What is the Permanent Residence Visa?

If you want to continue living in Japan for a long time, you can consider getting a Permanent Residence visa. Once this visa is granted there are no restrictions to the length of your stay, and no limitation for the range of work you can do. If you are a permanent resident of Japan, it means that you have the legal right to come and go from Japan and to take any job that is offered, to study or to establish any business. It gives you flexibility in activities in Japan and it is a huge advantage for you. You may also want to consider applying for citizenship in Japan. Citizenship does require you to give up citizenship of your birth country, even if your home country permit you to hold dual citizenship. A permanent residency has many of the same rights to reside on a permanent basis as a citizen, but you do not have to surrender your current citizenship.

To be eligible for a permanent residence visa, the base requirement is that you have been lawfully permitted to live in Japan for TEN (10) consecutive years. However, there are also some ways the period can be shortened.

In recent years, the number of applicants for a permanent resident visa has risen, and its checks have become stricter. Due to this, the application denial rate has also increased.

Benefits of the Permanent Resident visa

No restriction in the kind of works or other activities you can engage in. You are allowed to get any job that you want or establish any business in Japan.
Unlimited duration of stay in Japan. You do not have to renew your visa every year or every few years. (If you plan to leave Japan for more than one year, you need to apply for a re-entry permit before departure, otherwise your permanent residence status can be lost.)
No effect on your permanent resident status, even after death or the divorce from your spouse.
Gives you more credit to live in Japan, makes it easier to get loans to purchase property and co-operation corporation from Japanese banks.

Learn more about Benefit of Permanent Residency in Japan, please refer to “Benefits of Permanent Residency in Japan“.

Requirements

The Permanent Resident visa application process requires more effort than a regular visa application.

1. You must have had good conduct and behavior. No criminal record or traffic offense, and full payment of taxes, etc. You observe Japanese laws and your daily living as a resident does not invite any social criticism. (素行善良要件)

* This requirement does not need to apply to spouses or children of Japanese nationals or permanent residents.

2. You must be able to support yourself financially, have sufficient assets or ability to make an independent living, such as a stable job or enough savings. Your assets or ability to make an independent living are assumed to continue to provide you with a stable base of livelihood into the future. (独立生計要件)

While there is no official number for the annual salary considered to be enough, a common eyeball amount for a single applicant should be around ¥3,200,000 per year or more. An applicant with dependents needs more income.

* This requirement does not need to apply to spouses or children of Japanese nationals or permanent residents.

3. You must be regarded to be in accord with Japan’s public interests. (国益要件)

a) In principle, TEN (10) years of consecutive residence in Japan, which should include FIVE (5) years of residence under a work visa.

* This requirement does not need to apply if you are a spouse or child of a Japanese national/permanent resident, Long-term resident, or Highly Skilled Professional (HSP) visa holder. The period-of-stay condition differs depending on your status of residence.

Spouse — THREE (3) years in a real marital relationship and ONE (1) year continuous stay in Japan.
Biological child — ONE (1) year continuous stay in Japan.
Long-term resident — FIVE (5) years continuous stay in Japan.
Highly Skilled Professional (HSP) — If you score 70 points according to the highly skilled professional point calculation table, THREE (3) years continuous stay in Japan. If you score 80 points or more, ONE (1) year continuous stay in Japan.

b) You have never been sentenced to imprisonment or fined, and fulfill public duties such as tax payment, health insurance payment, or national pension payment during the required period and always respected the payment deadline. You must have submitted all the required notifications of Japan immigration law, such as the change of employment, etc. to the Immigration bureau.

c) Currently having the longest period of stay visa (5 years or 3 years).

d) There is no possibility that you could do harm from the viewpoint of protection of public health.

4. Another requirement

a) You must maintain the current visa status, such as an appropriate job in case of a work visa holder, or a stable marriage in case of a spouse visa holder. It can also be a problem if you have had career changes in the past and long periods (more than 3 months) of unemployment.

b) You must have a guarantor of the Japanese national or permanent resident visa holder guarantor to support your application. The guarantor has just only a moral obligation, and no legal obligation.

Guarantor

When applying for a permanent residence, the presence or absence of a guarantor is a crucial factor to consider. If you have a Japanese spouse, he/she typically serves as the guarantor. However, if your residency status is tied to employment, such as having a visa in “Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services”, or a “Highly Skilled Professional” category, securing a guarantor before applying for permanent residence might prove challenging.

