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）
Now that a revocation system for permanent residence has been created, screening at the application stage is expected to look more carefully than before at whether you will keep meeting your obligations after permission is granted. It is important to check your record of paying tax, pension and health insurance going back over past years, and to show clearly in your 理由書 (written explanation) that you intend to follow the law and that your household finances are stable.
Someone who is aiming to obtain permanent residence asks how the creation of the revocation system changes what is looked at when you apply.
It is a system that allows permission for permanent residence to be revoked where a 永住者 deliberately fails to pay public obligations such as taxes and social insurance contributions.
The amended 入管法 has created a system under which permission for permanent residence can be revoked where a 永住者 (Permanent Resident) deliberately fails to meet public obligations (payment of taxes and social insurance contributions), and in certain other cases. The background is that cases of people stopping paying tax after obtaining permission came to be seen as a problem.
Because this system has been created, screening for permanent residence is thought to look more carefully than before at whether you will act in good faith into the future — that is, whether you are a person who will keep following the rules after permission is granted.
For when this system takes effect, please check the latest information on the website of the 出入国在留管理庁 (Immigration Services Agency of Japan) and other official sources.
It is not only whether you have paid everything by the time you apply. Whether you have kept to the payment deadlines in the past is also checked.
In line with the contents of the revocation system, checks on tax, pension and health insurance at the time of application will be carried out more carefully than before.
If there were late payments in the past, it is important to explain in writing, in concrete terms, how they happened and what your payment situation is now.
Write, in concrete terms, that you intend to follow the law and that your household finances are stable.
Until now, most 理由書 for applications for permanent residence have been about the applicant's attachment to Japan and the length of their residence. With the revocation system in mind, it becomes important to include the following.
Someone in a position to know about the applicant's conduct and their performance of obligations in daily life is said to be preferable.
In connection with the revocation system, the role of the guarantor is also receiving renewed attention. Whether the applicant and the guarantor are in a relationship where the guarantor can properly guide and advise the applicant, if the applicant looks likely to neglect an obligation, is thought to have an indirect effect on screening.
Rather than simply asking someone to sign and seal the form, it is said to be preferable to ask someone in a position to know about your conduct and your performance of obligations in daily life, such as a manager at work or a long-standing friend.
Yes — you can use マイナポータル (Mynaportal) and similar services to identify any unpaid or late payments in the past.
If you are thinking about applying, please start by checking your own payment record. We recommend using マイナポータル (Mynaportal) or similar services to go back over past years and identify whether there were any unpaid amounts or late payments.
Permanent residence is not a goal you reach and then stop; it is the starting line for the life that follows. Preparing with "keeping it" in mind is, in the end, the shortest route to permission.
Permission for permanent residence can be revoked where a 永住者 deliberately fails to pay public obligations such as taxes and social insurance contributions, and in certain other cases.
The approach is not simply that it is enough to have paid everything by the time you apply. Whether you kept to the payment deadlines in the past is also checked. If there were late payments, it is important to explain in writing, in concrete terms, how they happened and what your payment situation is now.
Set out in writing that, having understood what the revocation system involves, you intend to keep meeting your tax and social insurance obligations. Also explain that there is no risk of your becoming unable to meet these obligations for financial reasons, together with your current income and spending.
Someone in a position to know about your conduct and your performance of obligations in daily life, such as a manager at work or a long-standing friend, is said to be preferable.
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This page is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails.