PR - Successful Application!

[adamu]

Probably the best thing would be to explain the situation to the immigration office, and ask them what to do about it. You could talk to your kyosai, but that's not much use until you know what immigration will consider acceptable.

[kuma]

At the time of my (successful) application, my wife was my dependent spouse, and she was covered for pension through Shigaku Kyosai. However, her official pension records did not reflect this at the time of my application.

A brief explanatory statement + her insurance card (which clearly stated the start date of her coverage) + my payslips (which confirmed my pension contributions) cleared this hurdle in my case.

In your case, a brief statement + your insurance card + payslips for the months in question may satisfy Immigration. Pretty incontrovertible that payments have been made; pretty unfortunate that official pension records have lagged.

[ClearAsMud]

This JPS FAQ explains that while Nenkin Net updates are fast (in principle next-day) for national-pension data, mutual-aid (共済組合) pension records only get updated once a year (two months before one's birthday). This is because such data draws from the annual Nenkin Teikibin statement (as explained here).

MOJ is no doubt aware of this "feature"of the system and would likely be satisfied with such proof of coverage as has been suggested by others.

[goran]

First of all, congratulations @TokyoBoglehead

Secondly, I want to share my PR application story as well.

I have been in Japan on-and-off under Engineer/Specialist in humanities/International services visa since middle of 2015. And during this period, I was out of Japan for about 19 months. (longest period: 14 months, but the visa remained valid)
So, last year in December, I and my wife (both foreigners in Japan) applied for PR as a couple. My wife was the primary applicant as she had the higher salary at that time and Japanese uni degree (which didn't matter as my MBA counted as equivalent to her Japanese university graduate degree). So, we calculated our points, which was over 90 at that time https://www.ro.emb-japan.go.jp/files/100500331.pdf
We were still unsure as both of us were in Japan for less than 10 years. Also I was in the middle of changing my job during the application, and there were uncertainties regarding the documents required due to my absence from Japan (work related)
So, we decided to use a Gyoseishoshi on contingency fee basis (pay only if successful). They did a check on our data and confirmed that we were eligible. We prepared the documents that they asked us to and submitted it to them. Applied in December 2022 to the Immigration Bureau.
Around late February, they asked me for my tax documents for the time when I was not in Japan. I was stationed at Singapore. So, I submitted tax documents from there.
And in mid-April, we were informed that our PR was approved.

In conclusion, I think it was a straight forward process. And in hindsight, may be we could have done it without the Gyoseishoshi too. But the sense of security was worth the high price we were charged. (265,000 including the application fees for the two)

[adamu]

So, we calculated our points, which was over 90 at that time https://www.ro.emb-japan.go.jp/files/100500331.pdf
We were still unsure as both of us were in Japan for less than 10 years.

Yes, if you have 90 points under the highly skilled professional system, you can apply after living in Japan with those points for 1 year. Details here: https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/Permanent_residency

I agree with you that you didn't need to pay somebody to tick the boxes for you, as it's all laid out by the immigration agency and you can ask them questions, too. Congrats anyway.

[goran]

So, we calculated our points, which was over 90 at that time https://www.ro.emb-japan.go.jp/files/100500331.pdf
We were still unsure as both of us were in Japan for less than 10 years.

Yes, if you have 90 points under the highly skilled professional system, you can apply after living in Japan with those points for 1 year. Details here: https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/Permanent_residency

I agree with you that you didn't need to pay somebody to tick the boxes for you, as it's all laid out by the immigration agency and you can ask them questions, too. Congrats anyway.

Thank you.
yeah, the uncertainty with changing jobs, and other stuff also played a part in us buying something of an expensive insurance on this one.
I will persuade anyone thinking to this to try on their own. But if it makes you sleep well at night, I know a Gyoseishoshi, who was quite professional about everything. And also had English language support.

[adamu]

So, we calculated our points, which was over 90 at that time https://www.ro.emb-japan.go.jp/files/100500331.pdf
We were still unsure as both of us were in Japan for less than 10 years.

Yes, if you have 90 points under the highly skilled professional system, you can apply after living in Japan with those points for 1 year. Details here: https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/Permanent_residency

I agree with you that you didn't need to pay somebody to tick the boxes for you, as it's all laid out by the immigration agency and you can ask them questions, too. Congrats anyway.

Thank you.
yeah, the uncertainty with changing jobs, and other stuff also played a part in us buying something of an expensive insurance on this one.
I will persuade anyone thinking to this to try on their own. But if it makes you sleep well at night, I know a Gyoseishoshi, who was quite professional about everything. And also had English language support.

I think if you are unsure of the process or having a professional do it for you gives you peace of mind, it's completely worth it and still reasonable considering the value of PR. I've advised people to do the same, too. However, if you're good at admin stuff, there is no reason you need to pay a professional and it's completely doable yourself (despite the scaremongering of the people who make a living doing this for people).

[goran]

...

...

....considering the value of PR....

adamu, what would you say are the benefits of PR?
I have to admit that we just jumped the gun, without much consideration, just to have the door to Japan open for the future, in case we leave here (for work). I come from a underdeveloped/developing country, so I want the return to Japan option open.

I would like to understand better what else am I getting with this PR status.
I understand the freedom of pursuing any profession, job and career (not being restricted by my visa status) is a big one. Also, completely bypassing the once in 5 year visit to the immigration bureau for new residence card, then to the ward office to renew my number card. but what else?

[adamu]

adamu, what would you say are the benefits of PR?

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

But what else?

In addition to what's written there, some personal/more anecdotal thoughts:

I was flat out told by a bank once that they only give credit cards to people with PR. I'm pretty sure it was also a deciding factor in a recent apartment rental contract. It's just a suspicion, but I think it has a lot of soft power when applying for things involving credit. I also think it helped to persuade my employer to pay me more as I work in IT and now they are competing with US employers who pay much higher salaries that Japanese ones for engineers.

[goran]

adamu, what would you say are the benefits of PR?

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

But what else?

In addition to what's written there, some personal/more anecdotal thoughts:

I was flat out told by a bank once that they only give credit cards to people with PR. I'm pretty sure it was also a deciding factor in a recent apartment rental contract. It's just a suspicion, but I think it has a lot of soft power when applying for things involving credit. I also think it helped to persuade my employer to pay me more as I work in IT and now they are competing with US employers who pay much higher salaries that Japanese ones for engineers.

I forgot to thank you for the wikipage. I must have gone through that page more than a dozen time before applying.
Thank you!

Regarding the softer benefits, I have heard that the home loans and other loan criteria changes significantly depending on if you have a PR or not. So, that is a big plus. As of now, I don't have plans to make such purchases anytime soon.