Certificate of Coverage in Japan by Country

A certificate of coverage is the document that lets an employee sent to Japan by an employer abroad stay in the home country's social security system instead of enrolling in the Japanese one. It exists under bilateral social security agreements, and the Japan Pension Service table of agreements lists 24 in force, the latest with Austria from 1 December 2025.

Key Takeaways

• The sending employer applies, abroad. The certificate comes from the home-country institution, and the employee hands it to the Japanese workplace on arrival.
• Five years is the line. A certificate covers an expected stay of up to 5 years; a longer planned stay joins the Japanese system from day one in principle, but Germany, Australia and China still exempt its first 5 years.
• Pension is always covered, health often is not. Agreements with Germany, the UK, Korea, Canada, Australia, China and 10 other countries leave the employee in Japanese health insurance.
• Japan now asks for a notification. Since 1 July 2024 the Japanese employer (or the employee) files a treaty-exemption notification with a copy of the certificate.
• Extensions differ by treaty. They range from none in principle (Sweden, Luxembourg) to 10 years in total (Italy, and China in principle), with no fixed limit for Australia and the Czech Republic; each one needs a new certificate.

When an employee sent to Japan qualifies for a certificate of coverage

An employee qualifies when three conditions all hold: the employee is covered by the home system, stays employed by the employer in the agreement country, and the expected stay in Japan is 5 years or less. If any one fails, Japanese social insurance applies in principle.

Japan Pension Service rules define "employed by your employer" as the sending employer receiving the employee's services and controlling personnel and labour management, so a move onto a Japanese contract usually ends the exemption. Under the German, Australian and Chinese agreements, a longer planned stay is still exempt for its first 5 years (60 calendar months for Germany), per the Japan Pension Service country notes.

Situation	System that applies in Japan
Sent by the employer in an agreement country, expected stay 5 years or less	Home-country system only, for the insurances the agreement covers
Same assignment, extended past 5 years for unexpected reasons	Japanese system, unless both countries approve an extension
Sent with an expected stay of more than 5 years	Japanese system from the first day in principle; Germany, Australia, China: home system for the first 5 years
Hired locally by the Japanese entity	Japanese system
Moved onto a Japanese contract and managed by the subsidiary	Japanese system in principle; check the agreement's own rules
Sent from a country with no agreement in force	No treaty exemption; Japanese rules apply as to any employee

The US agreement adds a six-month rule: the employee must have worked and been covered in the US for at least 6 months immediately before the transfer (Japan Pension Service notes on the US agreement). The MHLW status table dated 2 June 2026 shows the Polish agreement, signed in April 2026, not yet in force, so Polish staff currently enrol in Japan.

Japan's social security agreements by country: what is exempt and for how long

Every agreement exempts Japanese pension for up to 5 years. Health insurance exemption exists only under the US, Belgian, French, Dutch, Czech, Swiss, Hungarian and Luxembourg agreements, and the longest stay an extension allows runs from 5 years to 10 years or more.

The table draws on that Japan Pension Service table and its country notes. "Totalization" means the agreement also lets the employee add periods in both countries to qualify for a pension; the UK, Korean, Chinese and Italian agreements only prevent double contributions.

Country	In force	Japanese insurance exempted	Totalization	Beyond the first 5 years
Germany	Feb 2000	Pension	Yes	Up to 36 more months
United Kingdom	Feb 2001	Pension	No	Up to 3 more years
Korea	Apr 2005	Pension	No	Up to 3 more years
United States	Oct 2005	Pension, health (with private cover)	Yes	Up to 4 more years
Belgium	Jan 2007	Pension, health	Yes	1 more year (2 if exceptional)
France	Jun 2007	Pension, health	Yes	1 more year
Canada	Mar 2008	Pension	Yes	Up to 3 more years
Australia	Jan 2009	Pension	Yes	Case by case, no fixed limit
Netherlands	Mar 2009	Pension, health	Yes	1 more year, request before year 5 ends
Czech Republic	Jun 2009	Pension, health	Yes	Case by case, no fixed limit
Spain	Dec 2010	Pension	Yes	Up to 3 more years
Ireland	Dec 2010	Pension	Yes	Up to 3 more years
Brazil	Mar 2012	Pension	Yes	Up to 3 more years
Switzerland	Mar 2012	Pension, health	Yes	1 more year
Hungary	Jan 2014	Pension, health	Yes	6 years in total
India	Oct 2016	Pension	Yes	Up to 3 more years
Luxembourg	Aug 2017	Pension, health	Yes	None in the text; only short exceptions
Philippines	Aug 2018	Pension	Yes	Up to 3 more years
Slovakia	Jul 2019	Pension	Yes	8 years in total
China	Sep 2019	Pension	No	Up to 5 more years in principle
Finland	Feb 2022	Pension, employment insurance	Yes	8 years in total
Sweden	Jun 2022	Pension	Yes	None in principle; exceptions by agreement
Italy	Apr 2024	Pension, employment insurance	No	10 years in total
Austria	Dec 2025	Pension, employment insurance (health listed, but Japanese health insurance applies)	Yes	8 years in total

No agreement covers Japan's workers' accident insurance, so rousai follows Japanese law for every seconded employee. Employment insurance is exempted by treaty only for staff from Finland, Italy and Austria; for everyone else it follows the Japanese rules in our employment insurance guide.

Health insurance for seconded employees: where most agreements stop

For staff from 16 of the 24 agreement countries, a certificate of coverage removes Japanese pension but not Japanese health insurance, so the Japanese employer still enrols the employee in health insurance and pays its half of the premium.

