PR - Successful Application!

[Roger Van Zant]

Thank you for the above reply.

Only if you tick the box. If you don't have a Re-Entry Permit, and you don't tick the box, they will assume you are leaving Japan for good and take your Zaryu Card.

This confuses me. I thought the card you pick up when you go through immigration was the re-entry permit?
But it's actually a "departure card" which only becomes a one-year re-entry permit when you tick the box?

I have a departure date already fixed in October, so I'm planning a visit to the immigration office some time before then to try and get a 5-year multiple re-entry permit. I hope they let me without any silliness, like Ben encountered.

Ah, I see they changed the wording on the Departure Card. It used to say "Special Re-Entry Permit"...
Now it says, "I am leaving Japan temporarily and will return", and "Intended Period out of Japan - Within 1 year, Over 1 year, but within 2 years, or Over 2 years." It is only valid for the "Special Re-Entry Permit" if you select "Within 1 year".
If you select "Over 1 year, but within 2 years", or "Over 2 years", then you must have a Re-Entry Permit issued by Immigration.

No problem. Just go up to the Uketsuke Counter on the way in, get the Re-Entry Permit Application Form, Sai-Nyukoku Kyoka Shinseisho - 再入国許可申請書, purchase the Y6,000 Revenue Stamp from the Convenience Store, or where ever they sell the Revenue Stamps, tick the 'Multiple' Tick Box on the form, and go to the relevant counter with your Passport and Zairyu Card...

https://www.sf.us.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_ ... 01_08.html

And then go to the next counter to apply for the Automated Gates...
https://www.hk.emb-japan.go.jp/files/000136554.pdf

So, if I have the five-year multiple re-entry permit from immigration, I don't need to also grab one of those departure cards as I pass through immigration?
Or do I grab one, tick "within one year", and then present both the departure card AND the five-year multiple re-entry permit?

[adamu]

So, if I have the five-year multiple re-entry permit from immigration, I don't need to also grab one of those departure cards as I pass through immigration?
Or do I grab one, tick "within one year", and then present both the departure card AND the five-year multiple re-entry permit?

You need to present the ED card, your passport, and your residence card. The re-entry permit is assigned to your residence record, so they'll know.

Also I found this:

Q3: If I plan to re-enter Japan, will I have to select whether I am departing with re-entry permission
or special re-entry permission at the time of my departure as before?
➡A: You will not be required to make this selection since the immigration inspector will carry out the procedures
making a decision based on the intended period out of Japan which you will have given in your ED card

[adamu]

Is that sticker still a thing? There was Zero mention of it when I applied, and upon receiving PR.... no mention of it.

No, they stopped putting stickers in passports when the zairyu cards came in.

I believe the sticker is for landing permission. You get it when you enter the country on a visa or visa waiver (i.e. no residence card). After that, you get a 上陸許可(再) stamp.

You do get a sticker for a (not special) re-entry permit, though!

If you have PR, you must still be a resident, however, as PR is a status of residence, and only residents have residency statuses.

What about someone with PR who exits Japan with a five-year re-entry permit and lives abroad for over four years without coming back. They still have their PR, but they're hardly a resident of Japan, are they?

The key point is that you have a residence record I think.

P.S. congrats Roger for triggering all the immigration nerds :p

[Roger Van Zant]

So, if I have the five-year multiple re-entry permit from immigration, I don't need to also grab one of those departure cards as I pass through immigration?
Or do I grab one, tick "within one year", and then present both the departure card AND the five-year multiple re-entry permit?

You need to present the ED card, your passport, and your residence card. The re-entry permit is assigned to your residence record, so they'll know.

Also I found this:

Q3: If I plan to re-enter Japan, will I have to select whether I am departing with re-entry permission
or special re-entry permission at the time of my departure as before?
➡A: You will not be required to make this selection since the immigration inspector will carry out the procedures
making a decision based on the intended period out of Japan which you will have given in your ED card

What's an ED card?

