Labor recourses from overseas is indispensable for present Japan. Phenomenon of decreasing birthrate and agin population causes manpower shortage in some industries in Japan
Since changing of the government to Abe administration, things have moved towards the depreciation of the yen and tourists from overseas has increased so we could find a signal of economic recovery these days.
For that reason, many of industries suffer from manpower shortage and ask for help to overseas labor resources. Today, I am going to talk about Japanese heath insurance prepared for foreign labors by the municipalities of each region.
Contents
- 1 Do all foreigners in Japan need to open Japanese health insurance?
- 2 What if I don’t open Japanese health insurance?
- 3 The case you are forced to pay health insurance premium that you didn’t pay
- 4 The case you can’t open National Health Insurance
- 5 What you need to prepare to apply for the National Health Insurance
Do all foreigners in Japan need to open Japanese health insurance?
If you work in a Japanese company, your health insurance is carefully managed by the public corporation named Japan Health Insurance Association under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan.
Mostly foreigners working in Japan who don’t correspond is practically forced to open a insurance package provided by Japan Health Insurance Association.
Even if you don’t work for a Japanese company, if you already stay in Japan for more than 3 months, you are obliged to open “National Health insurance”.
National Health Insurance seems literally to indicate the insurance only for Japanese nation but it doesn’t indicate the insurance only for Japanese people but for foreigners as well.
You may think you don’t need to open health insurance because you haven never got serious illness in your life or health insurance premium is expensive.
However, “medical insurance for the whole nation in Japan” is the principle. Those who live in Japan regardless of working or not are obliged to open either of one of the health insurance plan provided by Japan Health Insurance Association and National Health insurance provided by the government
The following table shows a person who need to open Japanese health insurance, referring toMinistry of Public Management、Home Affairs、Posts and Telecommunications
| Medium to long term resident | An alien who stay in Japan with resident (visa) status that doesn’t correspond to resident status of “official”, “diplomat”, “temporary visit” or was granted permission to stay in Japan for less than 3 months. |
|---|---|
| Special permanent resident | Permanent resident defined in Special Act on the Immigration Control of, Inter Alia, Those Who Have Lost Japanese Nationality Pursuant to the Treaty of Peace with Japan |
| Resident granted landing permission for temporary refuge or permission for provisional stay |
|
| Persons who may continue to stay transitionally in Japan by loss of Japanese nationality or by giving a birth to a child | In case of losing Japanese nationality or giving a birth to a child during, you can be granted permission to stay in Japan for 60 days from that day those reasons cause without having resident status. |
What if I don’t open Japanese health insurance?
The case you open Japanese health insurance by yourself is that you don’t work for a Japanese company or you don’t have any occupations or are possibly self-employed. In this case, you will have to take out National Health Insurance.
Even if you don’t go through procedure of opening National Health Insurance, you do never receive any punishments from the authority.
“National Health Insurance” is not the one managed by the government but each municipalities and they don’t recognize what type of insurance plan residents have opened.
However, you just remember the case you don’t open health insurance. Medical expenses are quite expensive enough to burden your living. Don’t forget a word of “well-earned punishment”.
There are some medical institutions that turn down hospitalization of people who don’t possess a National Health Insurance.
In this case, you can open a National Health Insurance but you’re claimed to make payments that date back from the day you did resident registration at municipality.
In short, if you open National Health insurance, insurance opening date is firmly regulated as the date you went through procedure of resident registration at municipality.
You may think it is unfair to pay insurance premium that dates back from the day you moved there even though you never got illness and injured since then.
But it is really opportunism that you open health insurance from now because you get injured.,
This is very painful payment if you don’t pay a health insurance premium continuously. However, this condition is not only adopted to foreigners but also Japanese.
The case you can’t open National Health Insurance
In the following cases, you can’t open National Health Insurance.
- Your visa is expired
- Your visa status is “temporary visit”
- Your visa status is “official”
- Your visa status is “diplomat”
However, even if you are a temporary visitor staying in Japan for less than 3 months, if your visa status corresponds to
- Intern Training
- Dependent
- Entertainer
that can prove you stay in Japan for over 3 months,
you can apply for a National Health Insurance.
If your country has concluded social security agreement with Japan and you have a certificate of its social security, you can’t open a National Health Insurance in Japan
Social security agreement is the one that aggregates all the period of validity of both pensions and other insurance systems by adjusting those mutually between Japan and a concerned country to prevent contractees from dual contract and problem of pension eligibility (which offers no refund payment)
Please make sure from here “the countries that have social security agreement with Japan” if your country has social security agreement with Japan.
If you already have another health insurance
If you already have another health insurance personally and if you are dependent and join your family’s health insurance, if you receive public assistance, you can’t open National health insurance.
What you need to prepare to apply for the National Health Insurance
If you apply for a National Health Insurance, you need to apply in a National Health Insurance section in a municipal office within 14 days from the day you move in a region and receive a certificate of resident.
If you delay the procedure of National Health Insurance, you are claimed to make payments that date back from the day you move in.
To open a National Health Insurance, you need to bring Resident card or special permanent resident certificate and either one of the following certificates if you retired from the previous company
- Social insurance disqualification certificate
- Seperation slip
- Leaving certificate
- Tax certificate slip
If you already have a National Health Insurance and give a birth to a baby, you need to bring a resident
card or special permanent resident certificate and
your National Health Insurance card to a municipal office.