Secondment vs Local Hire for a Chef Sent Abroad From Japan

Secondment (kaigai funin) keeps a chef in Japanese health insurance, pension and workers' accident insurance, but adds Japanese employer contributions on top of any local cost, and some visa routes (Singapore, Malaysia, Australia's 482, Canada's LMIA route) require the overseas company to be the actual employer, which a pure secondment does not satisfy. Local hire is simpler where the visa allows it and the chef plans to stay. For a head chef on ¥286,600 a month, Japanese statutory contributions alone add roughly ¥495,000 a year to a secondment.

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 most respects it is treated 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

Per the Japan Pension Service, coverage generally continues abroad while the employment relationship continues and the Japanese employer pays some or all of the salary; overseas pay counts toward the contribution base only if it is, in substance, paid by the Japanese company under its own rules. Whether that test is met is what makes the hybrid arrangement in section 5 risky. Japan had agreements in force with 24 countries as of 2 June 2026, not including Singapore, Hong Kong or the UAE; some, Australia's among them, keep the employee in the Japanese system for the first five years regardless of the planned length (full list: social security agreements and chefs).

A local hire does not join Japanese employees' pension, though a Japanese national abroad aged 20 to 64 can join the national pension voluntarily. MHLW states that only a worker sent from a business in Japan can use rosai special enrolment; a local hire cannot, so check the host country's own work injury scheme instead.

3. What it costs: a worked example

Neither arrangement is free of cost, but the cost falls in different places. Use a real, official base figure so the comparison is not invented: MHLW's 2025 wage survey puts average monthly regular cash pay for cooks in Japan at ¥286,600 (¥3,439,200 a year). Take that as the Japan-side salary a secondee keeps drawing.

That 14% is a floor: add nursing care premium if the chef is 40 to 64, plus any assignment allowance, a policy choice with no official rate (see housing, flights and relocation allowances). A local hire swaps this line for the host country's own contributions, which range widely: Australia's superannuation guarantee is 12%; Singapore's EP has no CPF for a foreign holder; Thailand's employer share is 5% up to a wage ceiling. Full country totals are on budgeting an international chef hire, and pay itself on sushi chef salary by country; run both for your market before deciding.

4. Which visa routes force a local contract

A work visa is needed either way, but several routes reject a chef who is, on paper, only an employee of the Japanese company with no local employment relationship, deciding the arrangement before the insurance comparison starts.

Where the route requires a local employer, transfer or local hire is usually the only workable structure, whatever section 2 favours; where it is built around a continuing Japanese employer, like the L-1, secondment fits naturally.

5. The hybrid: local contract with a Japan-side top-up

Many groups land on a middle arrangement: the chef signs a local contract with the overseas entity to satisfy the sponsor's employer-of-record requirement, while the Japanese company keeps them nominally on its books and pays a top-up, often to preserve pension continuation or close the pay gap with Japan. Two things can go wrong. On social insurance, continuation depends on whether pay is, in substance, paid by the Japanese employer under its own rules; if the overseas entity pays the real wage and Japan pays only a small top-up, continuation is not guaranteed, and we could not confirm how large the Japan-side share must be to qualify. On tax, the one year residence test (tax for employees working abroad) looks at the planned length of the move, not whose name is on the contract, so a hybrid does not change it.

If a hybrid is unavoidable, draft the secondment rules, the secondment agreement and the local contract together and have a sharoshi review them before the chef leaves, not after a Pension Service enquiry raises the question.

6. Family dependants

Since 1 April 2020, a dependant on Japanese health insurance generally needs an address in Japan; the Pension Service's exception is a family member accompanying an insured person abroad, recognised on notification. That assumes the chef stays insured in Japan, so it is available to secondees, not local hires, and can decide the arrangement for a head chef bringing family.

7. HR and contract points

• Validity of a secondment order: Labour Contracts Act Article 14 voids an order that is an abuse of rights given its necessity and how the employee was selected.
• Stating the place of work: Article 5 of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Labour Standards Act requires stating the place of work and duties, including the scope of possible changes, since April 2024. State overseas work as a possibility from the start if relevant.
• Local labour law: secondees and local hires alike must follow the labour law and permit conditions of the country where they work.

The clause-by-clause skeleton for both documents is in secondment agreements and employment contracts.

8. Which to choose

For the whole opening team, see 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).