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How I got my Japanese permanent residency

198 points by polm23 6y ago

raverbashing 6y ago
> That presented another problem - I had forgotten, but my degree was in Latin. All documents submitted as part of an application have to be translated into Japanese, and I don't speak Latin. Wait, what? I wouldn't expect such quirkiness from an American university, though being founded in 1764 kinda explains it. (The translation, while correct, is also extremely literal and a bit outdated)
- bhickey 6y ago
  Here's a picture of the diploma if you're interested: https://i.imgur.com/CYHm5sM.png https://i.imgur.com/CYHm5sM.png
  - raverbashing 6y ago
    Thanks, I had looked it up to check the latin (not that I'm an expert, far from it) but it certainly looks more "conversational" than the English translation
    - jkaplowitz 6y ago
      The university president at the time the author graduated (and and also at my own graduation few years earlier) was a classics professor who has good Latin ability, so she conducted most of the ceremony overall in Latin. Of course some bits of English were included, such as when honorary degree recipients or students selected to speak at the ceremony were doing their bits. Yes they provided translations and I think subtitles too. The current university president is less proficient in Latin, so she does most of the ceremony in English, only using Latin for the few bits that the University rules require to be in Latin (including the moments when the degrees are formally conferred).
- NovemberWhiskey 6y ago
  I graduated from a university founded in the 11th century and somehow we manage to get degree certificates in English.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
jniedrauer 6y ago
> In 2011 I graduated with a Master's degree from Brown University and then moved to Japan and got a job as a software engineer. I'm curious why you would do this. In any other occupation, I could understand it. In many respects, Japan is a more advanced civilization than the United States. But as a SWE, there is nowhere else in the world that you can make a higher salary than the United States. Even if your long term ambition was to move to Japan, wouldn't you be better off becoming financially independent first and then moving?
- asutekku 6y ago
  Why would I want to move to the US if the high salary / working at FAANG is not the most important thing to me and I’m already from a developed country? For some reason a lot of people assume high salary is the most important aspect of life. Sure, US SWE salaries are absurdly high, but SWE earns relatively well in almost any other developed country too,
- verroq 6y ago
  Because you actually get to live there?
- alextheparrot 6y ago
  There’s a certain form of thinking I’ve become more aligned with, which is that not everything we do needs to be optimised. Additionally, trying to optimise everything may reduce the overall success compared to the naive “just do it” approach. I assume this is something that is person valued, and the easiest way to ensure it happened was to just do it. The optimisation proposed also has a hidden risk of never doing it at all, or other things getting in the way.
  - aspenmayer 6y ago
    > not everything we do needs to be optimised That reminds me of the Japanese craft of kintsugi, where broken/damaged everyday household objects honored and elevated above their station via repairs with gold inlay. It’s finding perfection in the mundane, leaving something undone, just so. Very Japanese vibe. Some things are better off left broken in view of being later restored, rather than being discarded and instantly replaced with nondescript sameness. Newness itself isn’t bad, but it is alluring; and yet, we can’t leave our culture by the wayside. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi
jeffrallen 6y ago
This was an interesting read. The equivalent story for Switzerland would not be so rosy, unfortunately. I wish we had a points based system here, they seem like a useful addition of fairness to the fundamentally unfair global migration situation.
- namdnay 6y ago
  How do points make it “fair”? I’d say points favour those who already have the privilege of an education.
  - AuryGlenz 6y ago
    Countries exist to benefit their citizens. There’s nothing wrong with only letting the educated.
    - namdnay 6y ago
      I didn’t say there was. But how is it “fair”?
      - arcticbull 6y ago
        Fair to whom? It’s fair to the country as the country is able to make informed admission decisions weighted by the needs of the country, rather than a take-all-comers model. It’s fair to the applicants as they have a clear set of guidelines as to what they need to do to become eligible for admission. Need to learn English to boost your score (As in Canada)? Cool. That’s tangible and clear. On the other hand America’s system of, roughly speaking, “Indians need not apply” isn’t exactly fair to the applicants. Note: a points based migration scheme doesn’t preclude for instance refugee admissions, and Canada’s system has a points escape hatch if a province nominates you based on their specific needs too.
        throw0101a 6y ago
        > and Canada’s system has a points escape hatch if a province nominates you based on their specific needs too. Further, private groups can sponsor refugees as well (pledging to support them): * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Sponsorship_of_Refugees_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Sponsorship_of_Refugee... * https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/help-outside-canada/private-sponsorship-program.html https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/se...
muralimadhu 6y ago
What have you liked/disliked about working in Japan? Why did you pick Japan?
mmhsieh 6y ago
For those interested in foreigners obtaining Japanese citizenship, check out the story of Debito Arudou. It's a whole higher level of difficulty. At some point I think only around 16 naturalizations were happening per year, of a country of 100 million.
- SheinhardtWigCo 6y ago
  Here’s a link: http://www.debito.org/residentspage.html#naturalization http://www.debito.org/residentspage.html#naturalization
- aikinai 6y ago
  There are over 10,000 naturalizations per year with a 99% approval rate. Your figure sounds like one of those weird Japanese legends. And I haven’t read Arudou’s naturalization story, but he’s well known for over-dramatizing everything and has an incredibly biased agenda so it’s probably best not to take anything he says too seriously.
  - mmhsieh 6y ago
    I believe it was in one of Arudou's own writings that I read the 16 per year figure, circa 2000 or so.
