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VISA Q and A on FM COCOLO 76.5 MHz Looking Back at the Olympics On Aired Data: Nov. 21, 2000 |
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Summary of the Aired Program |
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Did all of you enjoy the Sydney Olympics and Paralympics? Have any of you wondered what the Visas are for the athletes of the Olympics? Well, this is your night then. As all of you may know by now, visas are issued by each country, so for the Sydney Olympics, naturally it would be a good idea to ask the Australian immigration. But Mr. Nakano suspects that, probably there was a special visa issued for the athletes. This is because probably the Olympic Committee for each country has handed in a list of authorities and athletes, along with a written confirmation that they are harmless. This goes for the media personnel also. Probably all those people you saw on TV with the ID cards hanging from their necks were the people who were issued the special visa. But for those who just went to enjoy the Games with their own eyes, or cheer for their own country, probably entered the country with the tourist visa. For foreign athletes that belong to Japanese teams like the Kenyan Women’s Marathon runner who came in 4th place in the Games, Wanjero, there are two types of visas. For professional athletes, the status will be the Entertainer visa. And for amateur athletes the status will be Designated Activities. This falls under one of the special permissions granted by the Minister of Justice. According to the law, for the amateur athletes who want to be granted the designated activities, they must have been in the Olympics, or World Class tournaments. You didn’t have to have won any medals, just participated in it. But this status is granted under the condition that the athlete helps in improving sports in Japan, so the company which will hire the athlete must pay more than 250,000yen per month as a salary to the athlete. Of course, they are allowed their stay as an amateur athlete, so they are not allowed to do anything besides being an “amateur athlete”. |
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