Long term plan in question?

[Kanto]

So with everything going on it gives me time to reflect.

As of now I am not allowed to come back if I leave Japan. Since this is not linked to health reason - my non Japanese passport does not make me more infectious- I think the situation may last much longer.

My view is if olympics do happen next year then of course all will be back to normal but it is cancelled then I am afraid the restrictions will keep on going. I still won’t be able to leave if I want to come back.

I am a guest here - spouse visa holder - so I have to accept the situation but I need also to think long term if it still makes sense to have Japan as my home base.

Still too early to make any drastic decisions. But time to just think about implications if decide to change home base.

Anyone else a bit confused about this?

Everyone's situation is different. However, Japan has confirmed a lot of suspicions amongst the immigrant/ex-pat community. Even with PR you are not equal in their eyes.

Ben posted this link last week-> https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coron ... igh-future

Personally, I am in Japan for the long-term regardless. My wife and I have the best career prospects here. Retirement in Japan will also be much cheaper.

[RetireJapan]

I made the same analysis, and came to a different conclusion.

Have PR, been here 20 years, own my home, my wife's business is here, and most importantly, I like living here

The government has shown very clearly this time round that they do not consider PR to be similar to citizenship. Instead, we are being treated as similar to short-term workers or tourists. Note that the government started letting in teachers at international schools (even ones new to the country) a few weeks ago after being 'lobbied'.

So the only way to ensure full rights here as a resident is to naturalise. I've been thinking about it for a long time, but this and Brexit (losing my EU passport) make it much more likely. I'll also get some blog posts out of it, eh?

[Beaglehound]

Me and my missus (Japanese) have lived in my home country (Scotland) for the majority of our married life and moved here as it was time to live in the countryside and wind down a bit. That would have been tough to do in Scotland as we couldn’t see an easy way to make a living there, so Japan had the best prospects.

How PRs have been treated is poor, BUT if I have to compare the immigration systems here and back home, it’s infinitely more sensible, fair and reasonable here. I have never had any problem getting a (super cheap) spouse visa regardless of financial status or language ability. So I guess I am trying to say that nowhere is perfect in my experience in its treatment of the other’.I don’t plan to go anywhere but then I have just spent three quarters of our cash on a brand new house which will only lose value so non poverty-inducing options are non-existent tbf!

[RetireJapan]

How PRs have been treated is poor, BUT if I have to compare the immigration systems here and back home, it’s infinitely more sensible, fair and reasonable here.

The UK visa and immigration system is disgusting. At least when the pension people are incompetent and screw up my payments, and I can't get anyone coherent on the phone despite ringing dozens of times, it's not really a big problem. When the same bureaucratic failure results in people getting deported or denied visas it's not really funny any more.

For me the current issue is not so much how I have been treated (have no intention of travelling anywhere, domestically or abroad, for the next year or two), but what it reveals about government attitudes and policies. What I thought permanent residency was does not seem to be how the government views it. And as OkLah! puts it above, that's my problem not Japan's.

Fortunately there is a simple solution that I haven't quite made up my mind about yet

[goodandbadjapan]

How PRs have been treated is poor, BUT if I have to compare the immigration systems here and back home, it’s infinitely more sensible, fair and reasonable here.

The UK visa and immigration system is disgusting.

I am very frustrated with the Japanese government's rules. My elderly father is not in great health and I could have to fly home at any time but may not be able to unless I plan to be out of Japan the foreseeable future. Yet my wife could go and come back without me! That said, my long-term plans remain here. At present it is almost impossible to take my wife back to live in the UK because their rules regarding non-EU spouses are so poor, so neither country is doing me any favours. Mind you, Scotland could become independent and change the rules and then I might have a choice to make. Right now, though, it's frustrating but not a lot I can really do about it. I feel a bit unwelcome here; I feel they are not welcoming my wife there. Lovely world!

[Beaglehound]

How PRs have been treated is poor, BUT if I have to compare the immigration systems here and back home, it’s infinitely more sensible, fair and reasonable here.

