Hello all,
My wife and I have been considering moving to Japan (where we’ve lived once in the past), but have some doubts as to whether we would pass the appraisal process for the extension of my spouse of Japanese national visa / stay permit, so would love to hear some opinions on the subject.
This question is directly linked to our situation, so I’ll start by giving background details – excuses in advance for the length of this post…
I’m 47, French citizenship, and married to a Japanese national for over 16 years now.
Language-wise I speak/read/write Japanese (degree in Japanese studies, JLPT N2 in 2012 and have been using it quite a bit in a working environment since, read books etc).
My other main working languages are English and French, along with variable proficiency in others.
My wife is also in her 40s, a Japanese national, and speaks Japanese, French fluently and English (B2+) as her primary working languages – she also has full residency in Europe.
Professionally, I have a background in social-sciences (MA in social anthropology, BA in Japanese studies), and my wife in music (BA, studies at the Paris National conservatory)
Initially based in France, we were both working as professional musicians for over 10 years, after which I needed a change and worked as a freelance translator for a few years, while my wife continued her musical career.
However, for the past 7+ years, we’ve actually been working in the (scuba) diving industry, both being scuba diving instructors and guides.
We’ve worked either in Japanese or partially-Japanese working environments as instructor/guides and then also as dive center / operation managers, in different countries (Indonesia, Thailand, Maldives, Mexico, Palau).
We’ve also worked a season in Japan, in a Japanese dive center on a remote island in the Izu archipelago.
To work in Japan I’d applied for a “spouse of Japanese national visa” which was quite smooth (COE obtained while in Thailand), and got a 1 year stay permit with no work restrictions.
However, we left Japan to work in Palau just before my first visa extension was due (after making sure we’d shut down everything that needed to be administratively), meaning I never went through the first visa extension process…
We’re currently at a point in our lives where, after moving around and dealing with temporary work visas in various places, we would like to settle down and base ourselves in a place offering more stability on the long term – and the choice for us is between Europe or Japan.
With our background, there are actually more work options in Japan than in Europe, especially at a time where Japan is expanding its tourism industry.
However, for family reasons (aged parent), I would really need to spend some time in Europe each year as well.
And we’re both reluctant to anchor ourselves in the stereotypical Japanese-style work-life balance as full time employees, so looking for ways to make it work while maintaining some control over our time.
We’ve come to the conclusion that what would work best for us – if we can actually make this work, of course – would be to be based in Japan (ie apply for another Spouse of a Japanese national visa, rent a place there yearly, pay taxes there) and work full-time in tourism, but ***seasonally,*** so we can also take time off to go to Europe a couple of months a year (with a re-entry permit for myself)
We are thinking of the Okinawa region, which has a clear off-season, and where we already have a couple of work opportunities.
However, the main hurdle to this plan would probably be the renewal of my visa / initial 1 year stay permit, which is conditioned to financial earnings and appraisal of stability in Japan.
We’ve been married for 16 years, and confident we can make it work for us materially (which is what we’ve been doing for the past 7+ years, and also actually did in Japan once before), but are not sure if immigration will see it this way when it comes to appraising our couple’s financial situation and stability as Japanese residents.
To put it simply, if we work full-time over a say 6 month period or so, our earnings in Japan will not be fantastic.
Enough to live fine in Japan, sure (we live a simple lifestyle and do have some passive income in Europe), but probably small by Japanese standards, which will be reflected on taxation rates etc.
Without have gone through the visa renewal process before, it’s difficult to forecast how strict immigration will be in this kind of situation, for people with our type of profile…
Based on your experience, does this definitely seem like a no-go situation?
Does immigration apply a minimum yearly earning grid to appraise financial stability for spouse visa renewal?
And if not, does it sound to you that immigration would most likely decide that we can’t justify enough *stability* in Japan to allow the renewal of my stay-permit, and consequently either not renew it altogether or issue me a non-working permit, as we’ve heard sometimes happens to ~~undeserving~~ spouses?
We understand that this situation is a little unusual, but really look forward to your (hopefully not too judgemental) insights on financial appraisals for the renewal of spouse of a Japanese national visas.
Thanks for your time and advice!
cheers
b
by Downtown_Copy7035