Look inside
The plan for Japan, from the inside
These are all 36 steps of the Japan journey, exactly as they appear in your personal plan — with the lead time and the costs next to them. Not a brochure: this is the file that feeds the platform. Pick another country below if you're heading elsewhere.
For which country?
Every country has its own steps, its own order and its own clocks. Switch as often as you like.
- Steps
- 36
- Phases
- 5
- Official sources
- 74
- Only for your situation
- 9
Phase 1
6 steps
Orientation
Japan has no queue and no lottery — but also no route without an employer. The real entrance exam isn't the visa; it's finding the job, and being honest about what a life in Japanese asks of you.
- 1.1
Understand the system: first a sponsor, only then papers
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.2
Choose your route: employer, points bonus or trial year
- Lead time
- an evening of comparing
- Costs
- none
4 official sources
- 1.3
Get a picture of what it's going to cost
- Lead time
- 1-2 hours with the calculator
- Costs
- none
- 1.4
Be honest about the language
- Lead time
- a week of researching and trying
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.5
Take the decision together
- Lead time
- no fixed one; take your time
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.6
Choose your target date
- Lead time
- five minutes, below
- Costs
- none
Phase 2
7 steps
Job and visa
The selection sits in the job application, not in the visa application. Once the employer is in, a fixed chain follows: the Certificate of Eligibility (one to three months, your employer files), the visa in The Hague (a week), and within three months of issue you're standing at the airport.
- 2.1
Find a job with an employer willing to sponsor
- Lead time
- weeks to months — this is the real work
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 2.2
Read the contract with Japanese eyes
- Lead time
- a few days, before you sign
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 2.3
Count your points: the bonus that moves your PR clock
- Lead time
- an evening with the points table
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 2.4
The COE application: your employer files, you supply
- Lead time
- standard 1 to 3 months
- Costs
- free
2 official sources
- 2.5
The visa: a week at the embassy in The Hague
- Lead time
- as a rule 5 working days
- Costs
- ± ¥ 15,000 (± € 90) per visa since 1 July 2026
2 official sources
- 2.6
With your family: the dependent applications and the certificates
- Lead time
- runs alongside your COE application
- Costs
- fees per family member, see step 2.5
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.7
With a pet: start the 180-day clock now
- Lead time
- at least 7 months — the longest clock of this journey
- Costs
- chip, vaccinations and titre test, see the cost indication
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
Phase 3
11 steps
Closing the Netherlands
This is the mildest non-EU corridor on the site: the 2009 treaty saves your AOW — the single person's rate too — and adds up your pension time. But there's no treaty route for healthcare, the protective assessment asks for security here, and the tax treaty has a clause that hangs on your transfers.
- 3.1
Healthcare: no treaty route — the Japanese system awaits
- Lead time
- arrange the connection before the day of departure
- Costs
- premium in Japan, ± 10% of income (half via employer)
2 official sources
- 3.2
AOW and pension: the treaty does the heavy lifting
- Lead time
- an afternoon of finding out; decide on voluntary insurance
- Costs
- voluntary AOW insurance: 17.9% of income (min ± € 569/year)
3 official sources
- 3.3
The tax office: providing security, and the remittance clause
- Lead time
- with pension or substantial-shareholding assets: with an adviser
- Costs
- possibly advice and bank guarantee
3 official sources
- 3.4
Benefits and child benefit: here it stops — there something starts
- Lead time
- an hour, partly by phone
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
- 3.5
Deregister at the municipality
- Lead time
- possible from 5 days before departure, up to and including the day of departure
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 3.6
DigiD, bank and your vote: keep the lines with the Netherlands
- Lead time
- an afternoon
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
- 3.7
Driving licences: renew the Dutch one, get the international one
- Lead time
- a week
- Costs
- RDW renewal € 36.40; international driving permit at the ANWB
2 official sources
- 3.8
Partner comes along without a job of their own
- Lead time
- an evening together, then a few admin actions
- Costs
- none — the consequences are in the article
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.9
Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month rule
- Lead time
- one decision, before you commit to anything else
- Costs
- none
4 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.10
The house in the Netherlands: sell, let or keep
- Lead time
- one conversation with the mortgage lender and one with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advice hours; when letting, possibly an interest surcharge from the bank
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.11
Children who stay in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the house
- Lead time
- an evening, and then one notification a year
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 4
5 steps
The move
The Japanese border is generous to your household goods — tax-free, with one form in duplicate — and strict on the calendar: your freight must arrive within six months after you, medicines above a month's supply require a permit in advance, and the pet flies on a clock that already started in phase 2.
