Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Free online university courses

An online course website where you can sign up for free!! Courses from famous universities across the world

https://www.coursera.org/

Kid's Japanese visa expired, Over stay - How to apply for a new visa?

I have 2 experience in Japan with regards to over stay. This happened to my son's visa. Usually I set a reminder in Google calendar for reminding regarding all the renewals like Visa, passport etc. Some how I forgot to set reminder and both the incidents occurred :)

Incident ONE

First incident happened while I was at Tokyo, Narita Airport on the way to India for vacation. At the immigration section, the officer checked my son's passport and reported that my son does not have a valid visa and he is over staying for more than 1 month. OMG. The officer brought myself and my son alone to a room and locked the door and started asking questions. He asked my wife and elder son to stay out side the room.

He said this is criminal offence and they will not allow my son to travel to India.

"Keep in mind my flight will depart in 15 minutes."

I made all my try requesting the officer to somehow allow me to leave to India. I made the excuse that my son is only 3 years old and I apologized multiple times. I used all my Japanese skill here :)) with the words  Sumimasen, Arigatho, Hi, Daijob etc . He became very angry!!   I only know my tension. I requested him again telling the flight will leave in 10 minutes.

The officer called the flight manager and asked to delay the flight for few minutes.

Finally the officer issued a one way visa from Japan to India with a deported stamp and asked me to apply for new visa from India if my son is planning to come back :)

I applied for new visa from India and we were able to travel back safely!!

Incident TWO

This occurred yesterday 2013 Feb 18th.
My wife went to ward office for getting a resident certificate for all the family members.
At the ward office, while preparing the certificate, the officer said my son's visa has expired and my son is over staying and it is illegal. He called me immediately and asked me to visit immigration office and check the possibility of getting this sorted out.

I have checked with the visa attorney my office use for visa processing. I said I will prepare an apology letter and submit to the immigration office along with all supporting documents. As per the attorney , this is a rare case and he would charge 50,000 JPY as his service fees. He also mentioned this will need support in Japanese to convince the immigration department the reason for over stay.

Finally I decided to make a try myself. 50,000 JPY looked bit expensive for this matter :)) right??

I went to the Tokyo immigration bureau at Shinagawa early morning. Went to the reception and explained my case. She said I have to go to 2nd Floor , counter 5 consultation department and explain them the problem and seek their advice.

With my son's previous over stay experience, I didn't had much hope and went to the consultation department. After 30 minutes of waiting, I explained the issue to the officer about the over stay and visa expiry. One thing to be noted is it was only 3 weeks after the visa expiry. As per the attorney, he said if the over stay is less than 2 months then we should be able to get a visa renewal!!

The Visa officer was very cool hearing my case. I think she is handling similar cases for many years and also it is for a kid.

She explained me the procedure very nicely.  

Since the visa already expired and it is an over stay, she suggested a 2 step process

1. I have to apply for a temporary visitor visa for 90 days
2. I have to apply for dependent visa - 5 years

She said I can apply both the above at the same time. I gave the visa application for both. She guided me in completing the same. In addition I provided below documents

1. Employment certificate - received from my company
2. Tax certificate - Took print from our payroll system
3. My residence card copy
4. Income certificate - Took print from our payroll system
5. Paid 4000 JPY for each application. So total 8000 JPY

After collecting all these documents, the officer asked me to wait. After few minutes she came with a new resident card for my son and said all procedure completed. She asked me to go to ward office within few days for changing the home address in the resident card. Since it was over stay, they didn't print the address on the card.

So finally my son got a valid visa without much problems. Saved 50,000 JPY !!!








Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Japanese visitor visa application process


The following documents are required for Visitor visa application .

1. Employment Letter 
2. Residency Certificate 

    (From Ward office  - Go to Ward office , Ask for Jyuminho in the Foreigners Section )
3. Bank Statement for last 2 months
4. Your Passport Copy (Give all Pages Copy Which is used . Your Visa Page a Must )
5. Residence card or Alien Card Copy
6. Invitation Letter
7. Guarantor Letter  
8. Letter Mentioning that You won't extend the Visa .(optional)
9. Passport of the visitor.
10. Application for Visa
11. 2 Latest Photos Color with White Background . Size has to be 45 * 45 .
12. Last Year Tax Payment Proof .

