New Immigration System in Japan -Video Explanation

On July 9th 2012 Japan's new Immigration System will go live, and people need to be aware of what that means to them.  Here is an in depth interview I gave on June 20th where I sum up the important points.  Please have a look and contact me if you have any questions. 




For your convenience, I have copied in the text of my previous blog post on this subject, which includes a brief description, links to official Japanese government source materials (mostly in English), and answer some frequently asked questions.

Japan Relocation and Global Trends

Japan Relocation Amongst The Brookfield 2012 Global Relocation Trends Survey

The bullet points below are highlights that have been copied directly from Brookfield's website; their summary bullet points of their survey. The narration is added to give a Japan perspective.

• 54% of international assignees were relocated to or from the headquarters country, the lowest percentage in the history of this report.

This above shows how third country relocations are on the rise. The Indian IT engineer working for a US company is moved from Tokyo to London....... In Japan, we are seeing a rise in non-traditional relocations of many assignees from Asian decent, working for western companies. Non-traditional relocation programs need to be innovated!

• China, Brazil and India were the most challenging locations for international assignees, not Russia as reported in the past four years. China, Brazil, India and Russia were the most challenging for program managers.

This can be said for Japanese companies too. The H&R Group represents "Lead-S" in China and "Formula Group" in India. We increasingly see more opportunities to help Japanese companies into these locations.

• 54% of company revenues were generated outside the headquarters country, a record high for the past two years, compared to a historical average of 46%.

This is the trend for Japanese companies too. The strong yen is driving business out of Japan, and forcing Japanese to become more global.

• For 85% of the respondents, relocation assignment policy decisions were made globally at headquarters; 8% regionally; and 7% by business division.

This is something that is completely the reverse in Japan. Apart from domestic relocation giant "Relocation International" (part of the Relo Holdings Group) there are few global management options available to Japanese companies, and most companies choose to do things locally "in location".

• At companies where cross-cultural training was offered, it was mandatory at 24% of companies. 85% of respondents rated cross-cultural training as having good or great value.

This is something very much missing in Japanese relocations. There is a strong tendency for Japanese companies and people to continue to run operations like "Japanese" even when they are in Vietnam......I really would like to see a little more "When in Rome do as the Romans do" from our Japanese counterparts.

• 10% of responding companies assist international assignees with elderly family members. Of these companies 64% relocate elderly family members to the assignment location and 55% support international assignee visits to the home country.

This is a big issue for Japan. It is rare for companies to support employees who have elderly family on assignment, and indeed for expats coming to Japan on assignment, there is no dependent visa for elderly family to allow you to have them come with you.

• Respondents indicated that 6% of assignments fail. Top causes for failure are the employee leaves to work for another company; spouse/partner dissatisfaction; other family concerns; and the job does not meet expectations.

This is a statistic that I don't know much about for Japanese assignees. Based on the hierarchical society that Japan is, one would imagine that assignment failure would be less than this 6%. Furthermore for expats in Japan, there is very little "hardship" here, so my gut feeling is that failed assignments are much lower for assignees to Japan. 

There is no denying that our industry is changing in some very challenging ways. Our organization is focussed on positive innovation to meet the changes. We won't get it all right, but we need to innovate on many levels.

Japan Relocation and Highly Skilled Foreign Professionals

The Japanese immigration bureau announced the start of a new “points-based” visa system for “highly skilled foreign professionals” on May 7^th 2012.

To qualify for a visa under the “Designated Activities” category of Japan’s 27 visa categories through this new system you need 70 points. The system is available to 3 kinds of foreign professionals;

1.     Foreign professionals conducting “Academic Research” activities

2.     Foreign professionals conducting  “Advanced Specialized / Technical” activities

3.     Foreign professionals conducting “management” activities

Each of the above 3 “activities” have a clearly defined “points calculation table” based on academic background, research or business experience, promised annual salary, Japanese language proficiency, earning a degree at a higher education institution in Japan and a few other “bonus point” opportunities unique to each of the categories.

For academic research and advanced specialized / technical activities, age is also a factor; the younger you are, the more points you can obtain (this is not applicable to business management).

Through this system, I think it is obvious for all to see that the Japanese Government is looking to target young professionals in academia and technical fields, while try to attract experienced businessmen into management positions in Japan.

