A clarification(?) about "the company that will sponsor your work visa" needed

[Kirirao]

Yesterday in my 就職リテラシー class, I was told
by my teacher that when a company wants
to sponsor a working visa to a foreigner,
the company have to pay around 400,000yen
to 500,000 yen per person. (I'm guessing,
when they apply at the immigration)

Is this true? Or the fee that they need to pay
is way higher?

If its true, that kind of explains the reluctance of
hiring a foreigner for almost 60% of the company
that submits their 求人票(Job List) to my school.
And the change of heart for some company that
wants to hire a foreigner last year and then stopped
their recruitment of foreigner this year.
(I only saw the Game Programming job list.)

If thats true, my list of "obstacles
that I need to overcome" gonna grow longer. :blush:

[Glenski]

Total fabrication.
It costs an employer zilch to sponsor someone for a work visa.

The only "money" that is involved is how much they pay a person to gather the necessary documents (tax records, contract, etc.), but they are already paying that staff person a salary, so I don't count that.

If a company wants to pay a middleman to handle things, that's different. Middlemen will charge whatever. Likely as not, companies that use middlemen have them on some sort of contract basis. But employers pay nothing to immigration.

See what Terrie Lloyd has to say about this on www.daijob.com . He also has some good articles here. http://www.daijob.com/en/columns/terrie/list

[Kirirao]

Thanks Glenski.
Maybe I should ask him again because It might be me that heard him wrong.

[orochi]

There's really no such thing as "sponsoring".

If you get a job, then you can usually get a visa.
Even if you lose the job or quit, you've still got the visa.
There is no actual act of "sponsoring" that takes place.

[Glenski]

orochi,what the heck are you talking about? Most work visas start off as requiring a sponsor, usually by your employer.

Not all empoyers sponsor work visas, so your statement above is inaccurate. ("If you get a job, then you can usually get a visa.")

[orochi]

Are you "sponsored" or are you just showing proof of employment?

Though I also should have said that you need to find a job that falls under one of the visa categories available and the company has to be willing to hire you.

[Glenski]

Proof of employment is the means by which immigration assesses the validity of the sponsor. Sponsors are responsible (hence the same root word here) for your actions, not just for paying you.