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Japan Digital

Japan To Introduce Six-Month Residency Visa For 'Digital Nomads' (nikkei.com) 50

Posted by BeauHD from the no-formal-employment-required dept.
In an effort to boost tourism and innovation, Japan will launch a new visa program for digital nomads, allowing remote workers to work in the country for up to six months while enjoying sightseeing trips. Tech Times reports: Starting from the end of March, Japan will introduce a unique visa status aimed at IT engineers and remote workers employed by overseas companies. The program is designed to cater to the evolving work landscape, recognizing the surge in digital nomads-individuals who can seamlessly work from anywhere in the world. Nikkei Asia (paywalled) tells us that to be eligible for this digital nomad visa, applicants must boast an annual income of at least 10 million yen ($68,000).

Citizens from 50 countries and regions, including the U.S., Australia, and Singapore, which have existing visa waiver agreements with Japan, can apply. Private health insurance is a prerequisite, ensuring the well-being of the visa holders during their stay. Self-employed individuals engaged in overseas business can also benefit from this innovative program. Moreover, they have the option to bring their family members along, provided they are covered by private health insurance.

While the program offers the freedom to explore Japan, it has unique conditions. Digital nomads under this visa will not receive a residence card or certificate, limiting access to specific government benefits. The visa is non-renewable, requiring reapplication after a six-month interval, and applicants must spend that time outside the country. Japan joins the ranks of over 50 countries issuing digital nomad visas. Notably, South Korea allows up to two years, while Taiwan offers a three-year stay, with the possibility of permanent residency. The diverse offerings cater to digital nomads' varied needs and preferences, seeking a balance between work and exploration.
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Japan To Introduce Six-Month Residency Visa For 'Digital Nomads' More

Japan To Introduce Six-Month Residency Visa For 'Digital Nomads'

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  • This would have been a great visa to have during covid.

  • It seems to be spreading (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Friday February 02, 2024 @09:41PM (#64209858)

    Work from Home is slowly transforming to Work from Anywhere.

    I first heard about a digital nomad program with Costa Rica, and considered trying it out but moving my kids to a non-English country while they're still school-age dependents didn't seem workable for my family.

    It's kind of cool to know I could travel a lot of the world needing only a computer, a decent Internet connection, and my phone for 2FA. So what if you're working? You have evenings and weekends all over the world as you move.

    Screw a six month digital nomad permit, if I made enough to cover hotels and airfare I'd be using regular tourist visas and changing locale every month.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Screw a six month digital nomad permit, if I made enough to cover hotels and airfare I'd be using regular tourist visas and changing locale every month.

      Not only illegal in most countries, but can get you jailed and then expelled. After all, the tax agencies want their cut of the pie (what, you didn't you didn't have to pay taxes while working as a digital nomad?).

      And nothing is as tempting to a country as to prosecute someone abusing their tourist visa to work tax-free. They'd probably seize your passport a

      • You might want to look up digital nomads or have a chat to one. Plenty of countries let you stay for a period with foreign income... Some more than others. Philippines is particularly good.

      • Immigration and tax residency are often different things. But who said anything about abusing a tourist visa and working illegally or tax free? For many of these people, theyâ(TM)re employed elsewhere and paying taxes there, without any form of local employment. Make sure you know the law of where youâ(TM)re going to and donâ(TM)t accidentally give yourself or your employer a tax liability. And BTW, Iâ(TM)ve read of the potential for some countries to claim that a company has opened

        • If you are "employed elsewhere" you do not pay taxes there, only two notable exceptions Etopia and another third world country, called US of Awesomness.

          Oops.

          I as a German do not pay taxes in Germany while working in Thailand. Obviously I pay my taxes in Thailand. Does not matter where my remote customer/employer is. And I obviously do not file tax declarations in Germany: there is no reason to do so - as I'm not living there.

          • I donâ(TM)t know the law in Thailand, but where I have been, youâ(TM)re wrong. And Iâ(TM)ve been through it with a lawyer to ensure I wasnâ(TM)t doing something wrong. Of course, the length of time in country matters.

