EDITORIAL: Sorgfältige Überlegungen sind erforderlich, bevor die von Ausländern gezahlten Gebühren erhöht werden | Der Asahi Shimbun: Aktuelle Nachrichten, japanische Nachrichten und Analysen https://share.google/1drFkss8b582bmluz
EDITORIAL: Careful thought needed before raising fees paid by foreigners
byu/deepdishj injapannews
3 Kommentare
Well, the kinds of people raising fees for foreigners are not exactly fans of careful thought, so this is a bit of a tough sell.
Surely these policies will make a big change in the number of people desiring to continue here in Japan. There’s no balance regarding rights and obligations.
The fee hikes don’t only affect me, but also my Japanese spouse and children. At a time when the government is trying to find ways to make things more affordable for working families, by providing various subsidies and handouts for children, everything we have received is nullified by the prospect of paying for both a visa renewal and PR application within the next year or so.
Another relevant story. I have a step-child who recently started university. When I first moved in with my wife 10 years ago, before we were married, she instantly lost all financial support she was receiving as a single parent. Recently, while my step son was applying for a student loan for university, my salary also had to be declared. So, despite not being my child in a legal sense, I do have a direct impact on his ability to receive financial support. The Japanese government very much expects me to support both his living costs and education costs.
Despite this, and despite being married for 6 years, earning above average, and paying all taxes, insurance, etc. on time, I have been stuck in a 1 year visa loop for a few years now. And now I’m preparing my renewal application knowing that I need a 5-year visa minimum before I can apply for PR.
My visa situation is the only reason we have put off buying a house. We’re financially comfortable. It’s technically possible without PR, but the usual banks don’t like it, and you pay a premium elsewhere. We also have a child together who will start elementary school next year and we had hoped to be settled somewhere with a house before then. We’re talking through our options with a company now, but the visa is a real sticking point.
So yeah, tl;dr, repeatedly finding ways to fuck foreigners just to score points with right-wing voters can impact Japanese nationals too.