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tsunatuna
Joined: 29 Jan 2009
Posts: 45
Location: Japan
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 Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:24 am Post subject: |
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Only a short question (sorry don't want to interrupt your discussion here):
I'm going to get a re-entry in a few days as well and I just wanna make sure what I need to bring with me:
passport/visa
3000yen
a little bit of time waiting
?
That's all?!
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:30 am Post subject: |
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| You only want a single re-entry permit? |
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tsunatuna
Joined: 29 Jan 2009
Posts: 45
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:31 am Post subject: |
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| My visa is only valid until February next year (I have a one year visa) and I heard that at some point next year they will stop that whole "re-entry system" anyway?! |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:35 am Post subject: |
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Sounds logical to me, tsunatuna.
Bring your alien registration card, too. |
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Mothy
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 99
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:45 am Post subject: |
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Glenski- you've been around a long time and you know more about Japan than probably anyone on this forum. But you've seem to have forgotten what it's like to be new here. And yes, having been here 11 months is still new. I've been here 23 months and I still find things as confusing as hell more often than I usually like to admit.
You admit you've never been on JET so you don't know what goes on in orientation and yet you seem derisive towards kidkensai for not knowing information that is in the guidebook. Well having an experience that you lack, let me inform you that on JET we are given a LOT of information from day one. I was given a number of books, pamphlets, and guidebooks at orientation. I was given the main JET guidebook which holds information about the re-entry permit system before I came to Japan... but at a time I was finishing school, working, and preparing to move twice, once back into my parents home and then once more to Japan. Throughout this it is quite understandable for someone to not remember about the re-entry permit. I know from my experience I remembered that there was such a thing, but I didn't remember anything about the details of it. And then once in Japan they are learning a new job, making cultural adjustments, etc.. That they don't go back and reread everything after that is understandable.
Have a little bit of understanding where people are coming from before scolding them. Was your first year in Japan really so easy for you? |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:04 am Post subject: |
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| Mothy wrote: |
| Glenski- you've been around a long time and you know more about Japan than probably anyone on this forum. But you've seem to have forgotten what it's like to be new here. |
I don't think that is the case, but I can see where you (and perhaps others) are coming from with such a statement.
Please reread my posts on this thread. I have contributed plenty of information to help. Key word = help.
If I have seemed like I've scolded people for not being as thorough a planner as I am, or as diligent in using resources handed to me and explained in an orientation meeting, I just would like to say that I don't expect people to be like me. Believe it or not, but I have a newbie attitude in my mind every time I write, just so I can put my answers in perspective.
I do, indeed, remember my first year teaching here quite clearly. It was not a bed of roses (no orientation at all, and I had only a weekend to adjust before tackling my first class), but I made it through. I also learned a lot, asked plenty of questions (at work and online), met my future wife, and have continued to try learning just so I could offer more help to the uninformed, misinformed, and curious.
Forgive my tone if it seems harsh at times; I write directly, but not in a way so as to overtly browbeat people (if that is the claim), and the intent is still simply to inform and make readers perhaps a little better at planning or learning what to expect here.
So, may I politely suggest that if anyone has issues related to how I write, please send me a PM. Let's not take this thread off-topic anymore. Kidkensei only posted yesterday and has not responded! |
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cvmurrieta
Joined: 10 Jul 2008
Posts: 209
Location: Sendai, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:51 am Post subject: |
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I dread having to buy a new re-entry permit when I change my visa from a Spec in Humanities to an Instructor's one at the end of this month.
At least I will have a job in a flooded market  |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:03 am Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
As for bizarre, I don't know what you mean. They seem pretty clear and straightforward to me. |
Have to admit it all seems alittle bizarre to me too.
This is the only country I have ever been issued permission to live and work and then be told that I would need a stamp to say I'm permitted to go on holiday despite my visa not having expired yet.
The form even asks where, when and why you are going abroad. Are they going to deny you a permit if you write, "Going to meet a potential mail order Russian bride"? It is kind of an invasion of privacy. I don't mind writing that I'm going to visit relatives, but there are many other completely legal reasons for a person to travel that they might want to keep private.
Not even communist China does that to foreigners. You get your visa, you exchange it in country for a residence permit then you are free to come and go as you please until it expires.
And though the process itself seems relatively easy to understand, whats the deal with the duty stamps? Why can't they just accept cash over the counter like every other immigration authority worldwide?
I wanted to get the whole re-entry thing sorted when I got here since I was doing nothing for almost 2 weeks. But I had to wait for my ARC before I could go up to immigration, which took 3 weeks so I was already at work when I received it.
Moving swiftly onwards...
I'm also wondering if there is a point to me getting a multiple entry visa. I'm only considering heading into Europe because of pressure from friends and family. And it will be a good opportunity to buy heaps of new clothes (not having any luck with that here).
I'll almost certainly not go again before I have to renew my visa next spring.