            If youâ(TM)re employed in your origin country, good luck convincing them to stop withholding taxes or be happy to switch you on to a different contract, and reverse that when/if you return. A lot of employers donâ(TM)t want to deal with that.

            • If youÃ(TM)re employed in your origin country, good luck convincing them to stop withholding taxes or be happy to switch you on to a different contract,
              There is no "good luck" needed.
              It is a letter to the tax office: I reside outside of your tax residency.
              DONE.

              If I'm less than 185 days per year in Germany: I'm not a tax resident of Germany.
              If I live in Swizerland but get my money from a company in Germany: I'm taxed in Swizerland.

              And that is basically the same for every country combination in the world

      • They don't want people on tourist visas to fill a local job that otherwise would go to a domestic tax slave, it's just bureaucracy to tax remote workers who are really more like tourists overspending foreign money and probably paying more in VAT in a month than a local pays in a year.
    • We moved around a fair bit when our three kids were 2-9 years old, including Dublin, Tokyo and San Jose (Costa Rica). The experience for the kids was helpful for their language development (tri lingual, at an early age). It also helped make them have more of a âoeglobalâ view, to be more open minded. I enjoyed being able to share that with them ⦠and weâ(TM)re having a mini âoefamily reunionâ in Japan this summer. You canâ(TM)t put a price on memories and experienc
  • How are the Japanese to foreigners? I've been told they have very little immigration and are famously hostile to outsiders. Many have joked they built robots to care for their elders because they didn't want to welcome immigrants (especially from the Philippines) to care for them.

    The gov can make whatever program they like, but if the locals will never recognize you as Japanese, no matter your language proficiency nor legal status, any sane person would leave there for a country that welcomes immigrant

    • Everything anecdotal I've heard or read says foreigners are second class... but with the cultural differences you might not recognize how often you're being treated that way. That could be bullshit, but it sounds believable.

      What you can't deny are the numbers - 1) People say it's a tough process, but of the people who meet the minimum requirements and go through the application process, apparently upwards of 90% are granted naturalized citizenship. 2) Despite immigration, Japan's population is shrinking

    • Re:Aren't the Japanese famously racist? (Score:4, Informative)

      by betsuin ( 5812894 ) on Saturday February 03, 2024 @06:49PM (#64211502)
      > How are the Japanese to foreigners?

      I lived in Japan for a few years back in the 90s, initially did not speak Japanese at all.
      I found people to be welcoming, helpful, curious and just down right descent. That said, all things equal one will find all types in any country - Japan no exception, so sure I met less than stella types as well. But they were certainly outnumbered by the vast majority of great experiences I had.

      And a bit of personal philosophy - life is a mirror reflecting what you are doing - YMMV..
  • Japan is facing a severe population collapse. Policies like this do nothing to help that problem. Yes, it brings in a little bit of short-term revenue. However, until Japan reverses their racist policies it will not fix the looming disaster.

    • Re:This ignores the other problem Japan is facing (Score:4, Informative)

      by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Friday February 02, 2024 @10:19PM (#64209904)

      The problem is the work culture. You work 12 hour days and then get shitfaced with the same people and boss later on. This is expected behavior.

      • Was the culture different back when fertility was higher? The difference is probably the devaluation of wages and concentration of wealth that forced mothers into the workforce like in every banker-controlled country. Parasites like Buffet and Munger bragged about how they could borrow money for free in Japan and buy stocks for almost infinite profit; Japanese workers were forced to pay for that charity for foreign billionaires instead of diapers.

      • That is exaggerated.
        Happens only in certain companies.
        As the others are to poor to feast the whole stuff every evening.

        And the visa is for remote workers, so ...

    • Globalism is for you something like  virgin birth. You sound  more than a little racist toward Japanese culture. As they say different strokes for different folks.

    • Japan is facing a severe population collapse. Policies like this do nothing to help that problem. Yes, it brings in a little bit of short-term revenue. However, until Japan reverses their racist policies it will not fix the looming disaster.

      "Racist", lol!

      Modern slang for "I don't have an argument, but you are a poopy-head."

