My father is 86 years old. Living alone in the UK. Doesn’t have any close living relatives (my mother passed away, no other children). Not in terrible shape, but finding it hard to look after himself. And lonely. Would love to bring him out here to be with the family. If he came he would have enough money to look after himself.
I am married with children and have held PR for many years.
From my research it would seem there is no special visa for this purpose. As far as I understand, the only way for him to stay long-term would be overstaying on a tourist visa, and then applying for special leave to remain. It would seem he fulfils the criteria for this leave to remain.
I would like to know, has anybody actually done this?
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You may be able to get a designated activities visa for your mother if she can’t look after herself and no relative. Best to consult an immigration lawyer.
If you have PR I’ve heard that you can bring them over edit: on a desiginated activities visa, but you need to prove only you can care for him.
This is really immigration lawyer territory.
This question came up a few months ago. You can see my reply here: https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/ui5ica/elderly_parents_moved_to_japan/i7bdljn/
TLDR: it’s possible, but difficult, and immigration is very arbitrary.
You have a second type of temporary visitor visa that allows you to stay 1 year in Japan if you can prove that you have at least 30million yens in bank.
That visa is renewable every year as long as he has enough money in his bank account (it’s basically designed for rich tourists so they can stay longer and spend more money in the country)
[https://visa-agent.net/english/service/for-stay/visa-tokute-katudo-fuyuso/](https://visa-agent.net/english/service/for-stay/visa-tokute-katudo-fuyuso/)
I’m in a similar boat, my parents are both still alive but are 79 this year and don’t have anyone back home to care for them if one of them passes. My sister passed away a couple of years ago so I’m all they got, and I’m over here.
I am pretty fixed in place here – got a permanent job, two kids in school who have been entirely raised here, own a home with more than 20 years of mortgage payments left, wife who has some health issues of her own that would make a move to my country difficult, etc. So I’ve been thinking if it would be possible to bring one of them here someday if the need arises.
In addition to immigration issues though I worry a lot about them being able to get by here. They don’t speak Japanese, would have a hell of a hard time with medical care in Japanese, would probably find it socially isolating living here not being able to communicate with people outside our family and, living in a house that is massively cramped already I think we’d drive each other nuts quite quickly.
So I don’t know which way to go, but I figure that despite everything keeping me here moving my whole family over there might be a more feasible solution, even though it would be massively disruptive. Who knows though, this is the one thing above all else that I’ve come to find extremely stressful about living in Japan as I have gotten older.
I can say two things:
1) don’t overstay your/his/whoever visa. That’s a quick route to a one way trip home and barred re-entry.
2) see an immigration lawyer.
Repeat, see a lawyer.
They’d probably hate it tbh. People get very fixed in their ways and they’d have zero social contact here.
I know someone who had her mom come over like that. It’s not impossible, but it won’t be easy. She got refused the first time, and re-appealed with a lawyer. She was successful the second time.
My point is: get an immigration lawyer to help you out.
Sounds absolutely miserable tbh. Unless he happened to be a weeb in past life. Will he enjoy the diet of miso soup and rice? Too old to travel anywhere. Miserable summers. No friends or familiar people (doesn’t sound like you’ve been around much?!)
Realistically you could move there for his remaining time (having him comfy in his own house with the food and tv he likes) or find a private care home that will treat him with respect and fly out twice a year. Or a live in carer?
Does he speak japanese ?
It will be a difficult decision no matter what you do. Will he be living with your family? Will there be anyone looking after him? Has he ever been to Japan before, experienced the summers? Does he like Japanese food?
Also, how is his mobility? Can he climb stairs without much assistance? Is he a fast learner or adventurous?
My Japanese mom has been in the US for over 60 years, living in California with very little experience outside of her immediate metropolitan area. A year ago I moved her to Indiana where I currently live (family drama with my sister). I had been successful in convincing her in the past that such a move would be extremely stressful for her, new stores, doctors, climate (although more closely with Japan), etc. She is in a senior apartment on her own, and it has been stressful for her. She is slowly adjusting and find her way.
If your father is self-sufficient, resilient, curious, and adventurous, he may thrive. I would expect he will need assistance in understanding the culture and getting around for at least the first 6 months.
Good luck!
Thank you to everyone for replying. There’s a tremendous variety of responses here, and lots of food for thought.
1) The first thing to do is to make sure my father understands the meaning of moving to Japan. I’m planning on him living very nearby to us. Going out for dinner most days of the week, visiting with my children on weekends. I think given the choice between not having friends but having family nearby, and not having friends or family nearby, I think he will choose the former. That is not to say there will not be a lot to get used to. So I agree with those who suggested an initial 3 month visit.
2) I will have to certainly visit a lawyer. Japan in many respects functions on the principle of the grey zone. I need to talk to an expert and see where the limits of that zone are. A lot of the answers here seem very feasible, though it is hard to see which will give us the best chance of getting things moving in a good direction.
I think by Autumn we will probably have a better idea of where we stand.
It seems a lot of people are going through a similar situation, so I will post an update when things become a bit clearer. I’ll add as much detail as possible with the hope of giving more ideas to others.
I’m thinking of doing the same with my mom, so I’m following with interest.
She happens to be an ex-Japanese citizen, so she could come over with a child of Japanese visa. It’s the culture shock that I’m worried about the most, and also her potentially clashing with my wife.