- csa 6y ago
  David is a drama magnet. Take everything he says with a grain of salt.
- glandium 6y ago
  Debito Arudou's naturalization was more than 20 years ago. A more recent account: https://www.davidchart.com/2014/11/17/applying-to-naturalise/ https://www.davidchart.com/2014/11/17/applying-to-naturalise... https://www.davidchart.com/2014/12/05/first-naturalisation-interview/ https://www.davidchart.com/2014/12/05/first-naturalisation-i... https://www.davidchart.com/2014/12/24/certificate-of-citizenship/ https://www.davidchart.com/2014/12/24/certificate-of-citizen... https://www.davidchart.com/2015/02/25/second-naturalisation-interview/ https://www.davidchart.com/2015/02/25/second-naturalisation-... https://www.davidchart.com/2015/03/13/actually-formally-applying-to-naturalise/ https://www.davidchart.com/2015/03/13/actually-formally-appl... https://www.davidchart.com/2016/01/18/renouncing-uk-citizenship/ https://www.davidchart.com/2016/01/18/renouncing-uk-citizens... https://www.davidchart.com/2016/04/12/stateless/ https://www.davidchart.com/2016/04/12/stateless/ https://www.davidchart.com/2016/05/18/japanese/ https://www.davidchart.com/2016/05/18/japanese/
orthoxerox 6y ago
TIL Brown University has incredibly pretentious degree certificates. Are other American universities like that too?
- iends 6y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  I don't know of any others that are quite that bad, but most are pretty flowery. I'm still waiting to get the "rights and privileges" my university promised come with the degree.
  - jkaplowitz 6y ago
    Benefits based on having the degree in immigration point systems is a nice example of such a privilege. So is having that university's name on your resume, in cases like Brown where it's a famous name.
- HeavenFox 6y ago
  Harvard and Princeton still have a student deliver speech in Latin in commencement. Anecdotally, since most graduates have no clue what they are saying, someone would hold a sign telling them when to laugh and when to applaud.
weiming 6y ago
A good friend actually used June Advisors Group mentioned in the article a couple of years ago. The firm (really a sole attorney) sounded very helpful and got his business set up with a residence card pretty easily. IIRC it took a couple of months end-to-end.
morninglight 6y ago
Does your Japanese permanent residency allow you to avoid paying American income tax, or are you still required to pay BOTH Japanese and American income taxes?
- robjan 6y ago
  You still have to pay tax unless you renounce your US nationality.
  - jkinudsjknds 6y ago
    Foreign taxes are deductible though, so it's more of a max
  - corey_moncure 6y ago
    You may still have to pay tax even if you renounce your US nationality, if the IRS finds that you have renounced your nationality so that you don't have to pay taxes anymore.
    - theCodeStig 6y ago
      Could you elaborate on that, please?
      - corey_moncure 6y ago
        "The expatriation tax provisions under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) sections 877 and 877A apply to U.S. citizens who have renounced their citizenship and long-term residents (as defined in IRC 877(e)) who have ended their U.S. resident status for federal tax purposes." https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/expatriation-tax https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/expa...
- CapricornNoble 6y ago
  As long as you are a US citizen you are expected to pay Federal income tax, no matter where you are in the world, and no matter where you earned it. The US and Eritrea are the only 2 countries on the planet with this policy. I think you can get your tax burden reduced if you can prove you've paid taxes to another jurisdiction, but don't quote me on that...
wodenokoto 6y ago
> Graduation from a university separately specified by the Minister of Justice in a public notice Does anyone have a link to this list?
CapricornNoble 6y ago
Hmmm, when I investigated the HSFP in 2016, Immigration told me I had to get a job at a Japanese company, and THEN apply for said visa. You can't apply for the High Skill Visa, even if you have more than enough points to qualify (which I did), while you are job-hunting on a tourist visa, for example. >>>What changed in 2017 was that if you could demonstrate that you had the points historically you could apply for a PR without ever having the HSFP visa. That's the process I used. Yeah that's a big change.
Razengan 6y ago
Does anyone have experience with an investment-based path to residency there?
franciscop 6y ago
I am planning to apply in 1.5 years on the 70-point system. I've had 70 points for the last half year, in January 2020 I will be at 65 points and in February 2021 I will be back at 70 points again. I don't speak Japanese though, so there are a couple of things I'm curious about. For instance, it says "Either graduated from a Japanese university or completed a course of a Japanese graduate school" and I did a semester in a Japan university as an exchange student. But it was as an undergraduate, so I'm not sure if it counts. I'll be contacting the linked company in the article, thanks for the read!
mohit888 6y ago
This was an interesting read. Really appreciate the effort!
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
flitzekacke 6y ago
Thanks for the article. With Japanese PR, I know you can leave and reenter on a special reentry visa. Are reentry visas easy to get? Would repeatedly getting (by doing a reentry visa-run to japan every 5 years) them while spending most of your time outside of japan result in losing your PR?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- bojo 6y ago
  These days you can get your reentry permit directly at the airport, and in the case of a PR you can stay outside the country for up to a year. Much better than the “buy an expensive stamp” system they had prior. I moved back to the US at the end of 2018 and haven’t gone back, so I assume my PR expired. That said, if I ever went back I could likely re-obtain it due to my spouse being Japanese. I’m not aware of anyone trying to game keeping their PR, but I do know that if you need to repeatedly stay out of the country for awhile you need to provide a solid reason (like caring for a sick parent).
- laurieg 6y ago
  If you don't have the intention to live in Japan permanently then you're supposed to give up PR. When you apply for a longer re-entry permit they ask about reasons for being abroad. I think the immigration officer would take a film view on many "visa runs" with no job, house or family in Japan.
- polm23 6y ago
