As the title says, I recently applied to an SMBC account online, as my current bank, Shinsei is getting worse by the minute, and my application got rejected. I’ve been living in Japan for a little more than 5 years. This is the reason they gave me for the rejection:
​
>Although our bank determines your residency based on the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, we are unable to make a determination based on the identity verification document (residence card) you have presented,
I renewed my residence card in October 2023, so my theory is that they cannot determine if I’ve been in the country long enough. The only option they give me is to visit an SMBC branch office, but I tried to book a slot online for several branches, and none of them have available spots in the near future.
I actually have a credit card with SMBC (VPASS) for more than 4 years, but it looks like they don’t cross this kind of information.
Any advice or personal experience you could share?
**Note**: I want to have an account with one of the “first class citizens” in Japan, as others such as Shinsei, Prestia, etc. are not fully integrated in the electronic transfer system and are not always supported as payment sources/destinations, specially for online payments.
**Edit**: Mystery solved. The reason the application didn’t go through is basically that I’m an idiot. I’ve just realized I forgot to go to the ward office and register my address in the residence card after renewal. Thank you so much everybody for chiming in and trying to help. I hope that at least this post can be helpful for someone in the future.
by QubitKing