2. Status of Residence “Intra-Company Transferee”
(1) If a foreign national stays in Japan under the status of residence “Intra-Company
Transferee” as listed in the lower column of the intra-company transferee section,
Annexed Table I-II of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, such
foreign national may engage in the following activities in Japan: activities as listed in
the lower column of the “Engineer” section or “Specialist in Humanities/International
Services” section of this Table, which stipulates the activities of an employee in a
foreign business office of a private/public entity that has its headquarters, branch or
other business office in Japan if such employee is to be transferred to such office in
Japan within the company for a fixed term.
In this regard, the activities for the status of residence “Intra-Company
Transferee” differ from those for “Engineer” or “Specialist in
Humanities/International Services” in that with “Intra-Company Transferee” the
authorized activities that an intra-company transferee may engage in while in Japan are for a fixed duration, the intra-company transferee may only engage in these
activities at the designated business office to which he or she has been assigned, and
the intra-company transferee may engage in activities which come under both the
statuses of residence of “Engineer” and of “Specialist in Humanities/International
Services”. Otherwise, the activities for “Intra-Company Transferee” will come under
either the activities of “Engineer” or the activities of “Specialist in
Humanities/International Services”.
(2) According to Item I of the Criteria Ordinance on intra-company transferees, a
foreign national must have been engaged in the tasks listed in the lower column of
the engineer section or the specialist in humanities/international services section of
Annexed Table I-II of the Immigration Control Act in the foreign headquarters,
branch or other business office for one year or more immediately before the foreign
national was transferred to a business office in Japan. However, if the foreign
national has not been engaged in these activities for one year or more (in other words,
the foreign national does not satisfy the criteria for the status of residence of
“Intra-Company Transferee”) but meets the landing permission criteria for the status
of residence “Engineer” or “Specialist in Humanities/International Services”, then
the foreign national may enter Japan under the status of residence “Engineer” or
“Specialist in Humanities/International Services”. (This rule will apply in the case,
for example, of a foreign national being assigned to a business office in Japan for an
indefinite term.)
To acquire the status of residence “Engineer” or “Specialist in
Humanities/International Services”, a foreign national must engage in his or her
work under “a contract with a public or private entity in Japan”. The term “contract”
in this context does not exclusively represent an employment contract but does
include many contract forms such as a mandate, outsourcing or non-regular
employment contract. However, since a foreign national must be expected to
continuously engage in his or her activities related to the applicable status of
residence, the aforementioned contract must be a standing contract with a certain
entity (or entities).
(3) Note that if a foreign national has not engaged in the aforementioned tasks for one
year or more and intends to enter Japan under the status of residence of “Engineer”
or “Specialist in Humanities/International Services”, the foreign national must
engage in his or her activities in accordance with “a contract with a public or private
entity in Japan” as already mentioned above. However, the same requirement will
also apply to the status of residence of “Intra-Company Transferee”. In this case, the foreign national has already concluded an employment contract with an employer in
a foreign country before being transferred to its business office in Japan, and such
employment contract would fall under “a contract with a public or private entity in
Japan”. In this sense, the foreign national will not need a new contract when the
foreign national is transferred from a foreign office to an office in Japan. This is not
simply restricted to the status of residence of “Intra-Company Transferee” for if a
foreign national intends to enter Japan under the status of residence of “Engineer” or
“Specialist in Humanities/International Services”, and is transferred from a foreign
business office to a business office in Japan within the same company, the foreign
national does not need a new employment contract in relation to such headquarters
or branch office of the foreign company in Japan