  You used to have to apply for a re-entry visa. Technically Japan distinguishes between "entry permission" and "status of residence", which few countries do and, given it's an island, doesn't really make any sense, but that's the reason for the policy. With the change to the Residence Card system in 2012 normal travel no longer requires applying for re-entry visas. Here's a notice from when it changed: http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/newimmiact_1/en/point_3-4.html http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/newimmiact_1/en/point_3-4.html To add to what bojo said, when you apply for it at the airport these days you basically just fill out a tiny piece of paper and they say "OK, see you when you get back" if you're going away for less than a year. I don't go overseas much but if memory serves the process is basically the same for PR and non-PR visas. I don't really know much about the implications of only coming back once every five years or so.
sunsetSamurai 6y ago
I wish my own country was so strict when granting visas and protecting our borders. Every week thousands of people cross are border illegally to stay, making my already poor and indepted country even poorer.
reiichiroh 6y ago
Don’t forget you’re still a second-class citizen as a foreigner: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/05/19/national/social-issues/japan-foreign-residents-stranded-abroad-coronavirus/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/05/19/national/social...
- tehnub 6y ago
  They have begun to allow them to return: >Aware of foreign residents’ concerns, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said last month that Japan would loosen some of the rules. On Wednesday, immigration officials said at a news conference that they had begun readmitting those who left before the start of the restrictions in April. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/business/japan-entry-ban-coronavirus.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/business/japan-entry-ban-...
- bjo590 6y ago
  > Don’t forget you’re still a second-class citizen as a foreigner: 1. The people that choose to live in Japan are well aware of this fact and consider it to still be a good place to live. Japan is a very unique place. 2. There is a difference between Permanent Residency and Citizenship.
- 627467 6y ago
  Isn't it normal for non-citizen a to be second (or even third) class to citizens, in most countries? The post is about acquiring residency, not citizenship.
- makx 6y ago
  I can understand that people are personally upset when they are affected by travel restrictions, but this whole outrage about "foreigners are second class citizens" (often even: "this shows Japans racism") is just just silly. 1- The restrictions are not about race, but about which countries have mismanaged the pandemic. People from Taiwan and some other south east asian countries are allowed to enter. (Ironically, exactly those people are / have been much more commonly the target of Japanese racism). 2- They most likely would prefer to also ban Japanese citizens (whatever race) from returning from hot-spots like Florida or Brazil. They just can't because of legal reasons. Citizenship gives you certain rights. 3- You can call PR and other visas "second class citizenship" if you want, but the fact is: you're just not a citizen. You also can't vote. You also can't become prime minister. You're not a citizen and don't have the rights of a citizen. That's the same in every country, including yours. Why didn't people with PR complain about being "second class citizens" for years about those other rights?
franciscop 6y ago
Note to self: remember to re-download the guidelines every once in a while. This has been in my mind for ~3 years and they have changed them (for the better mostly!) a couple of times. A clear example is that now you don't need to have the high skill visa for the given time, but you just need to have the points for the given period (and even that is a bit ambiguous, it says you need to have the points at the time of applying and 3 years before, but it doesn't say "for the duration of those 3 years")
truthwhisperer 6y ago
that is what i call a well designed process. In europe we will let everyone in even people who can't even read or wipe their ass. We can learn much from Japan!
supernova87a 6y ago
I'm curious to know -- for people who seek residency in Japan, do they typically do it with the plan to stay forever? Or do they use it for the employment, etc, and have the longer term desire to go back to their original home country? I ask because from all that I've read, foreigners take even generations to feel comfortable and accepted in Japan. What's the permanent residency a path towards, for most?
- makx 6y ago
  I can't speak for everyone, but among my foreigner friends almost nobody has a definitive plan to stay forever (though they may be open to the idea). Permanent residency is mostly thought of as a relief from the stress of having to re-apply for visa extensions and not relying on having a job. Until you get PR, you could be forced to leave Japan if you lose your job and don't find a new one right away.
  - lance_klusener 6y ago
    After PR is done, is there a set requirements to follow to become a Japanese citizen?
    - laurieg 6y ago
      PR is not a pre-requisite for citizenship. In fact, in some ways citizenship is easiest to apply for (you only need 5 years of residence vs PR's 10), though the application process is longer and more involved. Of course, you must give up all other citizenships so it is a decision not to be taken lightly.
- forgot_account 6y ago
  >>>I'm curious to know -- for people who seek residency in Japan, do they typically do it with the plan to stay forever? I do. It's a "sweet spot" place to live. No threat of violence from law enforcement, significantly reduced threat of violence from the general population, extremely high standard of living, and the country is well-positioned as a base of operations for travel or business across most of Asia. Also, despite some high expenses compared to America, it's a great place to own a sports car if that is a major hobby (and it is for me). Many of the happiest people I know are Western expats in Japan who are small-business owners. It's important to disconnect from the "Japanese corporate wage slave" or "English teacher" life experiences. I'll never back to the US if I can avoid it.
sqrt 6y ago