THE ADVANTAGES

Using this system, if you score 70 points or more, you receive not only visa status, but also some preferential treatment compared to other medium to long-term visa holders in Japan. This includes;

-       Permission to conduct multiple purposes of activities during your stay

(under other visa categories, your activities are limited to the activities of the stipulated visa category)

-       Relaxation of requirements to obtain “Permanent Residence” in Japan. A minimum of 4.5 years to obtain such status (under the current system, a stay of 10 years is generally required, unless you have a Japanese spouse)

-       The ability to have your spouse work full-time (under the current system, with permission, the maximum you can work is 28 hours per week as a dependent spouse)

-       Permission to have your parents live with you in Japan up to 3-years (there is currently no dependent visa that covers “parents” to allow for them to live with you)

-       Permission to have a domestic servant

THE DISADVANTAGES

There is one large disadvantage and some inconveniences to this new system.

-       The biggest disadvantage is that as this system is administered through the “Designated Activities” visa category that exists as one of the 27 visa categories in Japan, if you do have a working visa through this system and you leave your job to take another position with another company in Japan, you will need to re-apply for the visa with your new organization from scratch. This is not true for the other 26 categories, whereby if you change jobs and stay within the activities stipulated for your visa status, you only need to report the change, but do not lose your visa status.

-       The second disadvantage is that there is quite a lot of paperwork involved in the application. For example, if you have 10-years of experience in the industry, you need to prove that experience by providing 10 years’ worth of “employment certificates” from each of your employers during the 10-year period (or at least enough evidence that adds up to 10 years). How many of you are able to receive an employment certificate from a workplace 10 years ago!

-       Another disadvantage is that you are not guaranteed to be successful with this kind of “Designated Activities” visa, so you a required to make an application for this visa with one of the other “regular 26 visa categories. ie. You need to make an application for two visas at the same time, and if you are successful you will receive this special visa.

I must say that I am impressed with the Immigration Bureau and their willingness to implement new systems such as this. Since 2010 we have seen the “Fast Track System” for large companies in Japan, which enables large companies to push through visa applications much quicker than before, May 7^th 2012 saw this “Highly Skilled Foreign Professionals” system implemented, and then on July 7^th 2012 we will see the implement of the new resident card, which amongst other things will see the maximum period of visas extended from 3 to 5 years.

If you play by the rules in Japan, things are becoming significantly more convenient on the whole.

In closing, in my conversations with the immigration bureau recently two things have become apparent. One is that the DPJ is having a hard time passing any laws, and therefore any radical change in the Immigration System is not going to happen or be recommended. It is for this reason that the new “Highly Skilled Foreign Professionals” point-system has been placed under the “Designated Activities Visa” category. Creating a new visa category would have required laws to be passed, and that is something the DPJ can’t do with any speed right now.

The second item leads on from the first, but it is very evident that the Immigration Bureau recognizes that change in Immigration policy is needed. They are trapped within the political environment, but are doing what they can to move immigration policy forward. Amongst their next plans are goals to reduce visa processing time to a maximum of 10 working days for any visa category, and for immigration policy that will allow for the relaxation of the entry of health care workers from Asia and the rest of the world.

More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Serviced Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!
The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!

www.morethanrelo.com

Evaluating Staff in Relocation

Earlier this year, myself and all the managers of the H&R Group- “More Than Relocation”, undertook a seminar on how to better evaluate our staff. Here are some pointers that we were given on the things that you tend to forget……..

1.     THE HELO EFFECT

This is where the employee shines in one particular area, or a number of particular areas, but the “Helo Effect” of these well performed areas leads you to mistakenly believe that the person performs outstandingly in all areas. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

2.     THE CENTER EFFECT

This is whereby many of your evaluations collect in the middle of your evaluation scale. eg, on a scale of 1-5, you score many of your employees a score of 3. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

3.     THE HIGH-LOW EFFECT

This is whereby you tend to be overly kind or overly strict to the employees you are evaluating. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

4.     THE SIMILAR EFFECT

This is whereby you take like sections of the evaluation and assume that they are all the same. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

5.     THE COMPARISON EFFECT

This is whereby you compare the evaluation of the employee to yourself. eg. You are poor at using excel, so you evaluate the person highly when they are more skilled at using excel. Or you are extra-ordinarily good at something, so you evaluate the person lowly, because they are not. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