      Japan, like most countries that aren't completely stupid, tries to have an immigration policy that actually is good for them, good for the people who are already there.

    • I bet it helpsâ¦a little. I imagine most people doing this are single. It isnâ(TM)t a stretch to think some may fall in love with a local, get married, and start a family.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by ghoul ( 157158 )
        More like gets shitfaced, gets a local girl pregnant and leaves after 6 months. Still helps with the population problem

    • until Japan reverses their racist policies it will not fix the looming disaster.

      If they don't remember how to procreate, it's the end of the Japanese people and culture, whether they hurry it along by embracing immigration or hold out against it as long as they can.

    • Japan is facing a severe population collapse. Policies like this do nothing to help that problem.
      They do. A lot. They bring in a lot of horny _white_ men. As remote tech work is mostly that ... of course Indians and "americans of colour" etc. are also into that. Unfortunately: "their racist policies it will not fix the looming disaster" that is not racist politics. They simply are racist. That is why I focused on white horny males. As, see below, generally speaking Jap. females are not much into people of

  • In Spain they have something similar called the non-lucrative visa (NLV). It was originally marketed to the Spanish as a way to revitalise villages & towns whose populations were shrinking due to better job prospects elsewhere, mostly in the larger cities.

    But it turns out that most "digital nomads" don't want to live in villages surrounded by agricultural workers, pensioners, & professionals who commute every day to the nearest city. They want to live somewhere that's a bit more lively & soci

    • It's only a crisis to people who don't own real estate in the city and want to move there (or already live there). Question is, which category do most voters fit into?

      • A number of EU countries are coming to the same conclusion that "leaving it to the market" has been catastrophic for most cities. They're now looking into reviving social housing (which is nothing like US social housing) & other measures to combat the rampant & literal rent-seeking that's going on. Rent-seeking puts a heavy burden on any economy & most economists see it as a bad thing. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] Cities are supposed to generate wealth not be revenue sinks.

        • The really should try "leaving it to the market" .. the market isn't rent-seeking .. government is enabling the rent-seeking. It's the government that's restricting number of housing units. If you allowed the market, they would build new housing units. San Francisco for example only issued 1,823 new housing permits in 2023 out of well over 100,000 applications (and that's people who bothered to apply knowing they'd be denied). Reference: https://www.sfexaminer.com/new... [sfexaminer.com] The lack of units is the main "housi

          • The really should try "leaving it to the market" .. the market isn't rent-seeking .. government is enabling the rent-seeking.

            Classic Capitalist blame-avoiding. The most basic tennant of Capitalism is Buy Low Sell High, and nothing does that better than deigning permission to others (Low cost) to use something that already belongs to you. Especially when you can offload the cost of that ownership to the people seeking your permission to use it.

            San Francisco

            Is completely irrelevant in a thread about the EU, that in and of itself is out of place in a comments section for a story about Japan. Yes, this is a US based site, but the issues the US

          • AFAIK, one of the main problems in the EU is that the price of land in areas that are suitable for building is high. Yes, the luxury housing markets are doing just fine & turning over some very tidy profits. But that makes building affordable homes a longer-term, more risky investment, i.e. something that governments are much more suited to than profit-driven prospectors. Governments are also the only authority capable of planning ahead to avoid infrastructure issues that haphazard, unplanned building
  • Seems great until you have to collaborate with people in the USA and Europe. Then the time difference is s killer.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ghoul ( 157158 )
      A true coder depends on Red Bull and coffee not sleep

    • There is plenty of remote work where the collaboration/communication can be asynchrony.
      Prime example: software development
      Other examples: remote sales, text editing (as in book editing), auditing, fashion design and so on. There is no big difference between a "creative" in Paris who gets out of bed at 11:00 and starts "working" after 14:00 and starts partying 23:00 versus a real creative in Kyoto, who gets up with the sun, and has done half his work before lunch.

      I live mostly in Thailand. Difference in leng

  • The plot-twist is that many of the included countries have avg salaries way below the ludicrous cap set by this visa where the annual income must be at least 10 million yen ($68,000).

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