Permanent residency & Naturalization in Japan
- by Yogendra Puranik ‘Yogi’ on 11-Jan-2020
I have seen people leaving Japan for as simple reason as being unable to talk on phone in the Japanese trains. There are many such reasons for which people tend to leave Japan.
The usual reasons for people leaving Japan are
- Education of kids and their future
- Taking care of old or ailing parents
- Discrimination at work or in day-to-day life
- Better work opportunities in India or overseas
- Marriage, in case of singles
- Health reasons
Usually after a stay of three years, people tend to decide whether to continue living in Japan or think of a different destination or go back to India. Not many Indians have chosen life-long kind of stays in Japan. However, such population is growing in recent years.
Long termers can take benefit of following visa categories.
- Permanent residence – for people living in Japan above 10 years. High skill visa owners can apply just after 3 years of stay in Japan after getting the high skill visa. Takes around one year for approval.
- Citizenship by naturalization – for people living in Japan above 5 years. Takes around one year for approval.
- Long term visa – typically for special cases like a dependent living in Japan for long time and used to the life in Japan having lost the visa sponsor (the spouse). Not a easy visa to get.
You must have stayed in Japan for minimum of 10 years with a normal working visa or three years with a high skills visa for being eligible for a permanent residence. The application for permanent residence needs lots of supporting document. The application is submitted to the immigration for a strict scrutiny thereafter. Usually, it takes around a year until the declaration of result.
The process of citizenship by naturalization is handled by the offices of Ministry of Justice in the respective prefectures of Japan. A series of three interviews, loads of documentation and a Japanese language test are required for the application process. The Japanese language test could be exempted in case you possess language certifications. I have found the naturalization process being handled with compassion as compared to the process for permanent residency. This is because Japan welcomes good citizens given the fact that its population is reducing.
Those who are married to Japanese national or their kids can get a ‘Spouse or child of Japanese national’ visa. The allowed period of stay can be six months, one year, three years or five years. A certificate of eligibility (COE) is issued by the regional immigration bureau. Then the visa is stamped based on this COE.
The visa processing fees is not so expensive as compared to many European countries or Americas.
All the best
For All Japan Association of Indians (AJAI)
Disclaimer: The information mentioned here could be outdated. Please consider this article as a guidance and do refer to the latest information available on the internet etc.