Yet another visa question. I am very sorry. I have heard from some sources that I could apply for permanent residency if I can prove that I have more than 80p (now and for the past year) for the Highly Skilled Professional (HSP) visa **even though** I do not have the HSP visa. Is that right? Is there anything official about it? How do I apply for that? Just assume it works, enter the immigration office (or try online), and provide all supporting docs for the 80p.
Here is a little more detail about my case:
I have been in Japan for over five years, but solely on the cultural activities visa. Since I was mostly paid with a scholarship from another country, I have not actually *worked* here (by the definition that I do not have a work contract with a Japanese institution. I have a contract with the scholarship institution in the foreign country, obviously). Therefore, my host research institution in Japan only allowed me to apply for cultural activities since I don’t have a working contract with them. The HSP visa requires work in Japan, so I stuck with cultural activities. This visa was also extended every now and then by +1y or +6 months. I never got the visa for five years straight, but I never had a gap in between the extensions (not sure if that matters).
A while back, I already calculated my points for HSP and reached over 80p for the academic track (official name is “advanced academic research activities”), and I can prove that I got the 80p now and reached it throughout the past year (I also have 70p for the past three years if that matters). But I didn’t think much about it, considering that my host institution didn’t support that visa since I am not in a working contract with them.
Now, I heard that I could directly apply for permanent residency just because I have these 80p. I do not need to have had HSP in the past. I greatly appreciate it if you know something about that or have links that provide further details. Obviously, I don’t want to apply out of the blue without knowing that it could work. Calling the immigration office (at least tokyo/shinagawa) has proven to be not very helpful. Would you suggest consulting a lawyer in that case?