Thanks for sharing this—I'd heard about the points system but I haven't seen any personal accounts of going through the process before, so it was illuminating to read one. Unfortunately, there's no scheme to allow foreigners to stay as a resident if they work remotely for a company that doesn't have a presence in Japan, as I do. (I'd even be willing to pay taxes in Japan!) Of course, such a provision is pretty rare, but it's still a bummer. I wonder if immigration policy might ever consider such situations—such a worker is basically injecting money into the Japanese economy for little cost on Japan's part. But perhaps there are downsides that I haven't considered.
- flocial 6y ago
  You can try for a student visa for Japanese language school for two years. If you're willing to pay for a plane ticket to a nearby Asian country, you could probably renew it in perpetuity every three months. There are also other visas like entertainment or modelling that you could try to obtain for three months. You can even teach English part time and try to get a visa that way. As you make friends and build up a network you're certain to find a way to make it work. In practice, visas are easier for people from Western developed countries. The only major risk of overstaying a visa is getting a random stop from police and at worst you just get deported. It's really not as restrictive as it seems. I've met plenty of people who visited Japan on a whim and ended up staying for years.
  - kyawzazaw 6y ago
    you talked about deporting and staying in fear of it as a trivial matter Unfortunately it is not that easy to go through that
  - dempedempe 6y ago
    No. Japan has cracked down on "visa runs". You can only stay in the country for a max of 6 months out of the year on a tourist visa.
- skissane 6y ago
  When a company wants to hire a remote worker in a country in which they don't have a local legal entity, they often turn to an agency which does have a local legal entity and acts as the official employer (covering pay, tax, benefits, etc) on behalf of the real employer. Do such agencies have branches in Japan? How do the Japanese immigration authorities view them? Gitlab [1] uses Safeguard Global [2] to act as official employer in a number of countries (including Japan). I'm sure Gitlab is not the only employer using Safeguard's services, and I'm sure Safeguard is not the only company offering this service. [1] https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/blob/master/data/contract_factors.yml https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/blob/master/dat... [2] https://www.safeguardglobal.com https://www.safeguardglobal.com
ausjke 6y ago
there is no way you can do point-based immigration reform in USA, because it's not politically correct, not diversified, unhuman, etc. Combined with all those looting these days I'm actually very interested in countries like Japan or Singapore via immigration, enough bullshit here indeed. Learning Japanese is the largest challenge, I can do English in Singapore, maybe Australia. And no to Europe, both Europe and USA are on their death road to socialism.
- harpratap 6y ago
  Japan is more socialist than US- stricter worker rights, universal healthcare, lots of government funded programs for young kids and their parents (they recently made daycare free upto certain age) and ever increasing taxes (the recent one was 2% hike in October last year).
apsdsm 6y ago
Here’s how I got mine: got married to Japanese national. Worked and paid taxes for 8 years in a job that wasn’t teaching English. Applied for and paid ¥8000. Waited half a year. Received the OK to pick up my new perm resident card the week before my family packed up to move back to Australia... Seriously one of the most simultaneously exciting and annoying pieces of mail I’ve ever received.
laurieg 6y ago
Good write up with plenty of detail, thanks for sharing. The gap between highly skilled professional and regular worker seems to be a huge chasm. You can get PR in 1 year with enough points but you must wait 10 if you are a regular worker. Also, to apply for PR on a regular work visa you must have a visa length longer than 1 year. This can effectively be used to block PR applications. I know someone who had been in Japan for 15 years who cannot apply for PR because of this rule. As the application is never even allowed to be made, these people do not show up in statistics about successful Vs rejected PR applications either
- polm23 6y ago
  If they have been in Japan for 15 years, keep getting 1-year visas, and want to stay in Japan long-term, they should speak to a lawyer. There are various criteria that decide how long a visa you get, and while they aren't explicit there are things you can do to make it much more likely you'll get a long visa. At my first job I was a "contract employee", which was a much less stable position than I realized when I signed up, and I couldn't get more than a one-year visa either. Later I changed jobs and became a full employee and got a 5-year visa without issue.
james_s_tayler 6y ago
Probably easiest thing to do would just be to coach and olympic team to victory and get a medal from the emperor. edit: interestingly I get 70 points, so maybe I don't need a medal from the emperor.
cmod 6y ago
It should be noted that there are some incredibly onerous and far reaching global tax and inheritance implications of taking on PR in Japan. Anyone doing so should fully research before making the jump. (I’ve been a Japan PR for 5 years after 15 years of artist and student visas.)
- polm23 6y ago
  I've seen people mention this before but it seems to be based on a misunderstanding - your tax obligations to Japan are not based on your visa status, but on the length of your residence. See this official government page, it doesn't mention visa status anywhere. https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/setting_up/section3/page7.html https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/setting_up/section3/page7.... It looks like in some documents the term "permanent resident" is used to refer to "residents of more than five years" or similar, but it's not a reference to visa status. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2016/10/30/how-tos/long-term-foreign-japan-residents-must-declare-overseas-assets-taxed/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2016/10/30/how-tos/lo... Besides the terminology issue, I suspect that part of the confusion may be that the PR application does require proof you've been paying taxes, and Immigration can ask for further proof. In my own case my annual tax statements were enough.
benguild 6y ago
Japan is honestly desperate for these types of PR candidates. I almost went for it but they have a large death and exit tax, if I’m not mistaken. A friend did it and left afterward for Australia because he realized he didn’t want to be middle-aged in Japan as a foreigner, and also regretted it in the end due to the tax liability.

