Hi. I plan to get married (my partner is japanese) and move to Japan next year. I’m a software engineer and plan to work remotely for an overseas company. Wonder if there’s anyone in the same sitation and would appreciate advice regarding tax, visa, purchasing of property (loan), and driving license.
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This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Moving to Japan with a remote job**
Hi. I plan to get married (my partner is japanese) and move to Japan next year. I’m a software engineer and plan to work remotely for an overseas company. Wonder if there’s anyone in the same sitation and would appreciate advice regarding tax, visa, purchasing of property (loan), and driving license.
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Do you already have permission from work?
I think it would really depend on the country you’re moving from, not just the Japan side!
First, you need a visa that allows you to work. You **can not work in Japan without a proper visa**, **even remotely**. You can not work remotely on a tourist waiver.
If you get a spouse visa, you have to report all income you earn globally to properly assess your tax, insurance and pension. Failure to do so is tax and visa fraud. Expect to pay a total of 35% to 52% depending on how much you earn.
If you get a dependent visa, you can’t work full time and you have an earning limit which basically makes remote work impossible.
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Bonus points if you are American! Congrats! you have to report in both nations and pay in both if you are a high earner.
You seem to be Singaporean.. so here’s the tl;dr
You’ll have to go on a spouse visa. Research that and see what the limitations are on work.
Second, you can’t just live in Japan and work for a company there and not report your income to Japan. Life doesn’t work that way. If you’re living in Japan, your tax residency becomes Japan. Recommending getting a Japanese based CPA and consult with them. You’ll most likely have to file taxes and pay pension and health insurance all on your own as reported income overseas. If you don’t do this and get caught, you’re in for a world of difficulty.
What you could do.. live in Singapore for over half the year and keep your residency there. But you can still have the spousal visa and stay in Japan under restrictions of that and terms of tax residency. But this could be risky and probably not happy for the wife. But once you compare the 40%+ tax rate vs 13% of Singapore…
wow you’re lucky