The UK visa and immigration system is disgusting.

I am very frustrated with the Japanese government's rules. My elderly father is not in great health and I could have to fly home at any time but may not be able to unless I plan to be out of Japan the foreseeable future. Yet my wife could go and come back without me! That said, my long-term plans remain here. At present it is almost impossible to take my wife back to live in the UK because their rules regarding non-EU spouses are so poor, so neither country is doing me any favours. Mind you, Scotland could become independent and change the rules and then I might have a choice to make. Right now, though, it's frustrating but not a lot I can really do about it. I feel a bit unwelcome here; I feel they are not welcoming my wife there. Lovely world!

Disgusting is the correct word for the U.K. system. We actually moved to the U.K. from Japan in 2004 and it wasn’t too onerous, show you have a bit of savings and a place to live for a while, pay the £300 or so and no problem. Since then it has become downright nasty and prohibitively expensive. That’s true across the Home Office as successive scandals have shown, but the spouse issue is the one I have most experience of as plenty of friends have had to navigate it. The concept that you are unable to live in your own country with your chosen partner (especially if you have kids) because you are not well off is abhorrent.

Another one was the requirement for immigrants to get a biometric ID card, without which you would not be eligible to work or rent property. But of course they didn’t think to write to tell folk they had to get one, many only found out when their work asked them to show it, or they were moving job or (trying) to move house. It took about 6 months to actually apply and be issued with one, leaving folk in limbo meantime.

So yes, life in a mixed nationality relationship always has its complexities but the U.K. system is so callous and punitive you never know what they are going to do next. Not comfortable.

[Beaglehound]

Yeah, I felt a bit child-like when we were building a house and the administrative load fell pretty much on my wife. I can handle spoken Japanese reasonably well but official documents are likely to remain beyond me.

[Cracaphat]

My long term plan hasn't changed.But if a family member kicks the bucket,I won't be attending the funeral.I've paid my dues going home numerous times,though NO-ONE has bothered to come over in the 25+ years I've been here.I guess it depends on your family dynamics as to whether you go home or not for a visit.I last went back in Dec 2018,so no need to for a good year or two.Though I'm a PR,I've never considered it much more than not needing a visa to come and go to Japan.Or easier in buying an abode.I have an Australian passport too,so getting Japanese citizenship to give up two is a non starter on paper,without a major significant benefit in return.

[RetireJapan]

Yeah, I felt a bit child-like when we were building a house and the administrative load fell pretty much on my wife. I can handle spoken Japanese reasonably well but official documents are likely to remain beyond me.

Me too. I feel like my Japanese hasn't really changed much in the last 10 years. I am comfortable enough speaking and listening so I am not motivated to try to upgrade my skills. But I can't handwrite at all, and reading is a struggle outside of subjects I am very familiar with (education and personal finance).

If I'm going to naturalise this just isn't good enough. Time to make some new habits.

[captainspoke]

My long term plan hasn't changed.But if a family member kicks the bucket,I won't be attending the funeral.I've paid my dues going home numerous times,though NO-ONE has bothered to come over in the 25+ years I've been here.I guess it depends on your family dynamics as to whether you go home or not for a visit.I last went back in Dec 2018,so no need to for a good year or two.Though I'm a PR,I've never considered it much more than not needing a visa to come and go to Japan.Or easier in buying an abode.I have an Australian passport too,so getting Japanese citizenship to give up two is a non starter on paper,without a major significant benefit in return.

Somewhat similar here. Pre-virus, like several years ago, my three sibs and I agree that there was no need to go to each others' funerals. You could if you wanted, but no expectations. (As with you and others here, only one sib had even visited here.)

Even my father, who lived to 97, didn't travel within the US for his sibling's services. That was kind of the model for what my sibs and I discussed.

Something for folks here to consider: When my father died, mid-December one year, I didn't go then, but everyone scheduled an interment ceremony. I went in March for that. So if someone goes (or before) you might offer something similar, a ceremony of some kind at a later (more convenient) date.