Visa

One thing that I have gained by living outside the US is a new appreciation for the difficulty immigrants have when trying to set up a new life in a new place.  It's kind of funny...here we are the immigrants, the foreigners, the crazy gaijin (literally means foreign person) that don't speak the language and need all kinds of help. Here we get pats on the back for our bravery, lauding for our courageous spirit, an A for our effort. But, back home, we hear things like, "You know, they should really learn to speak our language.  They are living here, in our country..."  I have heard that so many times.  It's never bothered me, immigrants into the US that can't speak English, but I also never put any thought into how difficult life must be for them either.

One example...to live and work in another country you have to have the proper paperwork, otherwise you are an illegal alien.  (Such a controversial topic in the US...).  Here we need a visa.  Every person that enters Japan is issued a Visa at the airport as they go through customs.  However, this is just a tourist visa, good for 90 days and allows you to tour, look for work, but not actually do any work.  People that want to live and work here have to change their visa into a working visa.  A working visa gives you permission to work - but the permission is only good for a specific kind of work - what ever you list on your application.  In order to get a working visa you have to have a job and contract to prove it.  The visa is only good for 1 year initially and then you can renew each year after that.  Some people are fortunate and get a 3 year visa upon renewal. So, we got our working visa when we came in February last year.  It just expired.  Now, we are leaving in March so we didn't want to go through the hassle of renewing - it is a hassle...but guess what, if we don't renew, we can't leave Japan.  I mean, we can leave eventually, but if you try to leave with an expired visa there is all kinds of trouble with immigration, possible detention...not really sure what all goes on, but it doesn't sound fun.

So, to renew.  We had to fill out all kinds of paperwork, submit a small forest of documents from our employers, travel to the immigration office multiple times...and here's the part that put me in the looney bin - the office is only open M-F 9-4.  So, that means for me to go I have to take time off work, unpaid.  And, it is not on a train line so, that means a hefty hike or a costly taxi ride.  Another crazy thing?  It costs $40 to renew your visa but the immigration office does not accept cash or credit, only stamps.  So, you have to go to the post office, buy a $40 stamp (like a money order) and then go to immigration.  Of course they give you papers explaining all this - but they are in Japanese.  When your visa is ready they send you postcard letting you know to come pick it up and telling you what to bring along...all in Japanese.

Of course it's in Japanese, we live in Japan!  But, you know what - same deal for the people coming to the US.  We probably do some of the same things to them.  Send them things in English and then wonder why they don't respond.  I'd like to think the US is better at providing what is needed in the right language, but, to someone that doesn't speak the language and cannot even ask for what they need, I'm sure it's all overwhelming.  For all I know everything I need is available here in English, I just don't even know how to ask or where to look.

Anyway, we have finished the process, we are legal to be here and legal to leave.  Just in time to get out of here.  Just one more thing to do as we try to get ready to leave! I guess my hope is that in returning I will have more patience and empathy for the people going through the same process in the US.

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