Telecommuting from Japan to California - Is it possible? 75
clambake asks: "Well, the long and short of it is I'll be moving to Japan next month as my wife is returning to finish her Master's degree in Tokyo. I have an excellent job now in Silicon Valley, and I'd love to keep working here from abroad, but it looks like California lawmakers have it out for me. Despite my company's willingness to keep me on, the labor laws make it very difficult, if not impossible, to do so when I don't physically work in the country. I can't work as a contractor for my own company either, as there are laws in place to 'protect' me from my employer trying to demote me to contractor to save on paying benefits. Is there anyone out there who's been through a similar situation and who would be willing to post their success or failure stories?"
My company (Score:3, Funny)
Regarding contractor status... (Score:1)
Just a thought.
Re:Regarding contractor status... (Score:2)
Re:Regarding contractor status... (Score:2)
Re:Regarding contractor status... (Score:2)
Re:Regarding contractor status... (Score:2)
Re:Regarding contractor status... (Score:1)
- 10 years or more living in Japan (with no breaks).
- Married to a Japanese person.
- 1 or more kids.
It may be easier if you're a second or third generation Japanese descendant, but either way, the application procedure can take anywhere from 4 to 12 months to be approved.
Re:Regarding contractor status... (Score:2)
Yhe state can't sue your employer for something that you're recieving.
All together now: (Score:5, Funny)
Talk to a lawyer? Talk to a lawyer!
Perhaps, if you haven't considered consulting with a lawyer, you may wish to talk to a lawyer. Alternatively, if you have some kind of problem with lawyers, you should talk to a lawyer.
Talk to a lawyer. Talk to a lawyer. Talk to a lawyer.
Someone needs to make a song about this.
Re:All together now: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:All together now: (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm surprised it's so hard too. That's why I think a good lawyer with expertise in this area would definitely have an answer. Especially if you paid him to say more than "Sorry, not possible, bye bye."
Sorry for the brush off. It is a legal question, after all.
Now the solo (Score:2)
No, what the lawyer says is, "That's illegal. Please don't ask me help you break the law, I could lose my license."
In point of fact, this whole conversation we're having amounts to a minor criminal conspiracy. Not that I really care -- in a nation swarming with undocumented immigrants, I can't get worked up over a U.S. citizen pretending to be in
Re:Now the solo (Score:2)
If he in fact was attempting to defraud the California government or the Feds for the purpose of gain, I would agree with you. If there is no profit (real or imaginary) or attempt for profit, what we have here is a guy looking to live his life in spite of some dumb ass laws. Happens all the time in other countries (you should have been there my last few trips to Russia - no offense to the Russians) but by and l
Re:Now the solo (Score:2)
Breaking a dumbass law is still breaking a law. When people conspire to break a law, dumbass or not, it's a criminal conspiracy. If you choose to ignore laws you consider stupid, well, that's your choice. But don't get all sensitive ab
Re:All together now: (Score:2)
Re:All together now: (Score:2)
Sing it to the Tubes' song Talk To Ya Later. That works!
Does a film count? (Score:2)
Substitute the word lawyer for Malkovich and just watch the scene in Being John Malkovich where he himself goes down the shaft and experiences what it's like to be John Malkovich.
Very entertaining film.
Re:All together now: (Score:2)
You just did. Although the rhythm is a little quirky, for Slashdot, it's just fine. However, please don't ask us to clap along.
Can you legally keep your address at California? (Score:2, Insightful)
Just treat this like college students do when they go to school in a different state and keep their parents' house as residence.
Alex.
Re:Can you legally keep your address at California (Score:2)
Re:Can you legally keep your address at California (Score:1)
Re:Can you legally keep your address at California (Score:2)
Is this so different from a business trip? (Score:5, Insightful)
My old company used to send me all over on business -- to India, Brazil, and other places, for extended stays, yet never had any trouble with simply continuing my pay and benefits as usual. Granted that I'm not in California, but surely Californians face the same situation all the time? I've never run into anyone who stopped getting paid over a business trip.
You're going over, and you're going to do business, right? So it could be a business trip of unusual duration.
Re:Is this so different from a business trip? (Score:3, Interesting)
How about they send you to Japan on a fact finding mission in addition to your normal job duties, perhaps a feasibility study to determine whether or not they could survive in that market.
Then again this of course means that all your travel expenses are tax deductible as the company isn't paying for them!
Re:Can you legally keep your address at California (Score:2)
I've heard of this being an issue in the reverse direction; say you live in Washington state and work as a contractor in California; you want to keep your CA time below a certain number to avoid having to pay CA for nexus in that state.
I've never heard of it being a problem in the other direction. If you're paying CA taxes as if you're a resident, why would the state care where you really are? The CA Franchise Tax Board (the most vicious coll
Set up a PO Box or similar (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Set up a PO Box or similar (Score:2)
Re:Set up a PO Box or similar (Score:1)
Re:Set up a PO Box or similar (Score:4, Informative)
Good Luck to you and have a safe trip!
Re:Set up a PO Box or similar (Score:2)
Enjoy it while you can, because it may get pulled out from under you next year or the year after...
Re:Set up a PO Box or similar (Score:1)
what they don't know won't hurt them (Score:5, Interesting)
In short, I had a legal address in CA and no one asked any questions. Since I am a freelancer and work from home anyway, the administrative end of the comanies I worked with didn't know the difference -- to them, it just looked like I had moved somewhere else in CA -- and the IRS and California Franchise Tax Board didn't care either.
