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Post by no yark shark on Aug 23, 2016 11:30:32 GMT 9
Hmm...well I looked for a thread for this and I couldn't find one (although I felt sure I had seen one before?) So coming up at the end of October, I'm going with my Mayor, Kakaricho, and some members of the International Association to visit our Sister City in the US. Mayor and Kakaricho don't speak any English, so I'm going as the interpreter. We're actually flying into Vancouver and then taking a bus across the border to the states, so I think we also have to do immigration twice? can anyone clarify how this works? The issue I came to write about today is that people keep asking me questions about immigration, but because I'm American, it's not an issue for me and I have no idea how any of it works. My kakaricho (and some of the others) is especially worried about immigration when they interview/ask you what the purpose of your visit is etc. In the past when I've gone to Canada with American hulemdos (and gone abroad from Japan and come back), the whole group does the little interview portion together. Does anyone know if that's the case even if it's me and two Japanese people? going to tag King Quailbee even though I know you're on vacation but you did just go through this...also maybe G-Rex?
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Post by CaptainSeery on Aug 23, 2016 11:57:27 GMT 9
Yes, I imagine you will have to go through immigration twice. If you were flying directly into the US you would be split up because you're a citizen and would be going through a different line, but it might actually be easier flying into Canada. I've never seen an option for doing the interview together in an airport (except for families with young children) but if they're worried about it, maybe you can suggest that you line up together and you go first. Then you can explain it to the immigration officer and indicate that the next two people are in your party. You can also coach them a little bit about how to answer the questions (usually just "what's your purpose" and "how long are you here" so shouldn't be too bad.)
But when you go to the US you'll probably be interviewed together, since it's a smaller group going through immigration. It's been a long time since I've been to Canada, but from what I remember they just look in through your car window and ask for your passports, etc. that way. I guess with a bus they'll probably ask you all to get off to do the interview, but you can still stick together with Mayor and Kakaricho then.
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G-Rex
Dead Stargod
killed SAKAMOTO LYOMA with crappa sushi
hi
Posts: 7,198
CIR Experience: Former CIR
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Post by G-Rex on Aug 23, 2016 14:38:57 GMT 9
We did all our immigration stuff separately, and just did some basic coaching on the questions likely to be asked etc. Was a doddle really. Just make sure they all have their ESTA stuff done in advance.
Not sure about the canada stuff though.
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Post by no yark shark on Aug 23, 2016 15:10:24 GMT 9
one of the International Association members mentioned bringing like, a letter of invitation from our US Sister City. Would this help/seem like a good idea?
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Post by CaptainSeery on Aug 23, 2016 15:13:54 GMT 9
I mean it certainly won't hurt, but.... I don't get the impression that immigration officers care that much. I think it'll be pretty obvious that your people aren't trying to be illegal immigrants or overstay their visas or anything. But if it would make them feel better, by all means request one.
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Post by no yark shark on Aug 23, 2016 15:18:29 GMT 9
I mean it certainly won't hurt, but.... I don't get the impression that immigration officers care that much. I think it'll be pretty obvious that your people aren't trying to be illegal immigrants or overstay their visas or anything. But if it would make them feel better, by all means request one. yeah I told them this too. I'm sure it'll work out just fine.
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Post by King Quailbee on Aug 24, 2016 1:27:24 GMT 9
I can send you (when I get back) a list of questions and answers that I had my sister city group practice for immigration. I even acted as an annoyed guard as well as a hulemdoly one - thankfully the one in Chicago was incredibly nice and even spoke some Japanese for our group. Just remind them that it is only about one or two questions.
However, I would definitely recommend having a letter of invitation from the sister city. It's easier explaining students having a homestay experience as their purpose, but adults saying they are visiting a sister city - they will most likely ask for a letter of invitation because this happened to one of the groups in previous years and it was a doozy!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2016 11:53:57 GMT 9
So, I'll be in sister city X for 4 days in Novemeber. My mom wants to fly over to see me. I've dicouraged it because the way things are looking, it doesn't seem like there will be a lot of free time.
My question is should I bring it up/ask my coworkers if there is potential free time? Or should I continue to discourage mom from coming?
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Post by miscreative on Sept 5, 2016 13:14:35 GMT 9
i.. had almost the same situation. i more or less knew the schedule and that all of my free time was for sleeping or for small chunks of time between things. our sister city is... a day's drive away so i told my family to not bother which was a very good thing. we still talked on the phone during 1 or 2 of my down times but that was it.
if it is not that crazy of a trip for her, she would have other things to do there besides see you, and it looks like you might have an evening or otherwise a proper amount of time to devote to spending with her then i would ask.