[Tkydon]

So, if I have the five-year multiple re-entry permit from immigration, I don't need to also grab one of those departure cards as I pass through immigration?
Or do I grab one, tick "within one year", and then present both the departure card AND the five-year multiple re-entry permit?

You Do still need to fill out the departure card if you are coming back...

When you arrived in Japan, you filled out an Arrival Card, and you should still have the Departure half of that Arrival Card in your Passport...
When you leave Japan for the final time, you are supposed to fill out that Departure Card to close out your time in Japan.

When you go on trips with a Special Re-Entry Permit or a Re-Entry Permit, you fill out a Departure Card stating that you intend to come back...
The Special Re-Entry Permit is only a relatively recent development, with the Zairyu Card (2012).

https://global.vbest.jp/en/corporate/re ... y_permits/

Before that, everyone who wanted to leave and come back HAD to get a Single or Multiple Re-Entry Permit from Immigration...

Yes, you grab a Departure Card, tick "within one year" (or any box is OK), and then present both the departure card AND the five-year multiple re-entry permit to the Immigration Officer or the Automated Gate Machine...

All your comings and goings are tracked and you can get a report from the database containing every time you entered or exited Japan, or a report of all of your residence registrations for your entire life in Japan from the Immigration Department; in Tokyo the Tokyo Immigration and Residency Management Office - 東京入出在留管理局在留管理情報部門 is located in Yotsuya...

[Tkydon]

What's an ED card?

Embarkation/Disembarkation Card

[Roger Van Zant]

So, if I have the five-year multiple re-entry permit from immigration, I don't need to also grab one of those departure cards as I pass through immigration?
Or do I grab one, tick "within one year", and then present both the departure card AND the five-year multiple re-entry permit?

You Do still need to fill out the departure card if you are coming back...

When you arrived in Japan, you filled out an Arrival Card, and you should still have the Departure half of that Arrival Card in your Passport...
When you leave Japan for the final time, you are supposed to fill out that Departure Card to close out your time in Japan.

When you go on trips with a Special Re-Entry Permit or a Re-Entry Permit, you fill out a Departure Card stating that you intend to come back...
The Special Re-Entry Permit is only a relatively recent development, with the Zairyu Card (2012).

https://global.vbest.jp/en/corporate/re ... y_permits/

Before that, everyone who wanted to leave and come back HAD to get a Single or Multiple Re-Entry Permit from Immigration...

Yes, you grab one, tick "within one year" (or any box is OK), and then present both the departure card AND the five-year multiple re-entry permit to the Immigration Official or the Automated Gate Machine...

All your comings and goings are tracked and you can get a report from the database containing every time you entered or left Japan, or a report of all of your residence registrations for your entire life in Japan from the Immigration Department; in Tokyo the Tokyo Immigration and Residency Management Office - 東京入出在留管理局在留管理情報部門 is located in Yotsuya...

When you arrived in Japan, you filled out an Arrival Card, and you should still have the Departure half of that Arrival Card in your Passport...

I've been in Japan long enough that I've gone through two passports since I first arrived! The Departure half of that first Arrival Card has long since been burnt in an incinerator somewhere!

[adamu]

The Departure half of that first Arrival Card has long since been burnt in an incinerator somewhere!

You can never leave!

[captainspoke]

The Departure half of that first Arrival Card has long since been burnt in an incinerator somewhere!

You can never leave!

Makes me think of the quote: You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

[Gareth]

A further question/point about re-entry permits:

Answers above advise getting a multiple entry re-entry permit. But surely that would only be useful if you travel out of Japan a lot.

Surely if you only travel out of Japan once every 3-4 years, it would be much better to get a single entry re-entry permit each time you travel so you have up to five years to return to Japan should something untoward happen.

If you have a multiple entry one and you leave Japan with only 1-2 years left on it, you don’t get the full “insurance” of the 5 years.

So what you “save” in only needing to go to immigration every 4-5 years to get a multiple re-entry permit, I think you “lose” on not having the full five years each time you leave Japan. So I reckon it’s better to get a single-entry each time instead.

Does that make sense?