• The US condition. A US assignee is exempt from Japanese health insurance only if the employee and every accompanying family member are covered by private US health insurance against medical costs in Japan. If one family member is not, the whole family is covered by Japanese health insurance.
• Austria. Although the agreement lists health insurance, assignees from Austria join Japanese health insurance in addition to Austrian sickness insurance.
• Family members. A spouse and children with Dependent residence status follow the worker's exemption, so under the agreements without health cover, except the UK's, they are exempt from pension only. Czech and Austrian family exemptions also cover pension only, and Hungary exempts family from National Health Insurance only if they hold Hungarian health insurance. The UK and Dutch agreements have no family rule, so their accompanying family join Japanese pension and health insurance. Family without Dependent status are decided case by case.

For a Tokyo subsidiary enrolled with Kyokai Kenpo, the Kyokai Kenpo rate table sets health insurance at 9.85% from March 2026, plus the 0.23% child-care support levy from April 2026 and 1.62% nursing care insurance for members aged 40 to 64, each shared equally by employer and employee. Our guide to health insurance and pension enrolment covers the filing itself.

What the exemption is worth in Japanese payroll

Under Japan Pension Service rules, employees' pension insurance costs 18.3% of standard monthly remuneration, half from each side, capped at JPY 650,000, so a certificate removes up to JPY 59,475 a month of employer pension premium, plus the employer-only child-rearing contribution.

The Japan Pension Service page on standard remuneration notes the rate has been fixed since September 2017 and counts company housing and other benefits in kind as remuneration, so assignee housing raises the premium base. The child-rearing contribution is 0.36% of the same base, bonuses included. The example assumes an assignee at the cap for 5 years.

Item (statutory pension rates)	Without a certificate	With a certificate
Standard monthly remuneration used for pension	JPY 650,000 (statutory cap)	Not enrolled
Employer pension share per month (9.15% by law)	JPY 650,000 x 9.15% = JPY 59,475	JPY 0
Employee pension share per month	JPY 59,475	JPY 0
Employer child-rearing contribution per month (0.36%, employer only)	JPY 650,000 x 0.36% = JPY 2,340	JPY 0
Employer pension share over 60 months	JPY 3,568,500	JPY 0
Employer share on a bonus at the JPY 1.5 million per-payment cap (9.15% + 0.36%)	JPY 137,250 + JPY 5,400 = JPY 142,650	JPY 0
Home-country contributions	Still due under home law	Still due under home law

Japanese contributions are not always lost: a short-term member may claim the lump-sum withdrawal on leaving, which our pension lump-sum guide explains.

How to apply for, file and extend a certificate of coverage

The employer in the sending country applies to its own social security institution before the move, the employee gives the certificate to the Japanese workplace, and the Japanese employer files a notification with a copy. Extensions repeat the application abroad.

1. Apply in the home country. The sending employer files with its social security institution. For the US, the Japan Pension Service forms page names the certificate USA/J6, issued by the Social Security Administration. If the application is refused, the employee is covered only by the Japanese system.
2. Hand over the certificate. The employee submits it to the Japanese workplace; employees from Belgium and France keep it themselves.
3. File the Japanese notification. Since 1 July 2024, the employer (or the employee) files the treaty-exemption notification (厚生年金保険・国民年金 条約等適用者に関する届書, jouyakutou tekiyousha ni kansuru todokesho) with a copy of the certificate, per the Japan Pension Service forms page. Accompanying family members need the same notification plus proof of the relationship.
4. Enrol what the agreement does not cover. For most countries that means health insurance, plus employment insurance where Japanese rules apply, within the deadlines in our social insurance enrolment guide.
5. Extend before the certificate ends. If the assignment runs longer than planned, the sending employer applies for a new certificate; under the Dutch agreement, review must start before the first 5 years expire.
6. Switch to Japanese enrolment when the exemption ends. When an extension is refused or the maximum is reached, the Japanese employer enrols the employee from that point.

The direction can also reverse. A US citizen or resident hired locally, or sent for more than 5 years, may still owe US Social Security tax if the employer is American or a foreign affiliate covered by a US employer's section 3121(l) agreement, under the SSA rules on foreign affiliates. To stop double payment, the Japanese employer applies at a Japan Pension Service branch for a Japanese certificate of coverage for the US employer or the IRS.

FAQ

How does Japanese social insurance end for staff already in Japan when an agreement takes effect?

The agreement's effective date counts as the start of the assignment, so the employee is exempt if the stay is expected to end within 5 years of that date. Besides the certificate application abroad, the employer files a report with a Japan Pension Service branch to end Japanese coverage; only self-employed people file it themselves.

Can a seconded employee exempt from Japanese pension claim the lump-sum withdrawal?

Only for months actually paid into the Japanese system. With a certificate for the whole stay there is nothing to withdraw; home-country benefits follow home law.

Are bonuses paid to a seconded employee subject to Japanese social insurance premiums?

Where the employee stays in Japanese health insurance, yes for health insurance. The Japan Pension Service bonus procedure page caps the standard bonus for health insurance at JPY 5.73 million cumulative per fiscal year, and the employer files the bonus payment report within 5 days of each payment.

Working with AQ Partners. Our Tokyo team provides social and labour insurance enrolment and monthly payroll coordination with a licensed sharoushi for foreign companies operating in Japan. Book a consultation to review the payroll and social insurance setup for staff you send to Japan.