I did some research but they doesn’t completely answer my questions. They say it’s a gray area, or how would the government find out if you did, etc. My partner works for a foreign company. not in the country we are from and not Japan either.
My partner wants to change to working visa (after coming to japan on dependent visa), if it is **possible** and **easy,** but don’t want to be bothered if it’s going to be messy and lot of work. (Like getting a lot of documents from their company, since many companies don’t want to give out documents except offere letters/ service letters/ salary sheets)
1. So I want to know if my partner who works full time, remotely for a foreign company, can live as my dependent in Japan and still get to work the same job? do they have to get permission from immigration? (To my understanding, it’s 28 hrs for dependents to work in japan. but since they are working for a foreign company full time, is it allowed?)
2. If they want to transfer their salary to an account in Japan, will it affect them when renewing visa (dependent visa)? and do they have to pay taxes as same as working visa people? (the salary exceeds the amount a dependent can earn in Japan) and **IF** they need to pay taxes, shouldn’t they be allowed to change the visa category to working visa? and How is that process goes? document preparation is easy or a mess?
3. **IF** they don’t want to transfer their salary directly to their japanese account ,but keep it as it is and transfer it from their current account to japanese account, does it count as working?
Please don’t get mad thinking we are trying to cheat the system or anything. we just want to know our options in case my partner’s change of visa is a mess because they work for a totally different country.
Edit: I don’t know why people in this sub keeps downvoting my comments. I’m not being offensive or rude, I’m just asking questions to clarify what we don’t know. Please be nice. If you are downvoting, can you please let me know what I did wrong, apart from being unaware of the problem I’m asking here.
3 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Can my pertner work for remotly for a foreign company while living as a dependent?**
I did some research but they doesn’t completely answer my questions. They say it’s a gray area, or how would the government find out if you did, etc. My partner works for a foreign company. not in the country we are from and not Japan either.
My partner wants to change to working visa (after coming to japan on dependent visa), if it is **possible** and **easy,** but don’t want to be bothered if it’s going to be messy and lot of work. (Like getting a lot of documents from their company, since many companies don’t want to give out documents except offere letters/ service letters/ salary sheets)
1. So I want to know if my partner who works full time, remotely for a foreign company, can live as my dependent in Japan and still get to work the same job? do they have to get permission from immigration? (To my understanding, it’s 28 hrs for dependents to work in japan. but since they are working for a foreign company full time, is it allowed?)
2. If they want to transfer their salary to an account in Japan, will it affect them when renewing visa (dependent visa)? and do they have to pay taxes as same as working visa people? (the salary exceeds the amount a dependent can earn in Japan) and **IF** they need to pay taxes, shouldn’t they be allowed to change the visa category to working visa? and How is that process goes? document preparation is easy or a mess?
3. **IF** they don’t want to transfer their salary directly to their japanese account ,but keep it as it is and transfer it from their current account to japanese account, does it count as working?
Please don’t get mad thinking we are trying to cheat the system or anything. we just want to know our options in case my partner’s change of visa is a mess because they work for a totally different country.
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All of it counts as working and yes they have to pay taxes. You would probably need to find someone in Japan who can handle their taxes here and also figure out claiming taxes from where you’re from too. No having to pay taxes doesn’t mean they would be allowed to change their visa category to a working visa, they need to get permission from immigration to work 28 hours *before* starting to work. Also, they would most likely get caught up with immigration when renewing if they’re earning over the threshold for a dependent visa because… well, that’s not being dependent. No, full time work even if it’s remote is not allowed.
>1. So I want to know if my partner who works full time, remotely for a foreign company, can live as my dependent in Japan and still get to work the same job? do they have to get permission from immigration? (To my understanding, it’s 28 hrs for dependents to work in japan. but since they are working for a foreign company full time, is it allowed?)
If they are here as your dependent then they must be dependent upon you. That means they’re limited to 28 hours per week of work (regardless of where the employer is located) and if they earn as much or more than you immigration may revoke both your statuses.
In order for them to work full time, they’d need to be on a status that permits full time work, which usually requires a domestic employer. You could investigate Employer of Record services to provide this domestic employer.
>2. If they want to transfer their salary to an account in Japan, will it affect them when renewing visa (dependent visa)?
No, because this income will already be taxable in Japan. Where you keep the money is irrelevant.
>do they have to pay taxes as same as working visa people?
Yes
>the salary exceeds the amount a dependent can earn in Japan
There are differing opinions about whether your dependent must be earning below the tax dependent threshold or not. They certainly must be earning less than you in order to be your dependent though.
>IF they need to pay taxes, shouldn’t they be allowed to change the visa category to working visa?
If they’re working illegally they should be rewarded with the right to stay? I mean, you can try that argument but I wouldn’t expect you to find much success. Keep in mind that the National Tax Agency is completely seperate from Immigration Services. They’re also under different ministries.
>IF they don’t want to transfer their salary directly to their japanese account ,but keep it as it is and transfer it from their current account to japanese account, does it count as working?
It doesn’t matter where the money comes from or where the money goes. If you are physically present in Japan and doing work that generates income then the income is domestically sourced and you will owe Japan taxes on that income. There is probably a tax treaty in place between Japan and your country to protect you from double taxation. You are also protected by Japanese labour laws and your employer is required to abide by Japanese legislation in regards to their employees. This is part of why most companies will either use an Employer of Record service (also called Global Employment Outsourcing) or treat individuals as freelancer contractors rather than keeping them as directly employed.