaller elevators in high rises, etc… So on a quality and square footage adjusted basis it’s still quite expensive.

Not really: the difference is that "lower standard" housing of the same age simply doesn't exist in the US. You want a small, 20-30 year old apartment in a decent building with small elevators and everything is maintained well and isn't broken, and you don't want roommates, and at an affordable price for you on your non-tech job paycheck? You can't have that in a decent American city; it doesn't exist. It's either so…

Indicative: try and find a US apartment with crown moulding.
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