Sometimes in immigration, what is written down and what is reality is two different things. Ex: In panama I've heard of legit citizenship applications just rot

Sometimes in immigration, what is written down and what is reality is two different things. Ex: In panama I've heard of legit citizenship applications just rotting on the desk for many years. In a country like japan where it's more by the book, I'm not sure although. To get PR it takes 10 years to 1 year, so that might be a barrier, or maybe it's just a place that doesn't pay well + language barriers and thus wasn't that much of a draw to immigrate to? https://allabout-japan.com/en/article/7143/ https://allabout-japan.com/en/article/7143/