Table of Contents
Hitoshi Goto
Ukihiko Takagi
In the previous article, we covered key considerations for Japanese professionals working on long-term assignments overseas. This time, we will look at key points for managing visa issuance and length of stay.
In China, Tax Obligations Arise When Stay Exceeds 183 Days
If you assume that receiving a work visa means you can stay for an extended period, there are unexpected pitfalls.
In China, when your stay exceeds 183 days, you become obligated to pay taxes to the Chinese government.
If you are unaware of this, Japanese key personnel may return home to avoid taxes, potentially missing important negotiations or meetings at critical times.
In domestic projects, tracking cumulative days of stay is uncommon, but for China-based projects, it becomes an essential management item.
Recently, video conferencing quality has improved, so it may not be impossible to hold meetings when key personnel are not on-site, but this is still a point to keep in mind.
Pay Attention to Visa Requirements When Having Development Staff Stay in Japan
There are cases where you bring staff from overseas companies to Japan. In such cases, it is necessary to firmly incorporate work visa issuance into your schedule.
Having Managing visa requirements for development staff traveling from China can be particularly complex. Due to visa requirements, they may need to leave Japan and re-enter, and in such cases, meticulous schedule management is needed to ensure that all key personnel are not absent at the same time.
Additionally, to compensate for the development man-hours of those who must leave the country, it is necessary to assign staff with some margin.
For example, if the development period is 6 months and the scale is 30 person-months, a simple calculation suggests assigning 5 people would suffice. However, considering visa issues, it is desirable to secure about 8 people.
This is not limited to China. When trying to bring overseas engineers to Japan or to the implementation country or region, depending on the relationship between countries, it may take several months to obtain visas and travel, or once they leave, it may be uncertain when they can re-enter. Therefore, sufficient attention must be paid to staff assignment and work handover.
<< Read Part 11 of the Series | Read Part 13 of the Series >>