198 points by polm23 6y ago

> That presented another problem - I had forgotten, but my degree was in Latin. All documents submitted as part of an application have to be translated into Japanese, and I don't speak Latin. Wait, what? I wouldn't expect such quirkiness from an American university, though being founded in 1764 kinda explains it. (The translation, while correct, is also extremely literal and a bit outdated)

bhickey 6y ago
Here's a picture of the diploma if you're interested: https://i.imgur.com/CYHm5sM.png https://i.imgur.com/CYHm5sM.png
- raverbashing 6y ago
  Thanks, I had looked it up to check the latin (not that I'm an expert, far from it) but it certainly looks more "conversational" than the English translation
  - jkaplowitz 6y ago
    The university president at the time the author graduated (and and also at my own graduation few years earlier) was a classics professor who has good Latin ability, so she conducted most of the ceremony overall in Latin. Of course some bits of English were included, such as when honorary degree recipients or students selected to speak at the ceremony were doing their bits. Yes they provided translations and I think subtitles too. The current university president is less proficient in Latin, so she does most of the ceremony in English, only using Latin for the few bits that the University rules require to be in Latin (including the moments when the degrees are formally conferred).
NovemberWhiskey 6y ago
I graduated from a university founded in the 11th century and somehow we manage to get degree certificates in English.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

jniedrauer 6y ago

> In 2011 I graduated with a Master's degree from Brown University and then moved to Japan and got a job as a software engineer. I'm curious why you would do this. In any other occupation, I could understand it. In many respects, Japan is a more advanced civilization than the United States. But as a SWE, there is nowhere else in the world that you can make a higher salary than the United States. Even if your long term ambition was to move to Japan, wouldn't you be better off becoming financially independent first and then moving?

asutekku 6y ago
Why would I want to move to the US if the high salary / working at FAANG is not the most important thing to me and I’m already from a developed country? For some reason a lot of people assume high salary is the most important aspect of life. Sure, US SWE salaries are absurdly high, but SWE earns relatively well in almost any other developed country too,
verroq 6y ago
Because you actually get to live there?
alextheparrot 6y ago
There’s a certain form of thinking I’ve become more aligned with, which is that not everything we do needs to be optimised. Additionally, trying to optimise everything may reduce the overall success compared to the naive “just do it” approach. I assume this is something that is person valued, and the easiest way to ensure it happened was to just do it. The optimisation proposed also has a hidden risk of never doing it at all, or other things getting in the way.
- aspenmayer 6y ago
  > not everything we do needs to be optimised That reminds me of the Japanese craft of kintsugi, where broken/damaged everyday household objects honored and elevated above their station via repairs with gold inlay. It’s finding perfection in the mundane, leaving something undone, just so. Very Japanese vibe. Some things are better off left broken in view of being later restored, rather than being discarded and instantly replaced with nondescript sameness. Newness itself isn’t bad, but it is alluring; and yet, we can’t leave our culture by the wayside. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi

jeffrallen 6y ago

This was an interesting read. The equivalent story for Switzerland would not be so rosy, unfortunately. I wish we had a points based system here, they seem like a useful addition of fairness to the fundamentally unfair global migration situation.

namdnay 6y ago
How do points make it “fair”? I’d say points favour those who already have the privilege of an education.
- AuryGlenz 6y ago
  Countries exist to benefit their citizens. There’s nothing wrong with only letting the educated.
  - namdnay 6y ago
    I didn’t say there was. But how is it “fair”?
    - arcticbull 6y ago
      Fair to whom? It’s fair to the country as the country is able to make informed admission decisions weighted by the needs of the country, rather than a take-all-comers model. It’s fair to the applicants as they have a clear set of guidelines as to what they need to do to become eligible for admission. Need to learn English to boost your score (As in Canada)? Cool. That’s tangible and clear. On the other hand America’s system of, roughly speaking, “Indians need not apply” isn’t exactly fair to the applicants. Note: a points based migration scheme doesn’t preclude for instance refugee admissions, and Canada’s system has a points escape hatch if a province nominates you based on their specific needs too.
      - throw0101a 6y ago
        > and Canada’s system has a points escape hatch if a province nominates you based on their specific needs too. Further, private groups can sponsor refugees as well (pledging to support them): * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Sponsorship_of_Refugees_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Sponsorship_of_Refugee... * https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/help-outside-canada/private-sponsorship-program.html https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/se...

muralimadhu 6y ago

What have you liked/disliked about working in Japan? Why did you pick Japan?

mmhsieh 6y ago

For those interested in foreigners obtaining Japanese citizenship, check out the story of Debito Arudou. It's a whole higher level of difficulty. At some point I think only around 16 naturalizations were happening per year, of a country of 100 million.

