Because of the ongoing new coronavirus crisis, some countries have introduced relief packages. Japan is one of them, and most Japanese residents are eligible for a 100,000 yen payment, regardless of one’s nationality.
Eligibility
All foreign residents who have registered with the ‘Basic Resident Registry‘ before or as of the 27th of April 2020, are eligible for the payment.
The payment is going to be made to the ‘head of the household’. Who that is is usually decided during the address registration process.
In the case of a family living at the same address, it would be one person.
In the case of a group that share the same address(like a flatshare), but are not a family, every person would be a ‘head of household’ and is to receive the payment individually.
A valid bank account is needed to receive the payment.
How to apply
The local municipal government is sending out forms that have to be filled and returned with a copy of the applicant’s identification document(something official, with a photo on).
Those who have a ‘My Number Card’ can apply online through the ‘My Number Portal’.
There is various video on internet in various languages that explains how to fill out the necessary form. For instance, this is an official website by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. https://kyufukin.soumu.go.jp/en/
The waiting times
The various municipal governments are still publishing the expected processing times. Some are already online (check the web page for your local government).
Some people have already received the payments, whereas others are yet to get their application forms.
The reported average waiting time is said to be two to three weeks.
Scam
A crisis like this often brings out the worst in people. There have been reported scams where fraudsters phone the victims and ask for bank details to be sent the relief money. Anytime when asked for bank details over the phone, one should hang up and report it to the police right away.
Be patient
Try to be patient. The requests are many and they do take time to process. Especially in the more densely populated areas (like the Tokyo metropolitan).
There is no need to worry, it is very unlikely that someone is going to be forgotten or overlooked. The time it takes to process the requests for each municipal government varies and some places take a little longer than others.
Let us look after ourselves as we look forward to when things are back to normal again.
By M.Kok
Freelance writer and coding enthusiast.
Also a keen sportsman and painter.
?Read more TalentHub blogs: https://talenthub.jp/blog/