Relocation Package for Chefs: What to Offer, What the Law Requires

For a chef in Japan weighing an offer abroad, the salary is only half the question. The other half is what it will cost them to get there and settle in: a flight, a deposit on a flat, a few weeks without income, a new phone, and the risk of being stuck if the job goes wrong. A clear relocation package answers those questions before they are asked, and it often decides between two similar offers.

This guide lists the usual components, flags which ones are legal requirements in some countries rather than optional perks, and suggests three package levels.

1. Why the package matters more than the salary line

Chefs moving from Japan are rarely wealthy. According to Japan's National Tax Agency, average annual pay in the accommodation and food services industry was ¥2,793,000 in 2024, the lowest of any industry, against ¥4.78 million across all industries. Upfront costs of a few thousand dollars can be a real barrier. A package that removes them widens your pool of candidates more than a small salary rise would.

It also affects retention. A chef who arrives to a sorted flat, a working phone and a bank account has fewer reasons to regret the move in month two.

2. The components of a relocation package

3. What the law requires in some countries

Several sponsorship routes turn items in the table above into obligations. The examples below are the ones we checked against official sources in September 2026. They are not a complete list, and each depends on the specific visa route.

United States: H-2B

Under 20 CFR 655.20, an H-2B employer must provide or reimburse inbound transportation and daily subsistence if the worker completes 50% of the job order period, and must pay return transportation if the worker completes the period or is dismissed early. Subsistence has a minimum of $16.78 a day and, with receipts, up to $178 a day (effective 7 April 2026). The employer must also pay or reimburse visa, visa processing, border crossing and related fees in the first workweek, and provide required tools, supplies and equipment without charge. The employer and its agents may not seek or receive payment from the worker for recruitment costs or attorney and application fees. Our H-2B guide covers whether the route suits a restaurant at all.

Canada: low-wage LMIA positions

For positions under the low-wage stream, Employment and Social Development Canada requires the employer to pay round-trip transportation for the temporary foreign worker, to provide or ensure suitable and affordable housing (affordable meaning less than 30% of the worker's before-tax income), and in applicable provinces to buy private emergency health insurance until provincial cover starts. None of these costs can be recovered from the worker. The program also requires that neither the employer nor anyone recruiting on its behalf charges or recovers recruitment fees from the worker. Whether a chef job falls in the high-wage or low-wage stream depends on the provincial threshold; see LMIA step by step for cooks.

Australia: Skills in Demand (subclass 482)

Two rules in the Migration Regulations 1994 affect the package. First, a standard business sponsor must pay reasonable and necessary travel costs for the sponsored person to leave Australia if they request it in writing, and the regulation looks for payment within 30 days of the request (regulation 2.80). Second, a sponsor must not recover from anyone, or seek to recover, costs associated with being a sponsor, with the nomination, or specifically with recruiting the worker (regulation 2.87).

There is also a trap for anyone planning to "pay" part of the salary in housing. Regulation 2.57A allows the agreed money value of non-monetary benefits to count as earnings in general, but for the Core Skills stream the worker's annual earnings, excluding non-monetary benefits, must still reach the Core Skills Income Threshold (A$79,423 from 1 July 2026). Free accommodation is welcome, but it cannot fill a gap below the threshold. See hiring a Japanese chef in Australia.

United Kingdom

The Home Office says a sponsor licence may be revoked if the employer asks a sponsored worker to pay the certificate of sponsorship fee, the immigration skills charge, or any costs linked to the employer's application. Note that new overseas sponsorship for chefs is currently very limited (see hiring a Japanese chef in the UK).

4. Tax treatment: one verified example

Tax on relocation benefits varies by country and we have not checked every system. One clear example: in the United States, IRS Publication 15-B (2026) states that P.L. 119-21 (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) permanently eliminates the exclusion for qualified moving expense reimbursements from an employee's income, with narrow exceptions for the armed forces and the intelligence community. In practice, moving expenses you reimburse or pay for a chef are generally taxable wages. Some employers "gross up" the payment so the chef is not out of pocket. Ask your payroll provider or accountant how to report each item, and ask the same question in any other country you hire into.

5. Three package levels

These are practical starting points, not market data. No official source publishes what restaurants typically offer.

6. Putting it in writing

• List every item in the offer letter with a cap in local currency, not "reasonable relocation costs".
• Say who books and pays. Paying directly avoids the chef fronting money they may not have.
• State what happens if the visa is refused: who absorbs costs already incurred.
• If you plan any repayment term for voluntary early departure, check that it is lawful for your visa route and state, keep it proportionate, and never apply it to costs the law makes yours. Our contract checklist covers this.
• Translate the package into Japanese. Misunderstandings about housing are one of the most common sources of early friction.

General information, not legal, tax or immigration advice. Obligations depend on the exact visa route and change often. Confirm with a licensed immigration adviser and a tax professional before making an offer.