SheinhardtWigCo 6y ago
Here’s a link: http://www.debito.org/residentspage.html#naturalization http://www.debito.org/residentspage.html#naturalization
aikinai 6y ago
There are over 10,000 naturalizations per year with a 99% approval rate. Your figure sounds like one of those weird Japanese legends. And I haven’t read Arudou’s naturalization story, but he’s well known for over-dramatizing everything and has an incredibly biased agenda so it’s probably best not to take anything he says too seriously.
- mmhsieh 6y ago
  I believe it was in one of Arudou's own writings that I read the 16 per year figure, circa 2000 or so.
csa 6y ago
David is a drama magnet. Take everything he says with a grain of salt.
glandium 6y ago
Debito Arudou's naturalization was more than 20 years ago. A more recent account: https://www.davidchart.com/2014/11/17/applying-to-naturalise/ https://www.davidchart.com/2014/11/17/applying-to-naturalise... https://www.davidchart.com/2014/12/05/first-naturalisation-interview/ https://www.davidchart.com/2014/12/05/first-naturalisation-i... https://www.davidchart.com/2014/12/24/certificate-of-citizenship/ https://www.davidchart.com/2014/12/24/certificate-of-citizen... https://www.davidchart.com/2015/02/25/second-naturalisation-interview/ https://www.davidchart.com/2015/02/25/second-naturalisation-... https://www.davidchart.com/2015/03/13/actually-formally-applying-to-naturalise/ https://www.davidchart.com/2015/03/13/actually-formally-appl... https://www.davidchart.com/2016/01/18/renouncing-uk-citizenship/ https://www.davidchart.com/2016/01/18/renouncing-uk-citizens... https://www.davidchart.com/2016/04/12/stateless/ https://www.davidchart.com/2016/04/12/stateless/ https://www.davidchart.com/2016/05/18/japanese/ https://www.davidchart.com/2016/05/18/japanese/

orthoxerox 6y ago

TIL Brown University has incredibly pretentious degree certificates. Are other American universities like that too?

iends 6y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League
SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
I don't know of any others that are quite that bad, but most are pretty flowery. I'm still waiting to get the "rights and privileges" my university promised come with the degree.
- jkaplowitz 6y ago
  Benefits based on having the degree in immigration point systems is a nice example of such a privilege. So is having that university's name on your resume, in cases like Brown where it's a famous name.
HeavenFox 6y ago
Harvard and Princeton still have a student deliver speech in Latin in commencement. Anecdotally, since most graduates have no clue what they are saying, someone would hold a sign telling them when to laugh and when to applaud.

weiming 6y ago

A good friend actually used June Advisors Group mentioned in the article a couple of years ago. The firm (really a sole attorney) sounded very helpful and got his business set up with a residence card pretty easily. IIRC it took a couple of months end-to-end.

morninglight 6y ago

Does your Japanese permanent residency allow you to avoid paying American income tax, or are you still required to pay BOTH Japanese and American income taxes?

robjan 6y ago
You still have to pay tax unless you renounce your US nationality.
- jkinudsjknds 6y ago
  Foreign taxes are deductible though, so it's more of a max
- corey_moncure 6y ago
  You may still have to pay tax even if you renounce your US nationality, if the IRS finds that you have renounced your nationality so that you don't have to pay taxes anymore.
  - theCodeStig 6y ago
    Could you elaborate on that, please?
    - corey_moncure 6y ago
      "The expatriation tax provisions under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) sections 877 and 877A apply to U.S. citizens who have renounced their citizenship and long-term residents (as defined in IRC 877(e)) who have ended their U.S. resident status for federal tax purposes." https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/expatriation-tax https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/expa...
CapricornNoble 6y ago
As long as you are a US citizen you are expected to pay Federal income tax, no matter where you are in the world, and no matter where you earned it. The US and Eritrea are the only 2 countries on the planet with this policy. I think you can get your tax burden reduced if you can prove you've paid taxes to another jurisdiction, but don't quote me on that...

wodenokoto 6y ago

> Graduation from a university separately specified by the Minister of Justice in a public notice Does anyone have a link to this list?

CapricornNoble 6y ago

Hmmm, when I investigated the HSFP in 2016, Immigration told me I had to get a job at a Japanese company, and THEN apply for said visa. You can't apply for the High Skill Visa, even if you have more than enough points to qualify (which I did), while you are job-hunting on a tourist visa, for example. >>>What changed in 2017 was that if you could demonstrate that you had the points historically you could apply for a PR without ever having the HSFP visa. That's the process I used. Yeah that's a big change.

Razengan 6y ago

Does anyone have experience with an investment-based path to residency there?

franciscop 6y ago

I am planning to apply in 1.5 years on the 70-point system. I've had 70 points for the last half year, in January 2020 I will be at 65 points and in February 2021 I will be back at 70 points again. I don't speak Japanese though, so there are a couple of things I'm curious about. For instance, it says "Either graduated from a Japanese university or completed a course of a Japanese graduate school" and I did a semester in a Japan university as an exchange student. But it was as an undergraduate, so I'm not sure if it counts. I'll be contacting the linked company in the article, thanks for the read!

mohit888 6y ago

This was an interesting read. Really appreciate the effort!

deleted 6y ago

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flitzekacke 6y ago

Thanks for the article. With Japanese PR, I know you can leave and reenter on a special reentry visa. Are reentry visas easy to get? Would repeatedly getting (by doing a reentry visa-run to japan every 5 years) them while spending most of your time outside of japan result in losing your PR?

