“Accordingly, if a health insurance ID card is not presented (to an immigration officer), that alone cannot be sufficient reason for rejection or denial of a (visa) application,” according to the document.

This passage makes it very clear that not being enrolled in one of Japan’s public health insurance plans cannot of itself be sufficient cause for declining a foreigner’s application for visa renewal or change of status. Please read the entire Immigration document to fully understand the policy.

For more on legal issues, health and visas in Japan, check GaijinPot In Japan pages.  This story is a follow on to a previous post on visa’s in Japan mentioned here.

The letter takes issue with several key points of the new guidelines – points that both the city of Kobe and Free Choice agree must be satisfactorily addressed.  For one, it questions the ambiguity of the guideline’s newly added provision that “an applicant for visa renewal must be covered by social insurance.”  The guideline does not identify or even address the rules or standards that would be applied should an applicant not be enrolled in the social health plan.  The letter further points out that many foreigners already carry private medical insurance and acknowledges that such plans can in many cases do a better job of covering many of the problems typically faced by foreigners, such as emergency family reunion expenses for serious illness or injury and repatriation of remains in the event of death.  It also alludes to the guidelines’ silence on how such individuals are to be treated.

Kobe City has strong international heritage.  It openly welcomes the foreign community, and has also worked diligently to attract foreign companies.  By offering lower city taxes and other measures, it has created a zone friendly to outside businesses.  The city is also well known for the large biotechnology sector that is housed on its Port Island and its active recruitment of foreign researchers to come and work there.

Chairman Yoshida and the Kobe City Assembly do not feel that the new Immigration guidelines are in the best interest of their city.  They can foresee the potential detriment to their foreign community and, ultimately, to their city as a whole.  We at Free Choice wholeheartedly applaud their stance. To find out more about Kobe’s stance on this issue, please visit:

http://www.freechoice.jp/kobe.asp

Why is this a bad idea?

The guideline was intended to compel employers to observe the law by enrolling their employees in social insurance. However, it puts foreigners between a rock and a hard place because their employers may force them to join the national health plan instead. Foreigners not previously on the social system would have to pay up to two years of back premiums – up to five in some cities. Such action would undoubtedly force many honest and hard-working foreigners to leave Japan, while coercing dishonest or otherwise-legal foreigners “underground.” Ironically, this is precisely the opposite of the intended effect of the newly passed Immigration laws that seek to curtail foreigners from overstaying their visas.

The guideline is too ambiguous and a violation of human rights . . .

It does not specifically state whether foreigners who are not able to enroll in social insurance will be denied visa renewal or if they would instead be required to join the national health plan in order to qualify for extension. It gives individual Immigration officials complete and total discretion in determining whether or not to renew a visa – discretion based solely on personal judgment rather than on concrete principles or instructions.

The Free Choice Foundation will therefore petition the government under Article 16 of the Japanese Constitution to revoke the new guideline.

Please join our online petition drive at:

http://www.FreeChoice.jp

We welcome your support

- payment of medical fees at international clinics in Japan
- family reunion expenses in the event of serious illness
- medical and/or political evacuation
- repatriation of remains in the event of death
- comprehensive international coverage
- payment of pharmaceuticals not covered by public insurance

These needs are not at all unreasonable for expatriates. While we fully understand the government’s concern that foreigners have insurance protection, we cannot condone expatriates being forced onto public insurance by means of immigration policy, a tactic that ignores their needs and takes the humanity out of medicine.  The Free Choice Foundation will therefore petition the Japanese government under Article 16 of the Constitution to revoke the new guideline.

Please visit the Free Choice website for more information. While there, we invite you to join our online petition drive by sharing your comments on the “Declare Your Support” form.

We welcome your support!

www.freechoice.jp