Opening in Los Angeles: Which Staff to Send From Japan and When

With the largest Japanese community outside Japan, Los Angeles lets you send just the head chef, perhaps with a sushi counter lead, and hire the manager and kitchen locally. Anyone hired in Japan for the move should join at least six months before departure to keep the social security exemption. Hire 12 months before opening, file visas 6 to 7 months out, recruit locally from month 4, and fly staff in 2 to 3 months ahead.

1. A market where you can send fewer people: three models

The Los Angeles metro has 63,972 Japanese nationals (MOFA, 1 October 2025). Local kitchen and floor staff who take instructions in Japanese are easier to find here than in any other US city. Choose one of three models:

Starting with model A and promoting a locally trained second to head chef for store two keeps both visa work and payroll lighter.

2. Who to send, role by role

• Head chef: send from Japan. On E-2 as a supervisor, or on L-1A as a manager, running the kitchen and taking part in hiring.
• Sushi counter lead: send under models B and C. E-2 needs specialized skills essential to the business; L-1B needs knowledge specific to your company, not general sushi skill.
• Manager: in LA you can often hire someone who handles staff and permits in both English and Japanese, so not sending one is realistic.
• Short launch support trips: ESTA and B-1 cover meetings and contracts, not employment. Anyone who will cook needs a work visa.
• Everyone else: hired locally. Only Japanese nationals can work for you on an E-2; others work on their own authorization, checked on Form I-9.

3. E-2 or L-1

Three questions decide it:

1. Do Japanese nationals own at least 50% of the US company? If not, E-2 is closed and only L-1 remains, provided the US company is related to the Japanese one.
2. Has the person worked full time in the group for one continuous year within the last three? If not, L-1 is closed and only E-2 remains. Anyone newly hired in Japan falls here.
3. Is the lease signed? A new office L-1 needs premises secured before filing and is first approved for one year. E-2 needs the investment committed. Both follow the lease.

Where both work, a Japanese head chef usually goes on E-2: the embassy or consulate in Japan reviews the company and the applicant together, and the visa runs up to 60 months. L-1 goes through a USCIS petition on Form I-129 and costs more in government fees (the fee table is on the New York opening page). E-2 paperwork is in bringing a chef on an E-2 visa.

4. Social insurance and tax

• Manage the six month rule by date. For the US Social Security exemption, an employee must as a rule have worked or lived in Japan, covered by Japanese social insurance, for six continuous months immediately before the assignment. If staff fly three months before opening, a new recruit must join by nine months before opening. Hire at 12 months and train them in a Japanese store meanwhile.
• Certificate of coverage: for assignments expected to last five years or less, the employee stays in the Japanese system only. The employer applies at a pension office from about six months before the start date.
• What it saves, and what remains: no US Social Security and Medicare tax (7.65% each for employer and employee). The agreement covers federal schemes only, so California State Disability Insurance (1.3% withheld from pay in 2026) still applies. Japanese premiums continue.
• Medical cover: arrange private health insurance that works in the US.
• Japanese income tax: a posting of a year or more makes the employee a non-resident. Run the year end adjustment before departure.
• US income tax: pay for work at the US company is generally taxed federally and by California. The treaty's short stay exemption (183 days or less, pay not borne by a US employer) will not fit a resident head chef.

More detail: social security agreements and chefs and tax for employees working abroad.

5. Combining secondees with local hires

The English and Japanese postings we read in September 2026 clustered in Little Tokyo and Downtown (izakaya, ramen, kaiseki), Sawtelle to Beverly Hills (sushi and omakase), Torrance and Gardena (Japanese supermarkets, food companies, ramen) and Orange County (food courts, sushi bars). Most cook and helper roles were on the Japanese board.

• Market pay: sushi chefs $22 to $28 an hour, usually plus tips; salaried sushi chefs $60,000 to $90,000; ramen and izakaya kitchens $18 to $25 an hour.
• The site sets the wage floor: $18.42 in the City of Los Angeles, $20.25 in West Hollywood, $16.90 (then $17.40 in 2027) in cities without their own ordinance such as Torrance and Gardena. Price this into the site decision.
• Secondees fall under state rules: a salaried head chef is exempt from overtime only at $70,304 or more in 2026 and $72,384 from 1 January 2027. A Japanese salary level can fall short. California also pays overtime after eight hours in a day.
• Local ads: with 15 or more employees the ad must show a pay range. No tip credit is allowed, and new staff get a food handler card within 30 days at your cost.

The city wage table, a job ad and pay by kitchen role are in the Los Angeles hiring guide. See also secondment vs local hire.

6. A schedule counted back from opening day

Processing times vary by season and case, so the months show order, not a promise. Ask a US immigration lawyer for times on your facts.

This week: choose model A, B or C, write down when each person passes the six month and one year tests, and cost local payroll at the minimum wage of each candidate site.

An offer letter for someone you hire in Japan to send to LA, in both languages:

7. First year cost: one secondee against one local hire

The secondee column leaves out Japanese premiums, flights, housing, medical insurance and legal fees, which usually make the secondee dearer. Some consulates were reported in May 2026 to be collecting a $250 visa integrity fee; we could not confirm whether Tokyo does. See budgeting staff costs for an overseas opening.

General information checked against official sources on 27 September 2026, not legal, tax or immigration advice. Ask a US immigration lawyer about eligibility and processing times, a Japanese pension office about coverage, and a tax adviser about your case.