A Canadian Living in Japan
Krista Wakelin
Immigration Stresses
This month I had planned on writing about a very pressing issue in Japan right now: Should a female succeed to be Empress? There has never been an Empress as the leader of the Japanese monarch, but now there are only females as successors so this is a hot debated topic. Unfortunately my busy life got in the way and my writing was blocked by stress and lack of time. So, instead, I will talk about my stressful month dealing with immigration hassles. No-one ever said living abroad was easy, but this month has taught me a lesson in patience and stress management!
I'm generally a lucky person. I don’t usually win the lottery or get all the green lights while driving in the city, but things generally go my way and I rarely have difficult challenges to overcome in my life. So, when the odd stressful situation does arise I'm not prepared for it and don't handle it well, and this month was no exception. I had to go through the process of renewing my working visa. I didn't realize what a hassle it was until I began this lengthy stressful journey.
In Japan, a foreign teacher with a working visa must be sponsored by a company -- most often an English School. The company basically has to prove that they need you working for them, and that you are indeed working for their company. They must produce financial documents proving that they have enough money to cover your salary, lists of foreign and Japanese staff, tax documents, schedules, etc. The teacher must also produce many documents including tax receipts of city/prefectural tax, and income tax, a signed contract, and previous income statements among other items.
These documents are not easy to obtain, especially when there is a language barrier. I can speak basic Japanese, but when it comes to tax documents I have no clue what a T4 is in Japanese, let alone all the other documents I needed. Thanks to a great group of friends and superiors who helped me out, I managed to track down all the necessary documents after about three weeks.
Also, since I was being sponsored by a new school, it was difficult to get documents from my previous school which had since closed. Why am I being sponsored by a new school? At the end of February, I was told by my current boss that they can no longer sponsor me due to the fact that the owners are no longer living in the country anymore so I set
out on the journey of finding a new school to sponsor me.
Since the international university came to the city, English schools have been having trouble because the university is attracting many English-speaking students. These students teach lessons at a reduced rate so many Japanese in my city take lessons from the university students, rather than from an English school which has qualified teachers with a higher education, experience, and training. I firmly believe that the English schools in my city offer quality lessons with qualified teachers but the students teach students English, many of whom English is not their first language so the Japanese students are not getting a quality lesson for their price. It is true you get what you pay for, especially with English lessons.
A couple of weeks later I had managed to find a new sponsor with another school; however, I did have to agree to take a reduction in pay(my new school pays by the hour whereas my old school was salary-based so with the new school I have a low hourly rate) and work extra hours. But at least I have a sponsor. I admit to having mixed feelings over this – relief at finding a new sponsor, but frustration at having to accept less pay for more work.
Many men apply and receive three-year working visas, but I have yet to meet a single female working for a private school who has been granted a three-year visa. Women always receive one-year visas. No reason is ever given by Immigration as to why it is a one or three-year visa that is granted. I think it may have to do with the number of working girls, hostesses, and entertainers from other Asian and Eastern European countries, who work in the Red Light District. It is easier to keep track of them if they are on one-year visas. Rather than distinguishing the few female teachers who stay longer than a year from the RLD girls, everyone seems to be granted a one-year visa which proves to be a headache every year for me. My fingers are crossed that I will finally be granted a three-year visa, but I will be happy to receive a one-year visa so I can stay and continue to live it up and enjoy my time in Japan.
Oh the stress, the sleepless nights, the hours spent on the verge of tears, and all the What Ifs! I managed to get my application along with about two kilograms of supporting documents (no joke!) submitted on time.
I can happily report that on April 3, I was granted a one-year working visa. It's not exactly what I was looking for but it will tie me over for another year, at which point I will have to decide if I can emotionally go through all this again if I want to stay another year or pack my bags and head back to Canada.
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