For most Specified Skilled Worker candidates, the money going home is the reason for the whole plan. It is worth understanding the mechanics before the first payday rather than after.
This is general information, not financial advice. Costs and providers change.
What you need first
Three things, in this order:
- A residence card (在留カード), which you receive on arrival.
- A Japanese bank account, which your employer will usually help you open - salary is paid into it.
- Identification consistent across all of them. Your name must be spelled identically on your residence card, your bank account and your remittance account, or transfers will be held.
That third point causes more delays than anything else. Fix any inconsistency early.
Where the cost hides
Comparing transfer services by their stated fee is misleading. There are two costs:
- The fee, which is visible.
- The exchange rate margin, which usually is not.
A service advertising a low fee with a poor rate can be more expensive than one charging a higher fee at the market rate. Compare the amount that arrives, in your home currency, for a fixed amount sent. That single number is the only fair comparison.
Then check the other variables: how long it takes, how the recipient collects it, and whether there is a limit per transfer.
Send less often, not more
Every transfer carries a fixed cost. Sending monthly rather than weekly usually saves money, provided your family’s needs allow it.
Some workers send a fixed amount on payday and keep a separate buffer in Japan. That buffer matters more than people expect: the first months carry deposit costs, and residence tax starts in your second year, reducing take-home pay with no change in salary.
Keep every record
Not optional, for two reasons:
Tax. If you claim dependants abroad on your Japanese tax, evidence of remittances is required, and the documentation rules are strict. Tax basics.
Renewals. A clear financial history helps rather than hinders at renewal time. Renewing your status.
Keep receipts as files, not as paper you will lose in a move.
Two warnings
Never send money through an individual. Informal transfer arrangements offered by acquaintances are sometimes illegal and always unprotected. If it goes wrong there is no recourse.
Be careful who knows your schedule. Workers who are known to send a large amount on a fixed day are a target for the kind of approach that starts as friendship.
Plan the number before you accept a job
Work out what actually lands in your account - gross pay minus tax, insurance and pension, rent and utilities. Then subtract living costs. What is left is what you can send.
Do that arithmetic from the contract before you sign it, not from the salary figure in the advertisement: reading an SSW contract and salary and deductions.
Candidates who plan on the gross figure are the ones who arrive and find the plan does not work.