Permanent Residence in Japan
What is “Permanent Resident”? / Features of “Permanent Residence” in Japan
If you would like to learn about Requirements of Permanent Residency of Japan, please proceed to next article!
CONTENTS
1. Introduction
It is necessary for non-Japanese people to have any one of the statuses of residence to stay in Japan.
Statuses of residence in Japan include the one called “Permanent Residence”
Permanent residence has some different points, for example in its application procedure, from the other statuses of residence.
We will explain the special points and concrete application procedure of permanent residence in this and some succeeding articles.
- What is “Permanent Resident”?
- Features of “Permanent Resident” in Japan
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2. What is “Permanent Resident” in Japan?
“Permanent Resident” is the foreigner who can live in Japan permanently.
Permanent resident is NOT given the Japanese nationality, thus his/her nationality is still his/her original nationality even he/she gets Japanese permanent residence.
This means that permanent residents in Japan are considered to be the nationals of their homelands.
Therefore, permanent residence is more useful than naturalization for those who frequently go back to their homelands because Japanese permanent resident are treated as the nationals of their homelands as mentioned above.
On the other hand, permanent resident in Japan cannot be treated in the same way with the Japanese nationals.
Thus, permanent resident in Japan can NOT have some rights that Japanese nationals and those who have been naturalized by Japanese government enjoy.
3. Features of “Permanent Residence” in Japan
As mentioned above, permanent resident in Japan cannot enjoy the some rights that Japanese nationals enjoy although status of permanent residence has some useful points.
Also, permanent residence in Japan has some more features as follows.
3-1. Available only after landing
Normally, non-Japanese people are given a status of resident on the timing of landing permission.
However, the status of permanent resident cannot, in principle, be given on the timing of landing permission.
In other words, the only way for non-Japanese to get the status of permanent resident is to change his/her status of resident, which is NOT the status of permanent resident, to the status of permanent resident after he/she entered Japan.
Extra Info.
Legal requirements for “Status of Permanent Residence” permission include “Continuous Stay Requirement”.
To satisfy the continuous stay requirement, non-Japanese people must continuously stay in Japan, in principle, more than 10 years.
For continuous stay requirement, it is impossible for non-Japanese people to get the status of permanent resident on the timing of their entrance.
3-2. No regulation on the activity and period of stay
Normally, non-Japanese people are only permitted to be engaged in the activities corresponding to their status of residence.
For example, if the non-Japanese working in a Japanese company with the status of “Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services” quits the company then founds his/her own company in Japan as an owner of the company, it is illegal and he/she may be punished under Japanese Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act.
On the other hand, non-Japanese people with the status of permanent resident has no regulations on their activities in Japan, thus they are never punished for the contents of their activities in Japan. (Of course, they are punished if they are engaged in other illegal acts.)
Additionally, non-Japanese with the status of permanent residence is NOT required to apply for the extension of period of stay no matter how long they stay in Japan.
On the other hand, non-Japanese people with other status of residence, in principle, cannot stay in Japan over 5 years without the extension of period of stay.
Extra Info.
Exceptionally, the following statuses of residence can have the period of stay over 5 years.
・Diplomat
・Official
・Highly Skilled Professional(ⅱ)
・Permanent Resident
3-3. More strictly examined than other statuses of residence
From the abovementioned content, we can say that the status of permanent resident is a special status and its given right is wider than other statuses of residence.
Generally speaking, when giving a strong right to foreigners, every government tends to be careful, and Japanese government is same.
Therefore, unique and strict legal requirements, which are totally different from the ones on the other statuses, must be satisfied to get the status of permanent of resident in Japan.
The details of the legal requirements for the permission of the change of the status of residence to “Permanent Resident” will be explained in the next article.
4. Summary
- What is “Permanent Resident”?
⇒ The right to stay permanently in Japan as a foreigner. Nationality does not change from the original one, thus the ranges of rights are narrower than Japanese and those who are naturalized. - Features of “Permanent Resident” in Japan
⇒ No regulations on the activities and period of stay, however, the examination to get the permanent residence is unique and normally stricter than the other statuses of residence.
From the next article, more detailed points of permanent residence will be explained.
If you have some questions or points to be more deeply explained, please feel free to ask us through the contact form!
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