Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

tokyodev.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 196 posts

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#41

Post by csomar »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #37
Klonoar wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a world of difference in the level of effort between this and the digital nomad visa.

And a world of difference in stability and perception. If you have $35k+ to dedicate to this (and note that it does not cost $35k, these are more like initial capital requirements), you should 100% go the investor route. People underweight how amazing it is to be able to pay less than $50k for the equivalent of a golden visa to a top 5 GDP nation that is well regarded, safe, has some opportunity and is generally easy…

The golden visas usually have no strings attached. I am not sure about this particular visa but last time I checked Japan they demand that you have a certain amount of activity on the company to keep your residence.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#42

Post by Klonoar »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #37
Klonoar wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a world of difference in the level of effort between this and the digital nomad visa.

And a world of difference in stability and perception. If you have $35k+ to dedicate to this (and note that it does not cost $35k, these are more like initial capital requirements), you should 100% go the investor route. People underweight how amazing it is to be able to pay less than $50k for the equivalent of a golden visa to a top 5 GDP nation that is well regarded, safe, has some opportunity and is generally easy…

Eh, I ran a business in Japan and have had that visa. I still tell most people who just want to dip their feet in that the digital nomad visa is totally fine and a good way to go.

That stability and perception only matters if you _truly_ want to live here, and quite a number of people spend ~3 months here [1] and realize that it's got issues past the honeymoon period (like anywhere else). There's also no reason you can't change your visa type if you find you actually like it after the DN trip.

[1] "here" because I'm back in Japan for a few weeks for friends at the moment, but you get the idea

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#43

Post by csomar »

DeathArrow wrote: post #18

Isn't Japan an expensive country?

Depends on how much space you need to live. If you are fine with very little space, Japan is actually pretty affordable. Cheap food is good/health. Public transport is cheap and good/great. Lots of activities to kill time for cheap. Not sure about health care though.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#44

Post by djtango »

naniwaduni wrote: post #32
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…

Also, while they're unlikely to spend resources toward going after individuals who happen to work remotely on a tourist visa, it's comparatively trivial to pull people out at entry (and that's going to be a regular and well-documented occurrence because the alternative of overstaying your visa is absolutely something countries with governments tend to care about).

What circumstance are you referring to with "at entry"?

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#45

Post by cedws »

DeathArrow wrote: post #18

Isn't Japan an expensive country?

I visited Tokyo from London recently and found it to be much cheaper. A decent meal is half, or less than half of what you would pay here, not to mention healthier. Another comment mentioned taxis are expensive, but I found the opposite, my journey was cheaper than it would have been in London, and the drivers are much more professional. As for apartments, you can live much cheaper and more centrally (~£1500 is the minimum you need to play with if you want to live in central London.) Public transport is also cheaper, faster, and more reliable.

So yeah, on the whole, Tokyo is like half the cost of London and you get more for your money.

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#46

Post by shiroiushi »

Klonoar wrote: post #28
shiroiushi wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's for foreign tourists who have a visa stamp in their passport. So I guess for these digital nomads, that would work too, as long as they don't overstay whatever date is on that visa. It's not going to help them find a place to live though: they'll be stuck in hotels the entire time they're here.

> they'll be stuck in hotels the entire time they're here. Eh, Tokyo has plenty of monthly apartment rentals that are effectively corporate rentals that you can do without a residence card. (I used to do this before having an actual visa there) It's functionally better than a hotel, insofar as it doesn't read or act as one.

True, and it generally has better amenities than a hotel too: a kitchen (though tiny), fridge, microwave, stove (no oven though), clothes washer, maybe a vacuum, etc. Also importantly, a mailbox, so you can receive deliveries (and in newer places, there's an automated delivery box system).

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#47

Post by Ekaros »

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)

Well whole contractor status is very murky in many places. Either very strict like in UK. Or then you need all sorts of agreements in between, meaning that you might need to give cut to some third company. And then those companies have same problems.

Even inside EU with freedom of movement spending more than 180 days in single country can lead to tax implications. Doing this globally is even bigger mess as ways of counting time might not be the same.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#48

Post by cedws »

Hoping to apply for this visa soon without too many issues. I know people just go and work remotely on tourist visas but I'd rather not take the risk, especially as I want to use coworking spaces.

It's unfortunate that the visa is only 6 months and not extendable, but if I really end up liking Japan maybe I'll go to language school so I can stay for longer.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#49

Post by BoringTimesGang »

esperent wrote: post #23
forgotoldacc wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting a credit card as a long term resident alone is hard. Getting a phone number can be troublesome for some people fresh off the boat. One longstanding issue has been people who come to Japan expecting to settle down, then quickly realize it's not for them and take a flight home without telling anybody. Debts left unpaid and landlords not even contacted. People who come here with the intention of milking some cas…

> One longstanding issue has been people who come to Japan expecting to settle down, then quickly realize it's not for them and take a flight home without telling anybody. Debts left unpaid and landlords not even contacted This really sounds like one of those not-quite-racist "problems with foreigners" that every country likes to pretend they have. Every "knows" it's a problem, there's no way to prove it right or wro…

It's not a 'Japan thing'. I pay a higher rate on my mortgage because my spouse was not a citizen of where we live when we took it out. There are fewer providers willing to offer mortgages in this situation but, presumably, there's still enough of a price incentive that the premium isn't pulled out of thin air.

It's also common for landlords to ask for higher deposits or months paid up-front.

Re: How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan

#50

Post by esperent »

BoringTimesGang wrote: post #49
esperent wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One longstanding issue has been people who come to Japan expecting to settle down, then quickly realize it's not for them and take a flight home without telling anybody. Debts left unpaid and landlords not even contacted This really sounds like one of those not-quite-racist "problems with foreigners" that every country likes to pretend they have. Every "knows" it's a problem, there's no way to prove it right or wro…

It's not a 'Japan thing'. I pay a higher rate on my mortgage because my spouse was not a citizen of where we live when we took it out. There are fewer providers willing to offer mortgages in this situation but, presumably, there's still enough of a price incentive that the premium isn't pulled out of thin air. It's also common for landlords to ask for higher deposits or months paid up-front.

It's also possible that the banks have less legal requirements to non-citizens so they make up a bullshit reason for charging you higher. Which is absolutely something a bank would do.
Post reply on HN