I'm planning to apply for permanent residence in Japan and I was wondering if anybody else has already done this.

[Block]

Hello.

I'm planning to apply for permanent residence and I was wondering if anybody else has already done this. I have a spouse of Japanese national residence status now.

I've researched it, so , I know what is necessary. But I still have some questions.

Was it easy to get all of the necessary paperwork?

Were you asked for any extra paperwork, etc?

How long did it take?

Thank you.

[Beaglehound]

Plenty on here have done it so ask away; there are a few threads already, for instance:

viewtopic.php?t=2904

viewtopic.php?t=2871

And an older one so beware of taking rules as gospel but worth a look:

viewtopic.php?t=808


And the wiki:

https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/Permanent_re ... _and_links

[TokyoBoglehead]

Hello.

I'm planning to apply for permanent residence and I was wondering if anybody else has already done this. I have a spouse of Japanese national residence status now.

I've researched it, so , I know what is necessary. But I still have some questions.

Was it easy to get all of the necessary paperwork?

Were you asked for any extra paperwork, etc?

How long did it take?

Thank you.

Not difficult per se, but tedious.

Keep reminding yours spouse your worth the effort, and that PR means less paperwork in the future.

Follow the Japanese instructions not the English ones. Make sure basics requirements are met between you and your partner before applying. 3 or 5 year spousal visa. Adequate income. Nenkin, tax payments etc (for both parties).

You can see my recent post for details but I laid out some advice that may be helpful surrounding nenkin.

[Gareth]

I'm planning to apply for permanent residence

Was it easy to get all of the necessary paperwork?

Were you asked for any extra paperwork, etc?

How long did it take?

First of all, congratulations! Just simply making the decision to get cracking on your application is a great start. I know so many folk in Japan that are eligible but “haven’t got round to it yet.”

A few important things to note:

Paperwork requirements are not the same for every application. It depends on several factors, including your route to Permanent Residency (here for ten years on a work visa, married to a Japanese national etc) and your work status (work for a company, self-employed, unemployed etc). So it’s important to be clear on the paperwork requirements for your situation.

As noted in another post, the English version of the government permanent residency website isn’t fully up to date so have a look at the Japanese page for the up to date requirements. There is a tool within the website to machine translate it, which isn’t perfect but you get a good gist of what it is saying.

Also, there are a lot of helpful people on this forum and beyond who can help. But be careful, remember that some people need a document that others don’t and vice versa. They will try to be helpful but may give you the wrong advice. So again, check what you need for your application.

To answer your specific questions:

I got all the paperwork I needed at the city office and tax office in a few hours. Took me a week or so to write the covering letter and a few days to get it translated. Then a day to double check everything and to put it all together.

I wasn’t asked for any extra paperwork!

I applied at Tachikawa in Tokyo and it took 3.5 months.

Good luck with it! The feeling of walking out of the immigration office with a fresh zairyu card with PR on it was pretty, pretty good!

[RetireJapan]

Got mine in 2008 and it made life so much better.

No more visa renewals, just a pleasant 10m every seven years to renew zairyu card.

Better accèss to credit including mortgages.

No fear of losing eligibility to live here if something happens to your spouse/marriage/employment.

I just went into the immigration office and followed their instructions. Took about nine months.

[TokyoBoglehead]

No fear of losing eligibility to live here if something happens to your spouse/marriage/employment.

This is really the heart of it. Anyone with family in Japan should make PR a focus (assuming citizenship isn`t desired).

.................

However those that feel iDeco and Nisa are too onerous to setup, are the same type that keep trekking to immigration every 1/3/5 years(*)

There also exists a large subset who have been rejected once, and cannot bear the process again (currently around 50% of applicants?). Most 2nd timers I have seen that are ultimately successful during round 2 hired a professional. Apparently this is the non-spoken recommendation at immigration if you are refused the first time.

Lore has it ex-immigration officers and scrivener/law firm employees are a bit of a close knit group, similar to driving school instructors and police officers etc.*

[Isodora]

If you don’t feel up to dealing with immigration by yourself you can employ an immigration lawyer - more like a paralegal strictly speaking - (= a 行政書士 who specializes in visa matters) that’s what I did for the children and me, as we are all foreigners. He made sure, that all documents were complete and correct and I did not have to deal with immigration personally.

Having a Japanese spouse though should a) mean a higher chance of getting approved and b) less paperwork. Also you don’t need to look for a guarantor, which was the most difficult part, as they have to bring proof of their income, (which I could then access - theoretically at least - ) and thus was very reluctant to ask anyone. In the end a very kind friend with PR who did not work at that time (but her husband did) helped me.

One strange thing was, that around three months after application, they asked for a written proof from the schools that our children - at that time Chugakko 2, and Koko 3 - really attended school (local schools), that seems to be quite unusual, the lawyer had never heard of such a case.

Further, after a few weeks I was told that instead of filing one document for all 3, our guarantor had to file 3 separate documents. After 4-5 months the approval went through, up to 7/8 months seems to be normal.

A single friend had to wait 10 months, but she switched jobs (unplanned) during the application process.

As s. o. mentioned, it feels great when you hold that card finally in your hands and the peace of mind is definitely worth the hassle. Good luck! .

[zeroshiki]

I looked into this recently and the requirement from the guarantor doesn't have to be financial documents anymore. Just an ID will do.

[Block]

Thanks for the great replies everybody. Lots of information.

Any ideas about the reasons why an application would be rejected?

Thank you.

[TokyoBoglehead]

Thanks for the great replies everybody. Lots of information.

Any ideas about the reasons why an application would be rejected?

Thank you.

1. Failure to meet the clearly stated requirements
2. Guarantor or spouse failing to meet stated requirements
3. Failure to produce required documents initially or upon request. (You have a short window to send additional documents when requested).
4. Being considered too low income, or in an unstable employment situation.
5. Being seen as not being able to contribute to Japanese society.

.....

To be honest the rejection rate is about 50%. Higher income people from developed countries have an easier time meeting the requirements. Income and job stability can be sticking points, and requirements are ever shifting.

People have been rejected for a spouse being late paying tax for a single month. Crossing Ts and dotting Is is recommended.