Hi there! been living in Japan for 3 and a half years now and I’ve some questions regarding insurance. For most of my employment I’ve been going through my companies handling that for me. However I did take a break from working due to personal issues (had to fly back to home country and stay for a few months) and now am back working in Japan but I’m doing so under probationary period. At the moment, I have no company-sponsored health or social insurance and additionally, even if I’m in the probationary period (2 months so far) at my current job I’m also job hunting for better opportunity.
As such I’m wondering how I should go on regarding my social/pension and health insurance. Should I stick it out and get a contract with current company insurance only to leave midway through the contract, or should I visit City Hall to get my own self-managed insurance? I’m leaning towards the latter, but if so I’m wondering how that will transition to future jobs. Will the potential future contract cancel out the insurance I enroll into manually or do I have to report again to City Hall to cancel?
5 comments
You are legally required to be insured and pay pension. If you don’t do this it could potentially affect future visa renewals and if you ever want to apply for permanent resident it will make it difficult or impossible if you have late payments leading up to that.
When you get company insurance again you go turn in the insurance card and if you start a job mid month they will prorate your bill.
It’s illegal to not have insurance. If your company isn’t paying, you will get a bill from city hall…… eventually. When that bill comes, six months to a year later, you will be required to pay back the entire amount which will be for every month you were uninsured **including** when you were not in Japan.
​
You better get down to city hall and get your bill before it gets too big and they revoke your visa.
edit; missing pension payments will result in your visa not being renewed. It will also make you ineligible for PR.
>At the moment, I have no company-sponsored health or social insurance and additionally, even if I’m in the probationary period (2 months so far) at my current job
It doesn’t work like that. You’re an employee, even when on probation. your employer has to enroll you in Shakai Hoken. They can’t decide to not enroll you because you’re on probation. You should consult the labor bureau about that.
>As such I’m wondering how I should go on regarding my social/pension and health insurance.
Well as I mentioned above, as an employee, you should be enrolled in Shakai Hoken. Never the less, until that enrollment happens, you need to enroll in Kokumin (national health insurance and national pension). Not only is it required by law to be enrolled, you’re also not insured health wise until you enroll
It’s illegal not to be enrolled in insurance and pension. You can expect a sizeable bill in the mail at some point soon if you haven’t been making payments. While you were away for 2 months you were still liable to pay even if not employed or even in the country as you held residency.
You’re supposed to have insurance/pension at all times, so if you’re company isn’t paying it for you, then you should be doing it through the city office.
For pension they’ll demand payment for up to the last 2 years, so even if you do get back onto company pension you may well receive demands for payment from the missing months.
In my experience the health insurance won’t seek back payment (got away with not paying it my first 2 years here), but it may still be possible so you’re probably better off paying it anyway.