The concept of a guarantor under immigration law is different from a guarantor in the context of lending money, but because the terms sound similar, many are hesitant to become guarantors during the permanent residency application process.

In these situations, the Gyoseishoshi Lawyer clarifies to potential guarantors that their role is based on moral responsibility rather than any legal obligation.

One common question that arises is whether a company can act as a guarantor? To address this:

The answer is, no, a company cannot serve as an identity guarantor.

It’s important to note that the identity guarantor must always be an individual. Of course, the president of a company, being a person, can act as a guarantor for a permanent residency application.

Permanent Residence Permit Application and Impact of Long-Term Business Trips Abroad

When applying for a permanent residence permit, taking a long-term business trip abroad typically resets the 10-year residency requirement (of which a work visa generally demands a minimum of 5 years) to its beginning.

It’s crucial for the employer to demonstrate that the trip abroad wasn’t initiated by the employee’s personal decision. Evidence such as a letter of assignment from the company becomes essential, making both the letter of assignment and the employment contract pivotal documents.

It’s worth noting that if one tries to modify their permanent residence permit application soon after returning to Japan, it’s unlikely to be approved. In particular, the applicant is expected to have worked in Japan for at least one year before applying.

For a Highly Skilled Professional (HSP) foreigner

As we mentioned above, you are required to continuously stay in Japan for at least 10 years in principle to apply for a Permanent Residence visa. However, you can apply for Permanent Residence visa by being recognized as a highly skilled professional (HSP), This period of stay can be shortened. To qualify, you must:

score at least 70 points according to the highly skilled professional point calculation table and have been living and working in Japan as a Highly Skilled Professional for at least 3 years continuously,

or,

score 80 points or more according to the highly skilled professional point calculation table and have been living and working in Japan as a Highly Skilled Professional for at least 1 year continuously,
currently hold a highly skilled professional (HSP) visa. If you currently hold a working visa, such as “Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services” visa, you will need to show that you are eligible to be considered a highly skilled professional.

Required Documents

Documents will differ depending on your circumstances. In general, The only required document from your employee is a “Certificate of Employment”, the other documents can be prepared by yourself.

Application form
Photo (4 cm x 3 cm)
Passport
Residence card
Your CV (resume)
Letter of Reason
Certificate of residence “Juminhyo” for all family members issued by the ward office.
Certificate of Employment issued by your current employer.
Certificate of annual Income and resident tax for the past 5 years; “Kazei shomeisho” and “Nouzei shomeisho” issued by the ward office.
Documents certifying the national tax payment status.
Copy of your saving account passbook, real estate registration certificate, etc.
Documents certifying the public pension premiums (for the last two years) payment status, such as a print screen of “Monthly Pension Record” on Nenkin Net.
Documents certifying the latest public health insurance premiums payment status (for the last two years).
Documents required from the Guarantor; Letter of Guarantee and copy of his/her ID card, such as driving license card, My-Number card in Japan.

Case Study

Is it possible to apply for a permanent residence permit in the following scenario?

Scenario: You’ve been in Japan for one year with a “Dependent” visa status. Meanwhile, your parent received their permanent resident permit one and a half years ago. After obtaining permanent residency, your parent successfully changed your status from “Dependent” visa to “Long Term Resident” visa.

Given this background, could you qualify for a permanent residence permit? For the purposes of this discussion, let’s assume all other requirements for permanent residency are satisfied and focus solely on the duration of stay.

Generally, a candidate must reside in Japan for a minimum of 10 years to be eligible for a permanent residence permit. However, there’s an exception: those with “Long Term Resident” visa status can apply after only 5 years of stay.

At first glance, it might seem that a “Long term resident” visa status would need to complete these five years. But in this context, a child of a permanent resident is essentially treated as a “Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident” visa status. The reason a child isn’t directly considered as a “Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident” is due to the stipulation that the parent should have had permanent residency status at the time of the child’s birth.

Hence, just like a Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident visa holder, if the child has been in Japan for over a year, they can apply for permanent residency.

It’s worth noting that parents usually apply for their child’s permanent residence permit concurrently with their own. The scenario described above is an exception, perhaps due to reasons like the parent being a highly skilled professional.