This article is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails. Read the Japanese original（日本語版を読む）
When your situation changes, please report it promptly to the 地方出入国在留管理局 (Regional Immigration Services Bureau). If you fail to report and the fact is discovered through their own investigation, it may be treated as a false application or as concealing the facts. The 5 areas that matter most are work, family situation, address, conduct and your period of stay.
An enquiry from someone whose circumstances changed after filing a permanent residence application, while waiting for the result.
Because if you do not report and it comes to light later, it may be treated as concealing the facts and lead to a denial.
Screening for 永住許可 takes a long time, and in practice it is said not to be unusual to wait 1 year and a half or more for the result. Circumstances changing during that time can happen to anyone.
Where there is an important change to what you applied on, in practice you are expected to report it promptly. If you fail to report it and the 地方出入国在留管理局 discovers the fact through its own investigation, it may be treated as a "false application" or as "concealing the facts", and even a case that would otherwise have been granted may be denied.
Rather than deciding on your own to leave it, it is important to check "what to report, when and how" as soon as something changes.
Report a change of job, leaving a job, or your employer going bankrupt, and submit documents proving your income as well.
Because it goes directly to one of the requirements for 永住許可, "having sufficient assets or skills to make an independent living", changes relating to work are the most important thing to report.
Report it promptly and submit the employment contract for your new workplace and documents proving your expected annual income. If your annual income falls because of the move, or the type of work changes a great deal, this may affect the screening.
If you leave your job during the screening period, or your employer goes bankrupt, report that fact too rather than hiding it. A long period without work leads to a judgment that your living is not stable, so you need to find your next job quickly and be ready to report that situation.
If changing jobs means a change in your contracting organisation, this can affect the period of stay decided on your next application for extension. For example, with 在留資格「技術・人文知識・国際業務」 (Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services), the period of stay granted differs depending on whether the company taking you on falls under Category 1 to 4. At listed companies and large companies, the stability and continuity of the employment is assessed highly, and there is a tendency for periods of stay of 3 or 5 years to be decided. On the other hand, at venture companies and start-ups, even an excellent applicant may find that at the first extension application after changing jobs, a period of stay that had been 5 years or 3 years is shortened to 1 year.
Separately from the size of the company, if a career change means the type of work changes a great deal, doubts may arise as to whether it still falls under 「技術・人文知識・国際業務」, a period of stay of 1 year may be decided, and at the next extension your work record up to that point may be made subject to screening.
In practice, changing jobs while a permanent residence application is pending is said to call for the greatest care, and it is said that if a period of stay of 1 year is decided at the first extension application after the change, the likelihood of the permanent residence application itself being denied becomes higher.
Marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, and any increase or decrease in dependants all need to be reported.
If you applied as the spouse of a Japanese national or the spouse of a permanent resident, a divorce means you lose the premise on which you applied. Likewise, if you applied as a single person and then married, your household income and dependants change, so a family register document or certificate must be submitted.
If a child is born, or you newly take on your parents in your home country as dependants, the amount of resident tax assessed and the assessment of your household's ability to make a living change. These too need to be reported accurately.
Yes. Separately from the move-in procedure at the city office, you are expected to report to the 地方出入国在留管理局.
If your address changes, notices from the 地方出入国在留管理局 (requests for additional documents, or the notice of the result) will no longer reach you.
The following documents are also asked for, so that the stability of your residence can be confirmed.
Declaring it yourself rather than hiding it is said to leave a better impression on the case officer than it coming to light later.
If you commit a speeding offence, a parking offence or the like during the screening period, this too needs to be reported.
It is risky to think "it will be fine as long as they do not find out". The latest police records may be checked even at the final stage of screening. Reporting it honestly yourself and attaching a letter of apology and reflection is said to lead to a better outcome than hiding it and having it come to light later.
Even while your permanent residence application is pending, you must still make a separate application for extension of period of stay.
While screening for 永住許可 is going on, the period of your current status of residence may expire.
It is wrong to think "I do not need to extend because my permanent residence application is pending". If your current period of stay will expire before the result of the permanent residence application comes out, you must make a separate 在留期間更新許可申請 (Application for Extension of Period of Stay). If you forget, you become an overstayer (illegal resident), and the permanent residence application is denied at that point.
Report it promptly to the 地方出入国在留管理局 and submit the employment contract for your new workplace and documents proving your expected annual income. If your annual income falls, or the type of work changes a great deal, this may affect the screening.
No, it is not. In addition to the move-in procedure at the city office, you are asked to submit a 住民票 showing your new address and a copy of both sides of your 在留カード showing the address after the move.
Yes. If your current period of stay will expire before the result of the permanent residence application comes out, please make a separate 在留期間更新許可申請. If you do not, you become an overstayer, and the permanent residence application is denied at that point.
The latest police records may be checked even at the final stage of screening. Reporting it honestly yourself and attaching a letter of apology and reflection is said to lead to a better outcome than hiding it and having it come to light later.
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This page is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails.