I saw a thread the other day asking about a retroactive overseas moving out from a PR holder who lives outside Japan but is on the resident register. I’m in a similar boat and is just wondering if the /r/JapanLife community could chime in.
I saw from the MoJ website (https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/publications/materials/newimmiact_4_q-and-a_page3.html), specifically Q89:
> Q89：海外で長期間居住するため日本の住所を引き払いました。住居地の届出ができないのですが、どうすればよいのでしょうか。また、その場合、住居地の届出ができないことで在留資格の取消しの対象となるのでしょうか。
> A. 住居地とは本邦における主たる住居の所在地を言い、本邦において主たる住居が存在していれば在留カードに住居地が記載されます。海外で長期間滞在するため住居地がなくなる場合、出入国在留管理庁長官に対する届出は必要ありませんが、市区町村において住民基本台帳制度における転出届をしてください。
> また、中長期在留者の方は、住居地から退去した場合において、当該退去の日から９０日以内に新住居地の届出をしないことが在留資格の取消事由になっていますが、届出をしないことにつき正当な理由がある場合は取り消されることはありません。
English:
> (Q89: I moved away from my Japanese address to live overseas for a long time. I am unable to report my place of residence, what should I do? Also, in that case, will my status of residence be subject to revocation because I am unable to notify my place of residence?
> A. Place of residence refers to the location of your primary residence in Japan, and if you have a primary residence in Japan, your residence will be recorded on your residence card. If you are staying abroad for a long time and will no longer have a place to live, you do not need to notify the Commissioner of the Immigration Services Agency, but please submit a notification of change of residence using the Basic Resident Registration System at your city, ward, town or village.
> Additionally, if you are a mid- to long-term resident, if you move out of your place of residence, failure to notify your new place of residence within 90 days from the date of your move out is grounds for revocation of your status of residence. It will not be canceled if there is a valid reason.)
I’m a PR holder who also lives and works overseas and has a Japanese residence card. The place of residence that’s on my residence card is an apartment I rented from a university buddy (he’s Japanese), but I don’t pay him any rent. I pay him a visit whenever I come back to travel and stay at that place of residence. I just realized that I never told immigration that I had changed my address to overseas within 90 days, but according to Q89 I don’t need to notify Immigration if the move is overseas?
In addition, I did some digging around and found that apparently having a re-entry permit and staying overseas is a reason for not filing the change of address to begin with? https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/content/920000171.pdf
> 4 転居後急な出張により再入国出国した場合等再入国許可 みなし再入国許可を含むによる出国中である場合
> 5 頻繁な出張を繰り返して１回当たりの本邦滞在期間が短いもの等，在留活動の性質上住居地の設定をしていない場合
English:
> 4 Those who have been staying outside the country after obtaining a re-entry permit
(including special re-entry permit), such as those who obtained a re-entry permit and left
the country to go on an urgent business trip after they changed their address.
> 5 Those who have not decided their residential address due to the nature of activities
permitted under their status of residence, including those who repeatedly go on a business
trip abroad and stay in the country for only a short time.
It does feel like the law is somewhat vague for PRs who live overseas. Would be grateful to see what the community’s experiencei and advice is. Cheers.
2 comments
I stumbled upon this thread by the ever so helpful /u/starkimpossibility: https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanFinance/comments/x6ehuq/tax_liability_living_in_japan_employed_by_an/in979wo/
> Incidentally, failing to remove yourself from the resident register when you move overseas is grounds for your PR to be revoked.
This is worrying if it’s true and enforced. I’m going through the immigration law text and I can only find mentions of “filing a false notification”, which I interpret to be malicious with criminal intent, such as when scamming others, dodging debt, or engaging in corporate fraud. Is “failing to remove yourself from the resident register when you move overseas” equivalent to “a false notification”?
Living overseas is a valid reason to not have a current address reported to immigration. However if you have retained a registered Japanese address (and jusho / registered juminhyo) despite actually having the base of your life overseas, you may be violating both immigration and municipal residency laws.
That said, immigration is also aware when you are outside of the country, and generally speaking you are unlikely to have your status revoked when out of the country / when you have a valid reason.
You may be liable to face a fine/consequences for violating the municipal residency act, though that would depend on your situation and how your municipality handles it.
(Note: it might be problematic if, for example, you had received Corona stimulus payments despite not actually being a resident.)
Edit: also the law and immigration are both quite clear in so far as having a valid reason (i.e. living outside of Japan for an extended period) means that you will not face consequences for failing to inform immigration of a new domestic address.