Hi all, hope I’m allowed to post this here. I’m in Japan on a WHV and I do not intend to work.
I went to city hall today and registered my address and enrolled in the national health insurance. I do not speak any Japanese and the staff who helped me did not speak any English, so the whole process went over my head.
I was given an info sheet about the national pension. Should I have been enrolled in the pension today as well? If so, I am aware there is an exemption I can apply for. What would the next steps be to apply?
Thanks!
4 comments
**Working** Holiday Visa but no intention to work? Is that even allowable? What are you going to do then?
If you’re only here temporarily like 6 months or so and has no intention of returning in the future to get a permanent job / settle down, paying pension will actually be a hassle so don’t bother. Don’t apply, don’t pay any bills.
If you have a residence card, you are legally required to enroll. You enroll at city hall and can then apply for a full or partial exemption (it’s called menjo in Japanese). If you don’t, Immigration will find out about it when it comes time to renew the residence card. If you don’t care about that, that’s on you but you are under obligation to enroll.
You technically have to but I never did and only paid health insurance for the year.
Then I decided to stay longer, got a work visa etc and they wanted all the money for the whole year. I was able to apply for exception in retrospect too.
Hey I was on wh in 2015 I did work but just a bit nothing significant enough to be considered taxed income or whatever down the line. I did not enrol in any system (national health, pension etc).
Everytime I received something regarding tax/official stuff I sent if back with a few words of explanation that I was on wh and no intention to work blablabla. I started doing this after a friend went with me to city hall ask what I was supposed to do.
Flash forward now I had multiple sort of visas now on road to permanent residency and no question ever about my wh period so seems like it was safe strategy
Btw you are very right about not wanting to work during wh. Enjoy!