deleted 6y ago
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bojo 6y ago
These days you can get your reentry permit directly at the airport, and in the case of a PR you can stay outside the country for up to a year. Much better than the “buy an expensive stamp” system they had prior. I moved back to the US at the end of 2018 and haven’t gone back, so I assume my PR expired. That said, if I ever went back I could likely re-obtain it due to my spouse being Japanese. I’m not aware of anyone trying to game keeping their PR, but I do know that if you need to repeatedly stay out of the country for awhile you need to provide a solid reason (like caring for a sick parent).
laurieg 6y ago
If you don't have the intention to live in Japan permanently then you're supposed to give up PR. When you apply for a longer re-entry permit they ask about reasons for being abroad. I think the immigration officer would take a film view on many "visa runs" with no job, house or family in Japan.
polm23 6y ago
You used to have to apply for a re-entry visa. Technically Japan distinguishes between "entry permission" and "status of residence", which few countries do and, given it's an island, doesn't really make any sense, but that's the reason for the policy. With the change to the Residence Card system in 2012 normal travel no longer requires applying for re-entry visas. Here's a notice from when it changed: http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/newimmiact_1/en/point_3-4.html http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/newimmiact_1/en/point_3-4.html To add to what bojo said, when you apply for it at the airport these days you basically just fill out a tiny piece of paper and they say "OK, see you when you get back" if you're going away for less than a year. I don't go overseas much but if memory serves the process is basically the same for PR and non-PR visas. I don't really know much about the implications of only coming back once every five years or so.

sunsetSamurai 6y ago

I wish my own country was so strict when granting visas and protecting our borders. Every week thousands of people cross are border illegally to stay, making my already poor and indepted country even poorer.

reiichiroh 6y ago

Don’t forget you’re still a second-class citizen as a foreigner: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/05/19/national/social-issues/japan-foreign-residents-stranded-abroad-coronavirus/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/05/19/national/social...

tehnub 6y ago
They have begun to allow them to return: >Aware of foreign residents’ concerns, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said last month that Japan would loosen some of the rules. On Wednesday, immigration officials said at a news conference that they had begun readmitting those who left before the start of the restrictions in April. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/business/japan-entry-ban-coronavirus.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/business/japan-entry-ban-...
bjo590 6y ago
> Don’t forget you’re still a second-class citizen as a foreigner: 1. The people that choose to live in Japan are well aware of this fact and consider it to still be a good place to live. Japan is a very unique place. 2. There is a difference between Permanent Residency and Citizenship.
627467 6y ago
Isn't it normal for non-citizen a to be second (or even third) class to citizens, in most countries? The post is about acquiring residency, not citizenship.
makx 6y ago
I can understand that people are personally upset when they are affected by travel restrictions, but this whole outrage about "foreigners are second class citizens" (often even: "this shows Japans racism") is just just silly. 1- The restrictions are not about race, but about which countries have mismanaged the pandemic. People from Taiwan and some other south east asian countries are allowed to enter. (Ironically, exactly those people are / have been much more commonly the target of Japanese racism). 2- They most likely would prefer to also ban Japanese citizens (whatever race) from returning from hot-spots like Florida or Brazil. They just can't because of legal reasons. Citizenship gives you certain rights. 3- You can call PR and other visas "second class citizenship" if you want, but the fact is: you're just not a citizen. You also can't vote. You also can't become prime minister. You're not a citizen and don't have the rights of a citizen. That's the same in every country, including yours. Why didn't people with PR complain about being "second class citizens" for years about those other rights?

franciscop 6y ago

Note to self: remember to re-download the guidelines every once in a while. This has been in my mind for ~3 years and they have changed them (for the better mostly!) a couple of times. A clear example is that now you don't need to have the high skill visa for the given time, but you just need to have the points for the given period (and even that is a bit ambiguous, it says you need to have the points at the time of applying and 3 years before, but it doesn't say "for the duration of those 3 years")

truthwhisperer 6y ago

that is what i call a well designed process. In europe we will let everyone in even people who can't even read or wipe their ass. We can learn much from Japan!

supernova87a 6y ago

I'm curious to know -- for people who seek residency in Japan, do they typically do it with the plan to stay forever? Or do they use it for the employment, etc, and have the longer term desire to go back to their original home country? I ask because from all that I've read, foreigners take even generations to feel comfortable and accepted in Japan. What's the permanent residency a path towards, for most?

makx 6y ago
I can't speak for everyone, but among my foreigner friends almost nobody has a definitive plan to stay forever (though they may be open to the idea). Permanent residency is mostly thought of as a relief from the stress of having to re-apply for visa extensions and not relying on having a job. Until you get PR, you could be forced to leave Japan if you lose your job and don't find a new one right away.
- lance_klusener 6y ago
  After PR is done, is there a set requirements to follow to become a Japanese citizen?
  - laurieg 6y ago
    PR is not a pre-requisite for citizenship. In fact, in some ways citizenship is easiest to apply for (you only need 5 years of residence vs PR's 10), though the application process is longer and more involved. Of course, you must give up all other citizenships so it is a decision not to be taken lightly.
forgot_account 6y ago
>>>I'm curious to know -- for people who seek residency in Japan, do they typically do it with the plan to stay forever? I do. It's a "sweet spot" place to live. No threat of violence from law enforcement, significantly reduced threat of violence from the general population, extremely high standard of living, and the country is well-positioned as a base of operations for travel or business across most of Asia. Also, despite some high expenses compared to America, it's a great place to own a sports car if that is a major hobby (and it is for me). Many of the happiest people I know are Western expats in Japan who are small-business owners. It's important to disconnect from the "Japanese corporate wage slave" or "English teacher" life experiences. I'll never back to the US if I can avoid it.