From other posts you've made responding to similar suggestions, it sounds like your comany lawyers are a little uncomfortable with the idea, and they will obviously have the final say. But really, I think if you find a friend with a CA address who is willing to say that you live with him or her, and who will do little things like put your name on their mailbox, I don't think anyone can touch you. Pay a nominal fee to your friend for rent. Make sure you come back to CA several times a year, and be sure to stay at "your" home when you do. Register to vote at your new address, and do so, by absentee ballot if necessary. Get everything in Japan in your wife's name. It seems to me that if you do all this it would take a determined effort to prove you're doing something illegal.
jf
Re:what they don't know won't hurt them (Score:1)
The German's didn't even look at my passport as soon as I told them I was from Canada.
Maybe they track it by computers now instead, but I didn't notice anything more than a quick check of the passport.
Re:what they don't know won't hurt them (Score:1)
check out http://www.france.diplomatie.fr/venir/visas/index
you can stay in France for up to 3 months as a tourist without a visa (not just 14 days). Perhaps this is the same for other European countries.
Re:what they don't know won't hurt them (Score:3, Informative)
I worked for 8 months from Germany, but my legal address was a Mailboxes Etc. box in Berkeley, CA. This is a better option than a US PO Box because your address will look "real" -- mine was "1536 Solano Ave. #248" -- 1536 Solano Ave. being the location of the Mailboxes Etc. and 248 being the box number.
Unfortunately, thanks to a bunch of paranoid freaks worried about identity theft, that's not allowed any more. According to a rule passed March 25 [sba.gov], 1999, you have to use PMB in your address in order to r
Re:what they don't know won't hurt them (Score:2)
but the problem is demonstrating this to company lawyers, not a judge.
Re:what they don't know won't hurt them (Score:2)
Re:what they don't know won't hurt them (Score:2)
Go Bears
Re:Whoops (Score:1, Flamebait)
THE ABOVE IS A TROLL (Score:3, Interesting)
Also I've seen documentaries on British TV which portrayed the Japanese education systems is one of the best in the world.* How could it be otherwise whe
Re:THE ABOVE IS A TROLL (Score:2)
Re:THE ABOVE IS A TROLL (Score:2)
Re:The real answer (Score:1)
Try going around more tradional parts of Japan too (Kyoto, Nara).
How about (Score:1)
I mean... if you have a great job that pays well, you should probably not rock the boat... who pays the bills? Stay home, make some dough and pay for a trip every 20 days or whatever you guys need.
The solution, I believe, is simple... (Score:2)
That would lead me to two conclusions... first, that your company finds you valuable and thus would work with you on a possible solution. Second... that if you QUIT your job to start your own company... that is entirely different matter. So quit your job with an official resignation. Setup your own corporation (Su
Would it be cheaper ... (Score:2)
How about staying? (Score:1, Offtopic)
Can't Help On The Legal Side, But Logistically... (Score:2)
I've continued to contract for a company in California despite the fact that I moved to Canberra, Australia during my tenure (though I've always been a contractor for them). At times the logistics of the time difference are a bit of a pain (especially with daylight savings, as currently CA's work hours are during Canberra's sleeping hours) but aside from this all has gone well.
I even picked up another short term contract in CA while I was in Oz (which I found truly ironic, seeing as how I moved to Oz prima
Another Thought... (Score:2)
How about if your company doesn't hire you? (Score:4, Interesting)
No, I don't know if it is practical for a resident alien to incorporate a business in Japan... Just an idea (you should talk to a Japanese lawyer).
Re:How about if your company doesn't hire you? (Score:1)
instead of saying "Ask a lawyer" one should always say "Ask a Japanese lawyer"
That should help clear things up, as people often don't seem to understand...
Re:How about if your company doesn't hire you? (Score:1)
I know, no help to anyone am I!
Re:How about if your company doesn't hire you? (Score:1)
Re:How about if your company doesn't hire you? (Score:1)
Don't ask, don't tell (Score:2, Informative)
Getting money out of your U.S. bank in Tokyo is easy: just use your ATM card, or transfer t
Dammit! (Score:4, Interesting)
Don't ask, don't tell. Just go. Have a friend's address become your address for a year and send all your mail there. Pay your friend in beer, cash or goodwill to have him do it for you, don't just assume he will.
You are not going to get the $70,000 tax exemption for working out of the country and you will still have to pay California income taxes, but if it is important to you, you will do it.
Another way to do it is to move to Texas first and telecommute from there for a month or two, then move overseas. This will accomplish two things : prove to yourself and to your company that it can work, and quite honestly Texas could give a fsck if some California transplant wants to move to Japan and work for his company from there.
Re:Dammit! (Score:1)
Re:Don't ask, don't tell - done it. (Score:1)
On top of that, I moved back and forth in the middle of the year. Hence, I earned half my income in the foreign country and the other half here. Other than them (foreign IRS) stiffing me for my tax refund (1500 EUR) when I moved back to the US, I had no issues.
My US money was taxed in the US and my foreign in that
But Japan will care if they find out... (Score:2)
Now, it is very likely that no Japanese officials will ever find out if you never tell them, but you and your wife will have to lie every time you enter/leave
Re:But Japan will care if they find out... (Score:1)
One solution (Score:1)
IANAL and all the good stuff... you could start a company in Japan, and have your CA company outsource work to it. Or, have your CA company open a one-man 'branch' office.
Or, you could give me your job
Re:One solution (Score:1)
Working from Japan (Score:1)
This sounds like you need a visa to work in the United States. Is this the issue? If so, you're probably out of luck. In any case, I agree with another poster -- talk to a lawyer.
I telecommuted from Japan to California for a year. I'm an American citizen. The only difficulty I had was in obtaining a work VISA in Japan and the only real diffic