http://english.visatojapan.com/ This site is provided by Matsuda Immigration Law Office in Okayama, Japan. Japanese visa news, the immgration policy announcement, article about other immigration issues are posted. ja http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=874070 This information is made by Social Insurance Agency. If you left Japan after paying Social Insurance, you have a possibility to get refund. http://www.sia.go.jp/ It may not be the latest pdf files. Please use them at your own risk. Contact inform... http://www.sia.go.jp/

It may not be the latest pdf files. Please use them at your own risk. Contact information of SIA is below.

English
http://www.sia.go.jp/e/pdf/english.pdf

Korean
http://www.sia.go.jp/e/pdf/korean.pdf

Spanish
http://www.sia.go.jp/e/pdf/spanish.pdf

Indonesian
http://www.sia.go.jp/e/pdf/indonesian.pdf

Social Insurance Operation Center
Takaido-nishi 3-5-24, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 168-8505
TEL.81-3-6700-1165(Please speak Japanese.)

〒168-8505東京都杉並区高井戸西3丁目5番24号
社会保険業務センター ]]> WORK & TAX 2008-11-14T17:43:03+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=834441 Setting Up of Toll-Free Nationwide Telephone Counseling Line for Foreign Nationals September 2008 The Immigration Bureau of Japan 　From September 29, Tokyo Immigration Information Center will operate a toll-free Nationwide Telephone Counselin...
September 2008
The Immigration Bureau of Japan


　From September 29, Tokyo Immigration Information Center will operate a toll-free Nationwide Telephone Counseling Line for Foreign Nationals.
　If you have any questions about immigration control procedures, please call the toll-free line. Questions related to immigration and status of residence examination procedures for non-Japanese nationals, procedures related to illegal residents, etc. will be answered.
　The phone service is available daily, including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

1　Telephone hours
September 29 to December 28, 2008 (daily, including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays)
9:00 am to 5:00 pm

2　Phone number
0120-567-115 (Toll-free)

3　Issues covered by the phone counseling
The telephone line provides counseling on issues including the following:
○ Immigration procedures
○ Status of residence examination procedures
○ Question about voluntary appearance at the Bureau, such as for the departure order system
○ Other questions about immigration control procedures

4　Notes
○ The phone number will be available to connect you to an experienced counselor from around Japan.
○ Counseling in languages other than Japanese is available (depending on the availability of counselors who can speak other languages)
○ The Bureau will keep the content of your counseling strictly confidential.
○ The Regional Immigration Bureaus’ Immigration Information Centers will continue to provide counseling (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays).

● For further information, visit the websites of the Ministry of Justice (http://www.moj.go.jp/) and the Immigration Bureau of Japan (http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/).



○ For inquiries about this telephone line:
Ms. Omi (Deputy Director) or Mr. Nakagawa (Public Relations Section Manager),
General Affairs Division, Immigration Bureau, Ministry of Justice
　　　　　　　　03-3580-4111 (ext. 2727 or 2737)

]]> News 2008-10-09T09:49:31+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=604310 Hong Kong based organization Asian Migrant Centre released Asian Migrant Year Book 2005. Though I don't know about the organization much (even I cannot find an address of its office.), the report about Japan is well done. I like the organized time-seri... Asian Migrant Centre released Asian Migrant Year Book 2005. Though I don't know about the organization much (even I cannot find an address of its office.), the report about Japan is well done. I like the organized time-series data. You can probably get detailed information about each countrie's immigration issues.
]]> STATISTICS & STUDY 2008-04-02T21:40:52+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=554568 Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan released a report about how to prepare for new immigration procedures. http://www.jca.apc.org/migrant-net/English/English.html They made this report based on interviews with the immigration bureau and other...
http://www.jca.apc.org/migrant-net/English/English.html

They made this report based on interviews with the immigration bureau and other cases actually happened.

The content is below;


]]> IMMIGRATON POLICY 2008-02-01T14:31:24+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=553940 I often hear some people saying “Filipino in Japan cannot divorce because a family code of Philippine does not allow to divorce.” After looking up law books, I found out that there was a way to divorce if the Filipino divorce non-Filipino outside of...
After looking up law books, I found out that there was a way to divorce if the Filipino divorce non-Filipino outside of Philippine.

