Secondment vs Local Hire for Chefs Working Abroad

When a Japanese chef goes to work in an overseas restaurant, the arrangement matters as much as the salary. Keeping them employed by the Japanese company and sending them abroad (a secondment, often called kaigai funin) and having the overseas company hire them directly (a local hire) lead to very different social insurance, tax and cost positions. For the chef, it decides whether their Japanese pension continues and whether their family can stay on their health insurance.

This guide is for HR teams at Japanese restaurant companies and for owners running restaurants abroad. It compares the two arrangements scheme by scheme, based on material published by the Japan Pension Service, the National Tax Agency and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

1. Three arrangements: secondment, transfer, local hire

• Secondment (zaiseki shukko): the chef keeps their employment with the Japanese company and works at an overseas subsidiary or partner. "Secondee" in this guide means this arrangement.
• Transfer (tenseki): employment with the Japanese company ends and the chef moves to the overseas company's payroll. In many respects it is treated much like a local hire.
• Local hire (genchi saiyo): the overseas company hires the chef directly. Even if the chef is Japanese, there is no employment relationship with a Japanese company.

2. Side by side

A work visa is needed either way, but in some countries the arrangement affects which visa you can use. The US E-2 visa, for example, requires the employee to share the company's nationality (see staffing a Los Angeles opening).

3. Social insurance: where the gap is widest

According to the Japan Pension Service, when an employee works abroad while keeping their employment relationship with a Japanese employer covered by social insurance, and that employer pays some or all of their salary, health insurance and employees' pension coverage generally continues. Pay from the overseas workplace also counts toward the remuneration on which contributions are calculated if the Japanese company's pay or secondment rules show that it is in substance paid by the Japanese company.

In countries with a social security agreement, coverage is decided as follows (Japan Pension Service, schemes to join when working in an agreement country).

Some agreements, Australia's among them, keep the employee in the Japanese system for the first five years whatever the expected length. Japan had agreements in force with 24 countries as of 2 June 2026, but not with Singapore, Hong Kong or the UAE, for example. For detail, see social security agreements and chefs.

A local hire does not join the Japanese employees' pension. According to the Japan Pension Service, Japanese nationals living abroad aged 20 to 64 can join the national pension voluntarily. That is the chef's decision, but mentioning it at the offer stage takes some of the worry out of moving abroad.

4. Workers' accident insurance: only secondees can join

According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's pamphlet on special enrolment for overseas assignees, Japanese workers' accident insurance (rosai hoken) applies to workplaces in Japan, so people working at overseas workplaces are not covered. However, a worker sent by an employer in Japan to work in an overseas business can receive benefits if special enrolment is arranged. The sending employer applies to the prefectural labour bureau through the local labour standards inspection office.

The same pamphlet states plainly that local hires cannot join, because they were not sent from a business in Japan. A kitchen is a workplace with knives and open flames. Consider special enrolment for secondees, and for local hires, check what the host country's work injury scheme covers.

5. Tax: the one year line

The National Tax Agency explains that an officer or employee transferred to an overseas branch or similar for a planned period of one year or more is generally a non-resident for Japanese income tax, and a resident if the plan is for less than a year. Pay for work done abroad by a non-resident employee is not Japanese-source income, so no Japanese withholding applies.

If the plan changes, residence is decided again from that point. In a published Q&A, the NTA says that someone who left for a planned assignment of a year or more but returns within a year becomes a resident from the date that becomes clear, and does not become a resident retroactively from the date of departure. See tax for employees working abroad for more.

6. Family dependants

Since 1 April 2020, a person generally needs an address in Japan to be recognised as a dependant on Japanese health insurance. According to the Japan Pension Service, one exception is a family member accompanying an insured person on an overseas assignment, who can be recognised on notification. The exception assumes the chef is still insured in Japan, so it is available to secondees who stay on Japanese health insurance. When hiring a head chef who wants to bring their family, this difference can decide the arrangement.

7. HR and contract points

• Validity of a secondment order: Article 14 of the Labour Contracts Act provides that even where an employer can order a secondment, the order is void if it is an abuse of rights in light of its necessity, how the employee was selected and other circumstances.
• Stating the place of work: under Article 5 of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Labour Standards Act, employers must state "the place of work and the duties to be performed (including the scope of changes)". The MHLW notes that stating the scope of changes has been required since April 2024. If overseas work is a possibility, say so in the contract from the start.
• Local labour law: secondees and local hires alike must follow the labour law and work permit conditions of the country where they actually work.

How to draft the secondment agreement and the employment contract is covered in secondment agreements and employment contracts.

8. Which to choose

For allowances and housing, see housing, flights and relocation allowances, and for the whole opening team, our overseas opening staffing plan (in Japanese).

General information, not legal, tax or social insurance advice. The treatment in any case depends on the contract, how pay is structured and the country of work. Check the official sources below, verified in September 2026, and consult the pension office, the labour standards inspection office, the tax office or a qualified adviser (sharoshi or tax accountant).