Nov 21, 2002

How difficult to get a visa? ビザってやっぱり取るの大変?

It is always necessary to be patient to wait for the visa in general. If there is a good reason to be hired, (they are looking for a Japanese in order to widen the project plan also in Japan etc.) the company arranges everything they need to hire the person. At first the company have to apply a temporal work permit at the local labor ministry, so that the applicant can apply for his stay permit from his country. (Only for the first time, the stay permit has to applied from foreign country.) Then when the stay permit has been issued, the temporal work permit can be replaced with official one. It took me about five and a half months since I heard "yes" from my company until I get a work permit officially. (June.5th - Nov.22th) I think everything was carried out quite smoothly.
I have done everything except for the first application to the local labor ministry of course, (this should be done by the company.) myself, I do not say that the to gather documents or procedure is complicated, but it was rather hard just to have had to wait. Because during the time I had nothing to do to it. If I had had looked for a job while working at the previous company, I could have quit after everything was ready and almost no problem. But I was looking for a job without any job, it was hard to decide if I could continue to look for a job further or exactly until when, because of the financial problem. Of course I could lend money more, but there was nothing reliable that I could really get a job. I was annoyed myself between the reality and target. Without luck I could never make it.
Requirement for visa application of Japanese people differs from country to country in Europe. The most important thing is that the employer really wants to hire Japanese. In the view point of social insurance, now only in German system can over the contribution of the pension in Japan and vice versa.

待たなければいけないというのは基本的に必要なことです。雇用主が雇う理由がはっきりしていれば(たとえば日本向けのプロジェクトに備えるとか、新しい拠点を設けるとか)、すべて会社側で臨時の労働許可を現地の労働局に対して申請してくれます。そのあとは、それをもとに滞在許可を申請し(初年度の場合は当該国外からの申請が必須)、最終的には滞在許可が発行された段階で、さらに労働局でその仮発行された労働許可を、正規のものに振り替えるてもらうという手順になります。この間、会社側の労働局への申請の意思表示から始まって、最終的に正規の労働許可を現地で手にするまで(6月5日~11月22日)、約5ヶ月半です。これでもスムーズに行った方だと思っています。
労働局への申請以外はすべて自分で行いましたが、手続きが面倒というよりは何もしないで待っていなければいけないというのが非常につらかったというところがあります。もちろん在職中から活動をし、許可が下りた段階で会社を退職するなどということができれば全く心配はないのですが、無職の状態で求職活動をするわけですから、いつまで諦めずに粘って仕事を探すことができるかを見極めるのが大変でした。
ビザの申請についての条件は、ヨーロッパでも国によりまちまちですが、日本人の場合にはやはり雇用主によりけりです。それだけの理由があれば、どうあっても労働許可を発行してくれます。社会保障等の面から見ると、日本で払ってきた年金支払いをドイツ国内で引き続きすることができるという、条約が両国間で成立しています。そういう意味では今のところヨーロッパではドイツが一番条件がいいかもしれません。

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