13. Itinerary
14. Sponsors certificate of income & tax payment

This will be useful if you are bringing relatives or friends from your native country to Japan.

I have used above documents while bringing my mother to Japan.

maximum allowed period of stay is 3 months.


Sunday, March 6, 2011

SEO Strategies and tips

1. Write good content
  • Service specific, newsletters, blogs 
2. Do your keyword research
  • Use tools like Google analytics, word tracker. Ad words keywords suggestion 
3. Use Keywords wisely
4. Get other sites linking to yours
  • Target a few relevant, good-quality sites and directories and get a link back from them
5. Structure the site for SEO
  • Provide links to all important pages, Use sitemaps 
6. Analyze your site periodically for SEO performance
  • Using tools like Yahoo site explorer, Google webmaster tools, Analytics
7. Avoid Duplicate Content and update contents regularly
8. Subscribe to social networking websites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc
9. Create News and provide RSS Feeds

Telephony & VoIP - Unified communication - based on Microsoft Lync Technology

Lync 2010, is an enterprise real-time communications server, providing the infrastructure for enterprise instant messaging, presence, file transfer, peer-to-peer and multiparty Voice and Video calling, ad hoc and structured conferences (audio, video and web) and PSTN connectivity, Group Chat

  • Control costs Voice over IP (VoIP) enables communications among geographically dispersed company locations without long distance charges. Integrated audio, video, and Web conferencing helps reduce travel costs as well as the cost of third-party conferencing solutions. 
  • Improve productivity  Instead of e-mailing documents back and forth for approval, workers can rely on real-time collaboration through enhanced conferencing with desktop, application, and virtual whiteboard sharing from within Microsoft Office or other applications. The unified Microsoft Lync 2010 client provides access to enterprise voice, enterprise messaging, and conferencing from one simplified interface.
  • Support the mobile workforce Mobile workers get access to rich Unified Communications tools from practically anywhere with an Internet connection, no VPN needed. An updated Lync Mobile client makes joining and managing conferences, searching the Global Address List, and viewing presence information easy. Rich presence in Lync Server 2010 has been updated with mobile location information, making on-the-go workers easier to find and contact. A single user experience across PC, phone, mobile phone, and browser gives workers more ways to stay in touch. 
  • Maintain regulatory compliance Built-in security, encryption, archiving, and call detail records help meet regulatory requirements. By using your own servers and network, you maintain control over sensitive data that would otherwise be transmitted over public telephone networks and third-party conferencing platforms.
Major features of Lync
  • Traditional calling features - Provide all the features users need , including call by name, hold, forward, transfer, divert, park, retrieve, voice mail, and conferencing, and improve on traditional voice systems with presence, instant messaging, and SharePoint-based Skill Search
  • Anywhere access - Deliver high-quality voice and other features to users anywhere with an Internet connection - no VPN or third-party solutions required. 
  • A connected experience on the right device, right now - Use a PC laptop for a complete Lync experience outside the office. Alternatively, any phone alongside most web browsers can deliver a rich multi-media conferencing and instant messaging experience
  • Help others connect with you by never missing a call - Use Microsoft Lync 2010 simultaneous ringing to have incoming calls automatically ring on your mobile, home, or other telephone number in addition to your desktop client.
  • Richer experience - Conferencing is no longer a compromise when you have video, one-click desktop sharing, easy meeting requests, and even the ability to start a conference on a mobile phone and continue on a PC
  • Easily schedule and join conferences - Set up online meetings right from Microsoft Outlook with an easy-to-use scheduling plug-in. Participants can join with one click from the PC as well as mobile and desktop phones. 
  • Reduce costs - Integrate ad hoc collaboration and online meetings with your Unified Communications platform rather than relying on expensive third-party conferencing solutions