Here is the article of Family Code of Philippine which states international divorce outside Philippine;

Art. 26. All marriages solemnized outside the Philippines, in accordance with the laws in force in the country where they were solemnized, and valid there as such, shall also be valid in this country, except those prohibited under Articles 35 (1), (4), (5) and (6), 3637 and 38. (17a)

Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse shall have capacity to remarry under Philippine law. (As amended by Executive Order 227)

http://www.chanrobles.com/executiveorderno209.htm

******
It means that the divorce between Filipino and non-Filipino which was executed based on Japanese law is legally accepted by the Filipino government. You need to notify the consulate general of Philippine with notarized document (for example, a Koseki Tohon of your former spouse in which the fact of divorce is stated).

If your spouse is not Japanese, you should make sure if the divorce by Japanese way can be legally admitted in the other person’s country.
]]> MARRIAGE&DIVORCE 2008-01-30T18:27:36+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=548594 Recently foreign working women of the same age with me often come to my office. The same age means in their 30's. They are mostly Chinese ladies. I feel a kind of bond with them and I know that they also feel it. When I lived in the U.S. five y...

Recently foreign working women of the same age with me often come to my office. The same age means in their 30's. They are mostly Chinese ladies. I feel a kind of bond with them and I know that they also feel it.

When I lived in the U.S. five years ago, I saw many single Japanese women in their 30's or 40's. About 10-20 years ago, single women in their 30's felt difficulty to live in Japan because Japanese people had a fantasy about marriage. People believed that women who do not get married until 30 were losers of their life. Moreover, Japanese companies were, probably are still, not willing to hire women who are over 35. So women who were in their 30's, single, and have not a career enough to be independent were oppressed by their societies.

I think that some Chinese working women in Japan are "on-the-border ladies". If she is feminine enough, she is probably a wife already. If she is smart enough, she would have a good career in her country. I was also an on-the-border Japanese lady in the U.S.

I ended up returning to Japan and trying to build my own career. That is why I cannot help worry about the Chinese ladies. I want to say to them GANBARE!
]]> DIARY 2008-01-23T23:25:58+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=531044 HAPPY NEW YEAR! Thank you for your support to Matsuda Immigration Law Office. I am so excited this year because; The first Brazilian school in western Japan will be opened in June as a 100 year anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants lan...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thank you for your support to Matsuda Immigration Law Office. I am so excited this year because;

The first Brazilian school in western Japan will be opened in June as a 100 year anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants landed Brazil, and;

A delegation of San Jose, U.S.A. will visit Okayama as an 40 years anniversary of friendship between San Jose and Okayama.

I would like to take a correspondence course of interpreter in Summer to brush up my English.

May your dreams come true this year! ]]> MESSAGE 2008-01-01T11:30:28+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=520285 The biggest Japanese language education group in Okayama held a year end party last week. Chinese girls are singing chinese songs in the picture. There were bout 100 people at the party. Doesn't it look fun? I was there because I sometimes arra...

The biggest Japanese language education group in Okayama held a year end party last week. Chinese girls are singing chinese songs in the picture. There were bout 100 people at the party. Doesn't it look fun?

I was there because I sometimes arrange Japanese classes for my client companies which have many foreign trainees. In Japan, many Japanese language teachers are working as volunteers or as very cheap part time job workers. So do teachers of this group.

For them, teaching Japanese is a grass-root cultural exchange project. Some teachers think that they should not charge expensive fee to foreign people because teachers should help foreigners, and should not want money. However, as the number of foreign people and professional language teachers grow, some teachers think that language teachers should be considered as professional workers and be guaranteed appropriate rewards. ]]> PHOTO 2007-12-19T23:58:52+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=510599 I went to a Japanese class for Chinese trainees today. They are mostly in their 30's and married. They were studying very hard to get along with Japanese people for three years from now. I can imagine how hard they felt to leave their husbands and ...

I went to a Japanese class for Chinese trainees today. They are mostly in their 30's and married. They were studying very hard to get along with Japanese people for three years from now. I can imagine how hard they felt to leave their husbands and children in China. ]]> 2007-12-08T22:59:56+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=500553 According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe said that foreign doctors should be allowed to conduct medical activities in the structural reform zones to help alleviating the shortage of medical practitioners. ...
He said that at a meeting of the National Governors Association in Tokyo on Nov.26th, 2007.

The system for designated structural reform zones allows regulations to be eased in certain areas to stimulate economic and other activities.

At the meeting, Niigata Gov. Hirohiko Izumida asked Masuzoe to let foreigners who got the doctorate at Niigata University's faculty of medicine offer their services in a designated structural reform district.

