So I've been here a couple of years now, paying my taxes, contributing to my health insurance and so on. However, the recent hubub about pension has made me dig in and realise that I have totally missed that one.
It seems at no point in my bureaucratic journey in Japan was it brought up and now apparently I'm behind on paying it. Perhaps because I arrived on a WHV they didn't add it on to the list of Zairyo, NHI card and Mynumber, but since I've only ever had freelance jobs it's never been set up by an employer either.
Anyway the why is irrelevant, I am trying to sort this out. I can see I need to go to a pension office and try and explain the situation to them.
A few questions I have:
- Do I need my MyNumber card? I'm waiting for a new one at the moment.
- I see they will be asking for the full time I've been here, although I was unemployed for most of the first year, how does that get dealt with?
- Anything else I'll need to bring?
- Also, anyone know why on earth is the pension contribution thing not made obvious when you first arrive and get your Zairyo? Where I come from pension and national health insurance are the same bill.
Update after town hall visit, in case anyone is looking into this problem in future:
Solved, just went to the pension desk, explained when I arrived and what happened. I was able to secure an exemption for the first few months because unemployed and unmarried. After getting an income and wifing-up there's no way I would qualify.
No drama really, I just have to pay the back-dated monthly contributions when I get my slips through. Hopefully I can spread it out as far as I like because like most people I don't exactly have 350,000 lying about.
Didn't need Mynumber, just residence card.
by Turbulent-Acadia9676