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Post by King Quailbee on Sept 5, 2016 15:08:13 GMT 9
@justjess
It never hurts to ask your coworkers.
I basically broke boundaries this past year with me being able to visit my family after the sister city exchange (which never happened before because all previous CIRs were either from the sister city/state OR they finished up their contract and went back home anyways).
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2016 16:26:48 GMT 9
i.. had almost the same situation. i more or less knew the schedule and that all of my free time was for sleeping or for small chunks of time between things. our sister city is... a day's drive away so i told my family to not bother which was a very good thing. we still talked on the phone during 1 or 2 of my down times but that was it. if it is not that crazy of a trip for her, she would have other things to do there besides see you, and it looks like you might have an evening or otherwise a proper amount of time to devote to spending with her then i would ask. Ok I will keep this in mind. We are still waiting on the schedule from our sister city but chances are there won't be time.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2016 16:31:37 GMT 9
@justjess It never hurts to ask your coworkers. I basically broke boundaries this past year with me being able to visit my family after the sister city exchange (which never happened before because all previous CIRs were either from the sister city/state OR they finished up their contract and went back home anyways). Thanks for your advice. It might be worth giving it a try. If it looks like I'll have free time, I'll go for it. My coworkers are pretty understanding so maybe they will be receptive. I have to admit I'm a bit nervous to bring it up though.
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Post by Sparkles on Sept 6, 2016 9:53:29 GMT 9
@justjess It really doesn't hurt to ask! Especially if you couch it in something like "Ah, there may not be any time, but...." and if they respond with a no, just reassure them that you completely understand and it's totally fine.
On my last overseas trip, I had a couple evenings where dinner was "on our own," and whereas on previous trips we would ALWAYS eat together (and I would translate the menu and order) and hence I had zero free time, this was everyone's second or third trip so they felt more comfortable with me leaving them to their own devices and having dinner on my own a night or two. (And "dinner on my own" meant I met up with a hulemdo to have dinner.) So it may come down to what your coworkers are comfortable with and how much they need you.
I know that my coworkers are very sensitive about how they are perceived when working abroad by the people left behind in the office and by people in Japan in general -- having "free time" on a "business trip" is generally frowned upon here, so they often make up the schedule to look like we are insanely busy at every moment of the day. Sometimes we actually are, and sometimes it's just something to fill the schedule and it's actually flexible/you might be able to get out of it. (My first overseas trip definitely had a morning where I was not strictly needed so my coworkers let me sleep in at the hotel and join them later because I was feeling pretty poorly/I'd been assisting and interpreting till like 23:00 the previous day.)
tl;dr sometimes the schedule is not as inflexible as it seems and your coworkers will be willing to at least hear you out, so definitely ask!
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lifeup
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 43
CIR Experience: 4th year
Location: Hiroshima
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Post by lifeup on Sept 7, 2016 9:01:11 GMT 9
What do you guys do for travel insurance when you go on overseas business trips? I have a business trip to the USA every year, and since I still can use my parents’ insurance if something were to happen I didn’t bother with insurance my first two years, but my third year I was having some stomach pains around the time of the trip and decided to be careful and get travel insurance. I thought I could just go with the JET insurance if something happened, but it doesn’t cover things that happen at work, which technically I would be doing... And ended up having to pay 1man for travel insurance through work. Kind of don’t want to pay again this year if I can avoid it...
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Post by Sparkles on Sept 7, 2016 9:35:22 GMT 9
My office arranges travel insurance for me and doesn't require me to pay extra; I think it's part of the package they get from the travel agency they go through because all my coworkers get the same "here's your travel insurance" packet with our e-tickets. (Which travel agency it is depends on the trip because it's whatever company offers us the lowest bid, but I think travel insurance is always included in our requests.) I know the JET Accident Insurance does cover the time you spend overseas. "Liabilities from injuries caused during official work duties" aren't covered as you correctly said, but I think you could argue that if you fall ill that's not an "injury" and therefore it would still count (not to mention that if you were injured outside of your usual work hours I think you could make an argument that it wasn't "at work"). If you do use JET Accident Insurance, it might take a while for your claim to be processed and you'll still have to pay up front, but I know former user mattbox's gf used it successfully after having a major medical issue while the two of them were on a trip in SE Asia. (See page 7 and onward.) I don't think this was very helpful but good luck!! >.<;; Edit: C.LAIR's website says, "2. This insurance policy does not provide coverage for medical expenses incurred by injuries or sicknesses sustained during official work duties, already covered by the Local Public Service Accident Compensation." This adds the "sickness" part from the official insurance guide, so I'm a bit confused.... But I guess the next question is, does the Local Public Service Accident Compensation cover anything that happens overseas?
