RetireJapan

Is your spouse educated with native Japanese language skills? If so, I recommend having them decipher the instructions and fill out the entire application.

Immigration officials are already overworked, grumpy and, from my experience, generally seem to regret their life decisions. The ability to fill out the forms in perfect formal kanji hiragana/katakana will be an asset to help smooth things over. Also, your spouse will be able to more fully answer seemingly mundane and baffling questions than someone not familiar with the Japanese mindset could do (N/A, non-specific answers and blank spaces don’t fly).

When communicating with immigration officials have your spouse do all the talking in Japanese and just keep quiet. They will speak English to you, but their attitude will markedly change if forced to do so.

If you already have a spousal visa, and had to go to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, I am guessing you know how traumatically Kafkaesque the ordeal can be (For the uninitiated: Be ready for bizarre 1930s style bureaucracy and a symphony of languages and smells. Try to use the bathroom before you get there and touch as little as possible- my wife caught norovirus after our last visit. This may be difficult because the bureau is in the middle of nowhere so you’ll be spending most of your day there traveling to and from and waiting 4-6 hours for your number to be called). Like @Isodora said, if it all possible, hire an immigration lawyer to do the legwork for you.

When submitting supporting financial documentation take the shotgun approach. Submit every bank account, 401k, pension account, brokerage account, income source and asset you have. The goal is to try to make yourself look as rich as possible. If you’re volunteering don’t forget to include that as well (seen as an asset to society).

I don’t think you mentioned how long you’ve been living with your spouse but this will make a difference -the longer the better.

Using the methods I mentioned I had no snags with my application and, although I don’t remember the exact time frame, I do remember getting my card on almost the exact day that immigration had estimated.

You may hit a brick wall if you have missed even one tax/Insurance payment to the Japanese government, let your residence card expire, been convicted of a crime anywhere in the world or come from an “undesirable” country.

Baring any of the above since your spouse can be your guarantor you have a greater chance than most of success. Japan needs you to “go forth and multiply” and create little taxpayers so our social insurance (public pension etc.) doesn’t become insolvent .

TokyoBoglehead wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:12 am

Roger Van Zant wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:05 am

Block wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 5:57 am 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.

It was easy to get all of the paperwork. No need for a lawyer.
It took me six weeks from submitting the application to getting my PR.

When and Where would give this post more context.

The current MINUMUM time in Tokyo via Shinagawa as of 2023 is:

Official Estimate: 4 months

Unofficial lawyer / scrivener Estimate: 6-8 months*

*Usually far more accurate.

This was 2015, in Kumamoto (so through the Fukuoka immigration office).
Went from three-year humanities visa to PR.
Applied through the ten-year rule.
No lawyer used; all forms very easy to get and fill out.

Gulliver wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:56 am Immigration officials are already overworked, grumpy and, from my experience, generally seem to regret their life decisions. The ability to fill out the forms in perfect formal kanji hiragana/katakana will be an asset to help smooth things over. Also, your spouse will be able to more fully answer seemingly mundane and baffling questions than someone not familiar with the Japanese mindset could do (N/A, non-specific answers and blank spaces don’t fly).

When communicating with immigration officials have your spouse do all the talking in Japanese and just keep quiet. They will speak English to you, but their attitude will markedly change if forced to do so.

If you already have a spousal visa, and had to go to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, I am guessing you know how traumatically Kafkaesque the ordeal can be (For the uninitiated: Be ready for bizarre 1930s style bureaucracy and a symphony of languages and smells. Try to use the bathroom before you get there and touch as little as possible- my wife caught norovirus after our last visit. This may be difficult because the bureau is in the middle of nowhere so you’ll be spending most of your day there traveling to and from and waiting 4-6 hours for your number to be called). Like @Isodora said, if it all possible, hire an immigration lawyer to do the legwork for you.

I'm also working on getting my PR docs together this month which hopefully I can submit in late April. I've already retained a judicial scrivener who came highly recommended in some reddit threads. He only speaks Japanese but he's relatively cheap and seems to have immigration connections and a good track record.

The main reasons why I'm not simply submitting the application myself are all of the reasons mentioned by Gulliver in the above quote. The Shinagawa immigration center is a nightmare of overworked immigration agents and mass chaos with a pretense of orderliness by having long lines everywhere. On top of that my Japanese is not very good which can result in misunderstandings. In any case, I can afford a lawyer and I want to get it done correctly on the first try, so I'm just hedging my bets here.

The biggest headache for me right now is getting all of the resident tax payment certificates for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. I've lived and paid taxes in three different wards/cities during those years so need to make three trips to far flung ward/city offices in Tokyo. I'll be relieved once I've gotten all of the required documents collected and checked by the lawyer and then hopefully I'll never have to do it again.

