Tell me all about your experience with permanent residence! There’s a lot of info out there, but a lot of it is pretty opaque and confusing, and some of the detailed first-person accounts I can find are from 5+ years ago and I’m sure a lot has changed since then.
How many of you have applied for permanent residence?
Did you get it on the first attempt?
If you were refused on the first attempt, why? Did you get approved on a later attempt?
What do you wish you had known or done differently?
If I am qualified for permanent residence, does that include permanent residence for my (non-Japanese) spouse/children?
If you plan to stay in Japan long-term but *aren’t* interested in permanent residence, why?
10 comments
I can answer one item, permanent residency only applies per person, so if you have PR it does not extend to other members in your family.
This opens an interesting question actually. While the PR visa wouldn’t extend to family members, a spouse could have their visa renewed easily if married to a PR holder.
Suppose though the PR holder wants to take a break from work for a year or so… would they have an argument against renewing their spouse’s visa? Even if they have funds? I’ve heard that theoretically they could check if you can support your family before issuing spouse visas or visas for dependents.
Got it on my first attempt.
Mine took really long, like 1 year to approve.
I didn’t know you could use my numbercard for tax documents. I ended up mailing a bunch of forms to city halls in 3 different prefectures with prepaid express return envelopes. I think I spent 20,000 on documents alone.
PR allows you to apply spouse visa for your wife which is better than dependant visa.
My experience as 3rd gen Japanese.
I needed 3 yrs of tax history & 3 yrs of how much I paid in taxes and if I had any unpaid any taxes.
Police certificate confirming that I did not commit any crime.
3 yrs worth of income proof
Proof of employment (on my case I’m self employed so it’s the kakutei shinkoku)
PR Forms.
I sent everything and waited like 4 months for that letter saying It was approved and to buy that 8,000y stamp.
I submitted my documents, waited 10 months, and was approved. Spousal route.
I submitted a few months before the most recent change in requirements (tax, pension, etc. history).
I have accepted that I will die alone but I want to do it here in Japan. I like this country how can I get PR as a loner?
Approved on first attempt and never saw any of these Reddit posts before applying.
Read online resources, pulled together docs needed, went to immigration, they looked at everything, asked me to provide new copies of one doc, but accepted everything else. Even though not required, I also brought evidence of my house I built/bought and the reviewer said it was good additional evidence and included it.
Mailed in the doc they asked for within a couple days and got word back in less than 3 months that I was approved.
Then I read posts here on people having issues, people getting lawyers to apply for them, and people getting denied… completely different than my experience.
I got PR on my first try via the HSRP 1 year route. I think it took 4.5 months for my application to be approved. I then sponsored my wife and kid for PR, their applications also took around 4~4.5 months.
The process was mostly painless for me. I think I only needed to provide 1 additional document.
I got it on my first try because I hired an immigration lawyer to handle it rather than go through the process on my own. His advice and documentation were worth the money. The application package he prepared was very thorough, it made it very difficult for them to find a reason to deny me.
I got it on my first attempt.
Applied in early 2018 and got the result after 2 months. The process was smooth and not difficult, I just followed the document list and prepared everything myself.
PR doesn’t make your spouse a PR. However, your spouse will have spouse visa which allows them to do any jobs in any fields. Also, if your kid is born IN JAPAN and AFTER you have become PR, your kid will have PR too (does not apply to the kids already born before you became a PR).