Keep on receiving yellow envelope pension office letters

[adamu]

Let us know what happens after you've spoken to the pension office!

Not sure if they want to come back but from what I've been seeing they're in a relationship with a Japanese national and are looking to settle here.

Or maybe you can get them to do it? If their partner is Japanese, sound like something they should be able to resolve.

If there's any chance they want to settle here, they should definitely not take the refund, at it effectively erases all history and they have to start again. As it stands, even with gaps in their record, if they come back any contributions they did make will be counted.

[adamu]

Ignoring it will make it impossible to ever come back or get any visa.

I doubt that's true. Still better to deal with it though.

[fortyseconds]

Ignoring it will make it impossible to ever come back or get any visa.

I doubt that's true. Still better to deal with it though.

Appreciate the words of advice guys! Ill call them up if I receive another envelope. Or as you suggest I'll let their Japanese partner deal with it.
Good to know that they're not going to be barred from entering the country or anything and if at worst they're gonna be asked to pay up when they come to live in Japan again.

[adamu]

at worst they're gonna be asked to pay up when they come to live in Japan again.

JohKun might've been being a bit extreme, but it's true that gaps in your pension record can be looked at unfavourably for permanent residence or naturalization applications.

The sensible thing to do here is talk to your friend - I don't think you need to wait for another letter.

[Gulliver]

Can I just straight up ignore this? Will they bust my friend in the UK or something?

This would be something. I can see the headlines now: “UK citizen extradited to Japan for being poor.”

However…. As others have said above, they should get this sorted out.

Also, keep in mind when you try to communicate and reason with
the government they will be in no hurry to accommodate you, especially if you don’t use the correct avenues and paperwork. When the government asks you for money, on the other hand, they want it NOW.

Your friend needs to communicate with their previous local government office for guidance and, if they have the money, pay the outstanding amount. If not, simply let them know they have insufficient funds. Done and dusted. Now the balls in their court.

Left unattended this may eventually get bumped up to a prosecutorial level where entry into Japan could be blocked. If they really want to come back to Japan they should take care of this ASAP.