Teflon wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 1:31 am

Gulliver wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:56 am Immigration officials are already overworked, grumpy and, from my experience, generally seem to regret their life decisions. The ability to fill out the forms in perfect formal kanji hiragana/katakana will be an asset to help smooth things over. Also, your spouse will be able to more fully answer seemingly mundane and baffling questions than someone not familiar with the Japanese mindset could do (N/A, non-specific answers and blank spaces don’t fly).

When communicating with immigration officials have your spouse do all the talking in Japanese and just keep quiet. They will speak English to you, but their attitude will markedly change if forced to do so.

If you already have a spousal visa, and had to go to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, I am guessing you know how traumatically Kafkaesque the ordeal can be (For the uninitiated: Be ready for bizarre 1930s style bureaucracy and a symphony of languages and smells. Try to use the bathroom before you get there and touch as little as possible- my wife caught norovirus after our last visit. This may be difficult because the bureau is in the middle of nowhere so you’ll be spending most of your day there traveling to and from and waiting 4-6 hours for your number to be called). Like @Isodora said, if it all possible, hire an immigration lawyer to do the legwork for you.

I'm also working on getting my PR docs together this month which hopefully I can submit in late April. I've already retained a judicial scrivener who came highly recommended in some reddit threads. He only speaks Japanese but he's relatively cheap and seems to have immigration connections and a good track record.

The main reasons why I'm not simply submitting the application myself are all of the reasons mentioned by Gulliver in the above quote. The Shinagawa immigration center is a nightmare of overworked immigration agents and mass chaos with a pretense of orderliness by having long lines everywhere. On top of that my Japanese is not very good which can result in misunderstandings. In any case, I can afford a lawyer and I want to get it done correctly on the first try, so I'm just hedging my bets here.

The biggest headache for me right now is getting all of the resident tax payment certificates for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. I've lived and paid taxes in three different wards/cities during those years so need to make three trips to far flung ward/city offices in Tokyo. I'll be relieved once I've gotten all of the required documents collected and checked by the lawyer and then hopefully I'll never have to do it again.

Not a bad decision at all to get a lawyer/scrivener involved. Even having had my Japanese spouse to help me navigate the evidentiary requirements, they asked for 5 or 6 pieces of extra info/documents. This was just a couple of years back; my experience certainly wasn’t that it was a simple process, though neither was it horrific.

From memory, I think only three years of resident tax certificates were necessary (spousal route), but that may vary with circumstances.

I went highly-skilled visa route.
About overall experience with immigration offices, I was surprised to find out 2 facts:
1. You can go to whatever remote office in Japan instead of closest to your residence,
2. Small offices work faster and are nicer to you.
I had a nice experience with office in Naha and Kadena in Okinawa.
If I had to apply now I would try to combine it with summer trip.
The obvious downside is you may need to go more than once.
I wonder if its specific to Okinawa, can anyone confirm?
I guess Sendai or Takamatsu should be less crowded than Shinagawa.

zak wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 1:06 am I went highly-skilled visa route.
About overall experience with immigration offices, I was surprised to find out 2 facts:
1. You can go to whatever remote office in Japan instead of closest to your residence,
2. Small offices work faster and are nicer to you.
I had a nice experience with office in Naha and Kadena in Okinawa.
If I had to apply now I would try to combine it with summer trip.
The obvious downside is you may need to go more than once.
I wonder if its specific to Okinawa, can anyone confirm?
I guess Sendai or Takamatsu should be less crowded than Shinagawa.

Sendai is rarely crowded (sshhhh, don't tell everyone).

zak wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 1:06 am 1. You can go to whatever remote office in Japan instead of closest to your residence,

I don't think this is true. I've actually been refused service because of this.

Maybe it is if it's under the same regional integration office jurisdiction.

adamu wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:40 pm

zak wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 1:06 am 1. You can go to whatever remote office in Japan instead of closest to your residence,

I don't think this is true. I've actually been refused service because of this.

Maybe it is if it's under the same regional integration office jurisdiction.

Yeah, when we evacuated to Kanazawa and phoned the immigration office (a satellite office of the infamous Osaka office) they tried to tell us that we had to go back to Sendai to get re-entry permits. This was three days after the 3-11 earthquake

adamu wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:40 pm

zak wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 1:06 am 1. You can go to whatever remote office in Japan instead of closest to your residence,

I don't think this is true. I've actually been refused service because of this.

Maybe it is if it's under the same regional integration office jurisdiction.

I was also told I must go to Shinagawa, and only Shinagawa, as I fell into the catchment.

My best immigration experience ever was in Chiba (walked in for a renewal and immediately walked out with a visa) and Kobe (zero waiting time). I think when Dante wrote about the circles of hell he was describing the Shinagawa immigration waiting room.