6.     THE WRONG PERIOD EFFECT

This is where you mistakenly evaluate someone on the wrong evaluation period. eg. You evaluate them lowly on a particular area because they made a big mistake last year, when in actual fact you are supposed to be evaluating their performance this year. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

7.     THE RECENT MEMORY EFFECT

This is whereby you mistakenly evaluate somebody on what they have achieved recently that you remember, and not necessarily what they have achieved over the entire evaluation period. If the evaluation period is significantly long (eg. more than 3 months), it is advisable to write things down, so you don’t forget what has been achieved or not. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

8.     THE BACK DATING EFFECT

Once the evaluation has been completed, this is where you go back and revise the evaluation, so as a “fixed score” is received. This defeats the objectivity of the evaluation you conducted. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

Are you guilty of committing one of the evaluation crimes above on your relocation staff?

I know that I certainly have been in the past. It is a good idea to read the above before you conduct a relocation staff evaluation!

In closing, the best thing you can do to assist in making an objective evaluation that is free of bias, is to clearly articulate the goals at goal setting time. Much of the dis-belief and mis-trust that is created mutually between evaluators and the staff being evaluated is caused by a mis-interpretation of what the original goals were. ie. The manager thought the goal (output) was one thing, but the staff member thought the goal (output) was something different. This happens due to poor and unclear goal setting. If you set goals that are as “clear as daylight”, it is not possible for this mis-interpretation to occur. eg. I will “achieve sales of JPY XXX with my team”, or “I will train Mary so that she can do X, Y and Z without supervision and any mistakes”. Goals must be “concrete” and they must describe the desired output at the end of the evaluation period!

More Than Japan Housing, More Than Japan Cars and Furniture, More than Japan Serviced Apartments, More Than Japan Destination Services, More Than Japan License Conversion, More Than Japan Information!
The H&R Group is MORE THAN RELOCATION!

www.morethanrelo.com

Trends in Relocation- Japan- Mid 2012

Over the past few months, I have attended a number of relocation conferences and other seminars, and on the basis of them, here are the trends that I currently see in the relocation space in Japan.

1.     Increased Short-Term Assignments and Rotational Work

After the 3/11 earthquake, we are seeing much more activity in Japan on a “project basis”. While there might be long-term agendas, assignments are only taking a short-term view to deal with the volatility of safety (nuclear issues, etc) and the economic insecurity of the world. Often, assignments will then either be extended, or someone else will rotate in to take over.

2.     More Assignees are Coming from “Emerging” or “Developing” Markets

You can definitely see this trend in all the main centers of Japan. There are more assignees coming from developing Asian countries, and there are more and more Japanese companies wishing to employ such people. This creates a new dynamic for relocation service provision, as this kind of mobility is very different to the “relocating US expat”, for example.

3.     Increased Emphasis Placed on “Value” in Service Provision

While there is continued downward pressure on the price of all services in the mobility market, cost is definitely not everything, and increasingly “value” is being demanded in hand with cost.

“Today the game is based on your ability to help solve significant business problems for clients. If you want to play, you competitive advantage should help your clients make money, save money, or add value to their organization”.

4.     More One-Way Permanent Transfers

We have definitely seen this trend in relocation in Japan in the last 12 months. After the 3/11 earthquake, we have seen a lot of expats return to their home countries, and in exchange, have seen many people returning to take up “local hire” positions in Japan, who have in the past had some strong link with Japan. Often that link is a Japanese spouse, but it is also often past experience in Japan, or experience in working at a Japanese company overseas. This is not just happening in “local hire” cases, but we also see many “traditional assignments” to Japan in this last year whereby the “assignee” has had some strong past relationship with Japan; although this could be due to a medium to long term view to be transferred onto a local employment contract.

5.     Increase in “Split Assignments”

This is happening more and more in other Asian countries, but also happens a little here in Japan too. The family is based in Tokyo; the spouse and children reside in Tokyo, while the expat himself is assigned to other cities in Japan (and we are seeing more relocations into remote areas), or maybe working in other cities in Asia. I feel that Japan should sit up and consider this phenomenon more. With the security available in “life in Japan”, there is a good case for having Japan (Tokyo) as the base, but then having your expats travel into other locations as needed. A little bit of wisdom would see international schools and the relocation industry getting together to make this more viable.