Can I leave country while awaiting decision on PR?

12 comments

1. Yes, but you may want to call and give them a notice of your absence just in case.

2. Well, what does the note say?

3. I did this last year, I went back to home country for 3 weeks, with some other business trips, together around 7-8 weeks out of Japan while waiting for the result.

   My lawyer told me that you’d better have an explanation if you are being asked why you are leaving for long period.

4. I would call and let them know first. For my PR, They sent me a letter asking for more information and gave me a 2 week deadline to mail the paperwork. The letter stated that my case would be closed if I didn’t respond in time.

   Edit: I am still waiting for my PR results. My plan is to call them if I am ever going to be away from home for 12days for more.

5. You aren’t barred from leaving the country because your app is being processed. Although there is a risk that if they request more documents from you and you don’t respond in a timely manner (because you aren’t in Japan) your PR app can get significantly delayed or rejected.

6. I applied for PR the week before leaving in an extended business trip. I was out of the country all but a week of the next 6 months. It was fine. You’re maintaining your residence your physical presence isn’t actually required.

7. >this winter

   How long? Is this a short trip or a long’ish trip out of Japan?

   If this is a short trip, then not a problem, maybe best let immigration know because they might request additional documents with a deadline whilst you’re out the country etc.

   However, if this is a long trip then Firstly, if you cease your entry in resident register (file your moving out paper work) then your consecutive residency will automatically end. So don’t do that.

   Secondly, You want to make sure you don’t jeopardize your “consecutive residency”.

   There’s no official written guidelines/information I can find. But a good unofficial guideline is that spending more than 90 days (3 months) in one trip out of Japan or spending more than an aggregated 180 days (6 months) out of Japan within a year could jeopardize your “consecutive residency”.

   I think they probably give leniency for those who need to be sent out of Japan by employer, or need to be out of Japan for medical emergencies of family members etc. but expect security to prove that was the reason for absence out of Japan.

   “Consecutive residency” (entry/exit time of Japan related) even applies if you remain a registered resident with a juminhyo. This is to stop people from coming to japan, registering as a resident and then spending most the time out of Japan while still being a registered resident, (on paper). Essentially giving the illusion they are a resident of japan because they still have a juminhyo. when in reality they are not/shouldn’t be.

   This would be especially easy for dependent visa holders, spouse visa holders, and long-term resident visa holders to exploit for example. It would also be quite easy for those who work remotely for domiciled to Japan employers.

8. Went on multiple overseas business trips while waiting and asked about this at immigration. Was pretty much told, in a nice way, “yeah, you have a valid visa still and can go in/out with your current visa while awaiting a determination on your application. Nothing has changed with your current status.”

9. I did (about 8 years ago), no problem.

10. I left the country while waiting for a decision on PR but I was only away for a week. That was this August. No problems at immigration and I was back before they sent me my postcard in the mail.

11. In addition to your PR application, it seems to me that you need to apply another visa application during winter as your PR will not be issued before February. You may want to consider that application too before going to the trip.

12. ” They affixed a note in my passport when I went to Immigration, does this mean I cannot leave the country? ”

    What does the note **say**?