RetireJapan

First time post, and it's about leaving Japan!

I've been living and working in Japan for 15plus years, and have Permanent Residency. My children and I will be heading back to my home country for an undecided amount of time (at least six months to a year), while my Japanese husband will stay in Japan. 

I had thought we would inform the local city office that the kids and I will be out of Japan for tax purposes. My children have dual citizenship, and are entitled to health insurance in my home country. 

My husband thinks it is better for us to stay on his juminhyo, and he will continue to pay taxes and insurances accordingly. This seems a bit crazy to me, so I am trying to find out both the pros and cons of doing so. Does anyone here have any experience or information about this?

And any other words of wisdom for preparing to leave Japan - possibly temporarily possibly permanently?

mikan wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:02 am First time post, and it's about leaving Japan!

I've been living and working in Japan for 15plus years, and have Permanent Residency. My children and I will be heading back to my home country for an undecided amount of time (at least six months to a year), while my Japanese husband will stay in Japan. 

I had thought we would inform the local city office that the kids and I will be out of Japan for tax purposes. My children have dual citizenship, and are entitled to health insurance in my home country. 

My husband thinks it is better for us to stay on his juminhyo, and he will continue to pay taxes and insurances accordingly. This seems a bit crazy to me, so I am trying to find out both the pros and cons of doing so. Does anyone here have any experience or information about this?

And any other words of wisdom for preparing to leave Japan - possibly temporarily possibly permanently?

Complete guess work here. But.. Based on your husband’s income, kids ages, etc, he could receive tax deductions that might cover or exceed the additional insurance payment burden. You’d also be able to use the health service when visiting. If he thinks it’s temporary, 6-12 months, then leaving as is, is also zero hassle for him. I assume you’ll keep PR active so no problems there.
You could crunch the numbers if your Japanese is functional by using online calculators.

Words of wisdom. None. I’m the senior director for my firm and I can’t even open a bank account. I shouldn’t have even made this post.

My family did exactly the same three years ago, and I stayed here for one year, while my kids went to primary school in the UK. The only difference is that my wife is non-Japanese, like me. I think in terms of not having to deal with all the bureaucracy of the ward office, it might be best to leave things as they are in terms of taxes and insurances. I was actually told by my insurance agent that if we take one year of from our additional health insurance then we will have to pay a higher rate when we get back. This is not kokumin kenko hoken.

The only real bureaucratic challenge I faced was with my daughter who was graduating from nursery and entering elementary school whilst she was in the UK. The nursery said that because she was entering compulsory education you would have to report it to the ward office. I spent about two hours with a very well meaning ward officer and after filling out the all wrong forms and stamping my inkan in the all the incorrect places. Finally got all the right forms and inkan stamped in all the correct places.

Also, as a "just in case" get the five year re-entry permit when you leave. Yes, you'll have to go to immigrations to do a bit of paperwork, but if for some reason you cannot make it back within a year, you'll preserve your PR.

You do get a year of being gone without any paperwork or effort, but having five, just in case, would seem to have a lot of things going for it.

captainspoke wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:26 pm Also, as a "just in case" get the five year re-entry permit when you leave. Yes, you'll have to go to immigrations to do a bit of paperwork, but if for some reason you cannot make it back within a year, you'll preserve your PR.

You do get a year of being gone without any paperwork or effort, but having five, just in case, would seem to have a lot of things going for it.

From my perspective this is the key advice. Without that multiple re-entry permit many PR holders who left temporarily and then missed the 12 month return window have now discovered that their PR is no longer valid and any re-entry must be approved through a difficult certification procedure.