sqrt 6y ago

Thanks for sharing this—I'd heard about the points system but I haven't seen any personal accounts of going through the process before, so it was illuminating to read one. Unfortunately, there's no scheme to allow foreigners to stay as a resident if they work remotely for a company that doesn't have a presence in Japan, as I do. (I'd even be willing to pay taxes in Japan!) Of course, such a provision is pretty rare, but it's still a bummer. I wonder if immigration policy might ever consider such situations—such a worker is basically injecting money into the Japanese economy for little cost on Japan's part. But perhaps there are downsides that I haven't considered.

flocial 6y ago
You can try for a student visa for Japanese language school for two years. If you're willing to pay for a plane ticket to a nearby Asian country, you could probably renew it in perpetuity every three months. There are also other visas like entertainment or modelling that you could try to obtain for three months. You can even teach English part time and try to get a visa that way. As you make friends and build up a network you're certain to find a way to make it work. In practice, visas are easier for people from Western developed countries. The only major risk of overstaying a visa is getting a random stop from police and at worst you just get deported. It's really not as restrictive as it seems. I've met plenty of people who visited Japan on a whim and ended up staying for years.
- kyawzazaw 6y ago
  you talked about deporting and staying in fear of it as a trivial matter Unfortunately it is not that easy to go through that
- dempedempe 6y ago
  No. Japan has cracked down on "visa runs". You can only stay in the country for a max of 6 months out of the year on a tourist visa.
skissane 6y ago
When a company wants to hire a remote worker in a country in which they don't have a local legal entity, they often turn to an agency which does have a local legal entity and acts as the official employer (covering pay, tax, benefits, etc) on behalf of the real employer. Do such agencies have branches in Japan? How do the Japanese immigration authorities view them? Gitlab [1] uses Safeguard Global [2] to act as official employer in a number of countries (including Japan). I'm sure Gitlab is not the only employer using Safeguard's services, and I'm sure Safeguard is not the only company offering this service. [1] https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/blob/master/data/contract_factors.yml https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/blob/master/dat... [2] https://www.safeguardglobal.com https://www.safeguardglobal.com

ausjke 6y ago

there is no way you can do point-based immigration reform in USA, because it's not politically correct, not diversified, unhuman, etc. Combined with all those looting these days I'm actually very interested in countries like Japan or Singapore via immigration, enough bullshit here indeed. Learning Japanese is the largest challenge, I can do English in Singapore, maybe Australia. And no to Europe, both Europe and USA are on their death road to socialism.

harpratap 6y ago
Japan is more socialist than US- stricter worker rights, universal healthcare, lots of government funded programs for young kids and their parents (they recently made daycare free upto certain age) and ever increasing taxes (the recent one was 2% hike in October last year).

apsdsm 6y ago

Here’s how I got mine: got married to Japanese national. Worked and paid taxes for 8 years in a job that wasn’t teaching English. Applied for and paid ¥8000. Waited half a year. Received the OK to pick up my new perm resident card the week before my family packed up to move back to Australia... Seriously one of the most simultaneously exciting and annoying pieces of mail I’ve ever received.

laurieg 6y ago

Good write up with plenty of detail, thanks for sharing. The gap between highly skilled professional and regular worker seems to be a huge chasm. You can get PR in 1 year with enough points but you must wait 10 if you are a regular worker. Also, to apply for PR on a regular work visa you must have a visa length longer than 1 year. This can effectively be used to block PR applications. I know someone who had been in Japan for 15 years who cannot apply for PR because of this rule. As the application is never even allowed to be made, these people do not show up in statistics about successful Vs rejected PR applications either

polm23 6y ago
If they have been in Japan for 15 years, keep getting 1-year visas, and want to stay in Japan long-term, they should speak to a lawyer. There are various criteria that decide how long a visa you get, and while they aren't explicit there are things you can do to make it much more likely you'll get a long visa. At my first job I was a "contract employee", which was a much less stable position than I realized when I signed up, and I couldn't get more than a one-year visa either. Later I changed jobs and became a full employee and got a 5-year visa without issue.

james_s_tayler 6y ago

Probably easiest thing to do would just be to coach and olympic team to victory and get a medal from the emperor. edit: interestingly I get 70 points, so maybe I don't need a medal from the emperor.

cmod 6y ago

It should be noted that there are some incredibly onerous and far reaching global tax and inheritance implications of taking on PR in Japan. Anyone doing so should fully research before making the jump. (I’ve been a Japan PR for 5 years after 15 years of artist and student visas.)

polm23 6y ago
I've seen people mention this before but it seems to be based on a misunderstanding - your tax obligations to Japan are not based on your visa status, but on the length of your residence. See this official government page, it doesn't mention visa status anywhere. https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/setting_up/section3/page7.html https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/setting_up/section3/page7.... It looks like in some documents the term "permanent resident" is used to refer to "residents of more than five years" or similar, but it's not a reference to visa status. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2016/10/30/how-tos/long-term-foreign-japan-residents-must-declare-overseas-assets-taxed/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2016/10/30/how-tos/lo... Besides the terminology issue, I suspect that part of the confusion may be that the PR application does require proof you've been paying taxes, and Immigration can ask for further proof. In my own case my annual tax statements were enough.

benguild 6y ago

Japan is honestly desperate for these types of PR candidates. I almost went for it but they have a large death and exit tax, if I’m not mistaken. A friend did it and left afterward for Australia because he realized he didn’t want to be middle-aged in Japan as a foreigner, and also regretted it in the end due to the tax liability.