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lifeup
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 43
CIR Experience: 4th year
Location: Hiroshima
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Post by lifeup on Sept 20, 2016 17:35:38 GMT 9
My office arranges travel insurance for me and doesn't require me to pay extra; I think it's part of the package they get from the travel agency they go through because all my coworkers get the same "here's your travel insurance" packet with our e-tickets. (Which travel agency it is depends on the trip because it's whatever company offers us the lowest bid, but I think travel insurance is always included in our requests.) I know the JET Accident Insurance does cover the time you spend overseas. "Liabilities from injuries caused during official work duties" aren't covered as you correctly said, but I think you could argue that if you fall ill that's not an "injury" and therefore it would still count (not to mention that if you were injured outside of your usual work hours I think you could make an argument that it wasn't "at work"). If you do use JET Accident Insurance, it might take a while for your claim to be processed and you'll still have to pay up front, but I know former user mattbox's gf used it successfully after having a major medical issue while the two of them were on a trip in SE Asia. (See page 7 and onward.) I don't think this was very helpful but good luck!! >.<;; Edit: C.LAIR's website says, "2. This insurance policy does not provide coverage for medical expenses incurred by injuries or sicknesses sustained during official work duties, already covered by the Local Public Service Accident Compensation." This adds the "sickness" part from the official insurance guide, so I'm a bit confused.... But I guess the next question is, does the Local Public Service Accident Compensation cover anything that happens overseas? Super late response, but thank you! I used what you referred to on C.LAIR's website and asked my supervisor, and she wasn't really sure of the scope of what would be covered by the Local Public Service Accident Compensation, so she called C.LAIR and they told her that the C.LAIR insurance would cover me while on the business trip for anything that wouldn't be covered by any other kind of insurance. Since I didn't hear how she phrased the question it might not be applicable in all cases, but in my case at least this means I don't have to buy extra travel insurance! So it was a waste for me to spend 1man on it last year, in other words...
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Post by no yark shark on Oct 3, 2016 10:09:32 GMT 9
What's the daikyu situation like for you guys when you go on SYUTTYOU abroad?
I'm leaving the 26th (a Wednesday) and getting back the 31st (a Monday), so I'm getting daikyu for the afternoon of Friday, and the two weekend days (29&30) in between. The other days just count as normal work days for me, even though I have a feeling I will definitely be doing more than 8 hours of work.
I'm not planning on SMACKDOWNing it or anything (especially since the half of the 30th I will actually be on the plane and I know some of you have said you don't get daikyu for travelling) but I'm just kind of curious.
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Post by King Quailbee on Oct 3, 2016 10:16:33 GMT 9
I didn't get any daikyu for the sister city trip, but it's probably because I haven't pushed for it (and I got a lot of daikyu for the Japan portion of the exchange) and I wasn't asked to record specific times when I was working.
I think it's best to bring it up with your soup to figure out the situation beforehand so if you know if you should record working times or not.
Sometimes it was a bit difficult for me in my case because there was even a day in there where I didn't do anything...
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G-Rex
Dead Stargod
killed SAKAMOTO LYOMA with crappa sushi
hi
Posts: 7,198
CIR Experience: Former CIR
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Post by G-Rex on Oct 3, 2016 14:54:43 GMT 9
What's the daikyu situation like for you guys when you go on SYUTTYOU abroad? I'm leaving the 26th (a Wednesday) and getting back the 31st (a Monday), so I'm getting daikyu for the afternoon of Friday, and the two weekend days (29&30) in between. The other days just count as normal work days for me, even though I have a feeling I will definitely be doing more than 8 hours of work. I'm not planning on SMACKDOWNing it or anything (especially since the half of the 30th I will actually be on the plane and I know some of you have said you don't get daikyu for travelling) but I'm just kind of curious. yeah, you should get the saturday and sunday daikyuu, but probably won't get any of the extra hours. not sure if it's even worth SMACKDOWNing it tbh. i kinda treated it as a fair trade for taking me though so you could ask about it i guess
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Post by Caic on Oct 3, 2016 15:00:21 GMT 9
french cir gets anything outisde of 9-5 when he goes to france on SYUTTYO
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Post by no yark shark on Oct 3, 2016 15:00:36 GMT 9
What's the daikyu situation like for you guys when you go on SYUTTYOU abroad? I'm leaving the 26th (a Wednesday) and getting back the 31st (a Monday), so I'm getting daikyu for the afternoon of Friday, and the two weekend days (29&30) in between. The other days just count as normal work days for me, even though I have a feeling I will definitely be doing more than 8 hours of work. I'm not planning on SMACKDOWNing it or anything (especially since the half of the 30th I will actually be on the plane and I know some of you have said you don't get daikyu for travelling) but I'm just kind of curious. yeah, you should get the saturday and sunday daikyuu, but probably won't get any of the extra hours. not sure if it's even worth SMACKDOWNing it tbh.i kinda treated it as a fair trade for taking me though so you could ask about it i guess yeah this is pretty much how I feel about it. also trying to keep track of hours while I'm there seems like a hassle.