The Medical Practitioners Law obliges doctors who have a foreign medical license to acquire a Japanese national qualification before they can conduct medical practices in Japan. However, many foreign doctors are unable to acquire the national qualification because they lack Japanese language ability and other factors.

The Niigata prefectural government has applied to the central government to set up a structural reform zone where non-Japanese doctors can conduct medical practices in underpopulated areas.

Masuzoe was receptive to Izumida's suggestion. ]]> News 2007-11-28T21:21:27+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=494509 According to an article of Tokyo shimbun on Nov. 21, 2007, by new immigration procedure that started at airports and seaports in Japan, five people were investigated because their fingerprints matched that of past evictee.　Three of them are considered...
http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/national/news/CK2007112102065958.html ]]> News 2007-11-22T08:46:03+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=492591 Gender Equality Bureau of Cabinet Office provides the information for DV Survivor on its website. There is the information for non-Japanese survivors, too. This information is provided according to the DV prevention Act. Information for DV Surv... This information is provided according to the DV prevention Act.


Information for DV Survivor provided by Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/siensya/08.html

Chinese
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/06chinese.pdf
Korean
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/05korean.pdf
Portuguese
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/07portuguese.pdf
English
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/01english.pdf
Tagalog
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/04tagalog.pdf
Spanish
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/02spanish.pdf
Thai
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/03thai.pdf
Japanese
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/00japanese.pdf

Human Rights Counseling Centers For Foreigners
http://www.moj.go.jp/JINKEN/jinken21.html#01

Spousal Violence Counseling and Support Centers
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/siensya/images/foreign/08-2centere.pdf ]]> MARRIAGE&DIVORCE 2007-11-20T16:57:52+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=484645 I got a phone call from an English speaker today. He had a complicated visa history. He said that he had been deported from Japan once. After that, he changed his name (he said "it is legal in my country.") and was able to enter Japan again soon. H...
He was very anxious about new immigration system at Japanese airports which starts Nov. 20th. In the new system, foreign people have to give their fingerprints and have their picture-taken. If his fingerprint meets the other one which he had given in deportation procedure, immigration may arrest him even though changing name was legal, he said. Yes, it could happen.

I am not sure he really got deported. It seemed like a denial of landing as long as the story he told me. A solution is going to be different if it was a denial of landing.

I am always frustrated with the fact that there is no way to make sure what foreign people's actual sanction were. Violation records of immigration law are strictly closed. Even if the immigration officer gives a written notice at the time of law violation, the officer gets it back when the foreigner gets deported.

I heard this story. A foreign woman mistook her own sanction and waited for the prohibition period of one year outside of Japan. She never knew that she cannot enter Japan forever until she arrived a Japanese airport one year later and the immigration officer told her so.

That was not the only one case I heard. Though written notice of their sanction is an obligation of the immiglation office according to Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, I am not sure if they conduct that right. If the notice is written in Japanese and they cannot read Japanese? If the officer read that for the foreigner and he could not get the meaning well? If they can obtain the paper when they leave Japan, they could make sure the meaning of their sanction after that.

How can they know about their own criminal history with staying outside of Japan?

While writing this article, I found the criminal record reference service for foreigners in the Okayama Police website.

http://www.pref.okayama.jp/kenkei/keiji/kanshiki/hanzaikeireki_english.htm

People outside Japan can apply for the certificate through Japanese Embassy or Japanese Consulate in their countries. Please contact the police or Japanese consulate if you are interested. The person must apply by him/herself. Our office can pick up the certificate in Japan as an agent of you. ]]> FAQ 2007-11-14T09:25:03+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=479975 Sanyo shimbun said that Okayama Labour Bureau started special consultation service for NOVA teachers. Detailed information does not come up on their website. For more information, call Okayama Labour Bureau at 086-225-2015. Okayama Labour Bureau ht...
Okayama Labour Bureau
http://www.okayama.plb.go.jp/seido/gaikoku/gaikoku02.html ]]> News 2007-11-09T08:17:56+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda http://english.visatojapan.com/?eid=476748 General Union set up a BBS for NOVA teachers who are looking for a job, accomodation, and other information. http://www.generalunion.org/nova/message/ Information from all over Japan is posted. BBS for NOVA teachers who are looking for a job, accomodation, and other information.

http://www.generalunion.org/nova/message/

Information from all over Japan is posted. ]]> News 2007-11-06T09:30:57+09:00 Yoko Matsuda Yoko Matsuda