- 4.1
The household goods: across the border free, with one form
- Lead time
- quotes 3-4 weeks ahead; sea freight 6-8 weeks
- Costs
- see the cost indication
2 official sources
- 4.2
Medicines: one month free, above that paperwork in advance
- Lead time
- application at least 2 weeks before departure
- Costs
- none — the application is free
2 official sources
- 4.3
The day of travel: land at a card airport
- Lead time
- the journey itself; the COE clock sets the latest date
- Costs
- the flights
1 official source
- 4.4
The pet: the AQS notification and the flight
- Lead time
- notification at least 40 days before arrival
- Costs
- titre test, NVWA certificate and the flight, see the cost indication
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
- 4.5
The car: sell it at home
- Lead time
- selling and deregistering, 1-2 weeks
- Costs
- none — this brings money in
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
Phase 5
7 steps
Arrival in Japan
The residence card you get as a gift at landing; after that every registration is the key to the next, with one hard clock: fourteen days for the municipal registration. Whoever keeps the order — municipality, phone, bank, house — is sorted in weeks where others wander for months.
- 5.1
The landing: your card, and straight away that one permission
- Lead time
- the day of arrival itself
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 5.2
Within fourteen days: the municipal round
- Lead time
- one well-prepared morning
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
- 5.3
Phone, bank and the six-month rule
- Lead time
- phone a day; bank 1-2 weeks
- Costs
- SIM from ± ¥ 2,000 a month
1 official source
- 5.4
Housing: reikin, the guarantor and the UR route
- Lead time
- searching and signing, 2-6 weeks
- Costs
- count on 4-6 months' rent upfront; UR: ± 3 months
2 official sources
- 5.5
Exchange your driving licence — well within your first year
- Lead time
- JAF translation 5-10 working days; the exchange a day
- Costs
- JAF translation ¥ 6,600; fees ± ¥ 4,850
2 official sources
- 5.6
School and childcare: choose the system, not just the school
- Lead time
- the first weeks after arrival
- Costs
- public free; international from ± ¥ 2 million a year
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 5.7
Live with the clocks of your status
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
9 of these steps aren't always there. They appear only when your answers call them up — a pet, a car, children staying behind. That's the difference between a plan and a checklist in which you have to work out yourself what applies.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Japan journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 3.2 of your plan
AOW and pension: the treaty does the heavy lifting
- Lead time
- an afternoon of finding out; decide on voluntary insurance
- Costs
- voluntary AOW insurance: 17.9% of income (min ± € 569/year)
Here Japan differs fundamentally from Dubai or America: since 2009 there's been a social security treaty, and it does three things. Your AOW (the Dutch state pension) comes along in full — including the single person's rate of 70%, which drops to 50% outside treaty countries. Your pension years add up: Dutch and Japanese insurance time is aggregated, so your compulsory Japanese premiums aren't money thrown away. And secondment stays Dutch: whoever is posted for at most five years stays under the Dutch system. What you decide yourself: the voluntary AOW insurance against the accrual gap of 2% a year — apply within a year of departure, at most ten years.
This is step 3.2 of 36. The other 35 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
And what you don't see here
This page shows the content. What a page can't show is the work the platform does for you afterwards:
- The clocks that start running the moment you begin, and a nudge at the moment something is asked of you — not earlier.
- Your documents in one place, with their expiry dates watched, so nothing lapses while you wait for something else.
- The ticking off, together with your partner on the same journey.
- The steps that drop out or appear based on your answers, so your plan holds only what really applies to you.
Ready to start on Japan?
All 36 steps, set to your situation and with the deadlines watched. € 399 once, no subscription.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Japan: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Japan really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Ready to begin?
Thirty-six journeys are fully ready — Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Canada, Panama, United States, Suriname, China, Dubai, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand: your step-by-step plan, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.