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Post by CaptainSeery on Oct 3, 2016 15:03:12 GMT 9
Apparently I might stay at the same homestay as the mayor when we do our sister city visit. Which means I will be interpreting constantly. Unfortunately I don't think that means I'll be getting extra daikyu...
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Post by no yark shark on Oct 3, 2016 15:07:49 GMT 9
Apparently I might stay at the same homestay as the mayor when we do our sister city visit. Which means I will be interpreting constantly. Unfortunately I don't think that means I'll be getting extra daikyu... yeah I'm not sure what's happening with this either? I was initially told the mayor couldn't host us because they had exchange students staying there, and the mayor here was like "I don't wanna do a homestay anyways" so we were looking at hotels, but last week (?) the mayor from that city sent an email to my hosa (who happens to have the same last name as the mayor here) like "hey I have a big house and I want to invite you and your interpreter to stay with us" so I don't know what's happening -_- apparently the mayor is going to come pick us up from the airport though?
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Post by King Quailbee on Oct 3, 2016 15:11:25 GMT 9
That's nice...
The mayor of sister city seemed like he wanted to leave immediately...
;~;
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Post by no yark shark on Oct 3, 2016 15:20:03 GMT 9
That's nice... The mayor of sister city seemed like he wanted to leave immediately... ;~; I'm worried that's what my mayor and kakaricho are going to be like when we get there... we were talking about how the IEA kaicho has to leave super early and my kakaricho was like "I wish I could leave early too" and I was just like He's really worried about English and my soup keeps being like "but Anna will be there" and I wish people would stop being scared of the GAIKOK because of YEIGO. Americans go places all the time without giving a shit about knowing the language, also you can still have fun without enjoying the language...
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Post by CaptainSeery on Oct 3, 2016 15:32:05 GMT 9
The mayor of our sister city seemed relatively interested but I don't know how my mayor will react... his English is pretty bad so I don't know how it will work out. Thankfully at least two others going (people from the international association) are good at English. One of them actually works as a freelance interpreter/translator for English AND Italian. But still, three out of 20 is not very much...
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G-Rex
Dead Stargod
killed SAKAMOTO LYOMA with crappa sushi
hi
Posts: 7,198
CIR Experience: Former CIR
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Post by G-Rex on Oct 4, 2016 14:38:06 GMT 9
anyone received anything about this? www.ezairyu.mofa.go.jp/tabireg/hue tl;dr - tell us when you go abroad so we can send you tips on how not to get pickpocketed or murdered, and remind you of the dangers of TERO in the KIKEN GAIKOKU fake edit: in the FAQs:
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Post by CaptainSeery on Oct 4, 2016 15:08:41 GMT 9
That seems the same as registering with your embassy when you're abroad, though. I dunno about other countries but the American embassy is kind of pushy about it. Still haven't done it though.
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Post by marudate on Oct 5, 2016 14:17:21 GMT 9
anyone received anything about this? www.ezairyu.mofa.go.jp/tabireg/hue tl;dr - tell us when you go abroad so we can send you tips on how not to get pickpocketed or murdered, and remind you of the dangers of TERO in the KIKEN GAIKOKU fake edit: in the FAQs: I saw a memo on this, apparently aimed at all public employees traveling abroad. I don't think it's relevant to us as I doubt the gaimusho would really care or do anything about non-Japanese nationals in case anything happened. I'll stick with the US Dept. of State.
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Post by むちゃRABU❤ on Oct 5, 2016 14:18:36 GMT 9
My coworker is going to Indonesia this week. and he keeps saying its dangerous and he reallly doesnt want to go there and its... :/ i'm quite offended.
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