If I had a 3 year visa I'd be stupid not get multiple entries, but I don't and already have plans for Christmas here.
Is there any other GW length breaks between Christmas and March that I'm missing? |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| And though the process itself seems relatively easy to understand, whats the deal with the duty stamps? Why can't they just accept cash over the counter like every other immigration authority worldwide? |
Money is money. I don't understand the question here. You don't even have to buy the reentry permit at immigration. There are other places that offer it.
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| I had to wait for my ARC before I could go up to immigration, which took 3 weeks so I was already at work when I received it. |
Are you saying that your employer was unwilling to provide you sufficient time to do this, so that you could return and continue working for him?
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| Is there any other GW length breaks between Christmas and March that I'm missing? |
Nope. There may be time off, though, depending on down time for immigration and down time for your employer.
| Quote: |
| The form even asks where, when and why you are going abroad. Are they going to deny you a permit if you write, "Going to meet a potential mail order Russian bride"? It is kind of an invasion of privacy. I don't mind writing that I'm going to visit relatives, but there are many other completely legal reasons for a person to travel that they might want to keep private. |
The form allows the applicant to check the following:
tourism
business
relatives
study
others
All seem pretty innocent enough for me, unless you have something so private to put in the "others" category that it would trigger alarms. And, who is to say you can't just tick another box? They aren't going to follow you to find out the reason you leave.
I don't have your benefit of living in other countries, so I will just have to say that this is the way it works in Japan, and it doesn't cost all that much. Besides, the reentry permits are good for the length of your visa, so you don't have to make a gazillion trips to immigration just to get one. Rules are rules. I don't like the fingerprinting rules here, but I'll abide by them when I leave and return. I'm sure there are bizarre immigration rules elsewhere, too, but this is the Japan forum, and I for one can't offer any comparisons. |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:12 pm Post subject: |
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Glenski, I was just trying to show you why we might find the whole re-entry permit thing bizarre, since you said you couldn't see it.
| Glenski wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I had to wait for my ARC before I could go up to immigration, which took 3 weeks so I was already at work when I received it. |
Are you saying that your employer was unwilling to provide you sufficient time to do this, so that you could return and continue working for him? |
You went on about forward planning and initial downtime for the JETs when they could get the permits all sorted. I, too, did know about the re-entry permit and at the beginning I had some free time, but it wasn't possible for me to get it done. I was told at the my yakusho that the piece of paper that I had to use in place of the official ARC card was suffcient to show along with my passport if I got stopped by the police (which I did) but I would have to wait for the actual card before going to immigration to buy the permit.
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| Nope. There may be time off, though, depending on down time for immigration and down time for your employer. |
Actually I was trying to find out if there were any other national holidays strung together to make a break long enough that people might decide to go on a short trip abroad. If not, then there isn't even a chance for me to go abroad before my visa renewal and thus not worth my getting a multiple entry this time round.
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| And, who is to say you can't just tick another box? They aren't going to follow you to find out the reason you leave. |
You mean lie on a legal document?  So tick tourism when you are actually going for a medical procedure that you don't want to tell people about. So when there are complications and you end up not returning when you said you were going to, are you saying that immigration isn't going to start asking questions on your return? And when you eventually come clean, they aren't going to give you hell about ticking the tourism box when you applied for the permit?
Look, I don't really have that much of an issue with the re-entry permit, the costs (though I should point out that it may not cost much, but it is still an added cost that you wouldn't have to pay on non-Japanese work visas), or the process since I don't have anything to hide. But there are things that could be done to make it all less of a nuisance, such as allowing you apply by post, or by making it so that you can process the permit at same place and time as your ARC. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:46 pm Post subject: |
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| seklarwia wrote: |
| You mean lie on a legal document? So tick tourism when you are actually going for a medical procedure that you don't want to tell people about. |
I was waiting for a specific example of something in the "Others" category, and yours is perfectly legitimate. So no need to lie. Just write "Others - medical" and be done with it. Geez.
Any other potential reasons to go that you think are so terribly private that one couldn't use this box and a simple explanation?
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| So when there are complications and you end up not returning when you said you were going to, are you saying that immigration isn't going to start asking questions on your return? |
As I wrote above, this is easily enough explained.
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| But there are things that could be done to make it all less of a nuisance, such as allowing you apply by post, or by making it so that you can process the permit at same place and time as your ARC. |
I agree on the latter, but as for the former, let's consider security here. |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:12 pm Post subject: |
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When you're getting a multiple re-entry, then the reason is the most common reason. It's not lying if you honestly don't know why you'd be leaving the country. If you have a three year visa, and you think you will go visit your family in those three years, then tell them that. You don't have to also tell them everything else you may be doing overseas for the next three years. I would say MOST people probably don't actually know where of what they'll be doing if they leave Japan during their visa when they go get it- it's just another thing you do when getting your visa.
That said, the entire re-entry thing does seem a little bit 'big brother'-ish. But then, if you have permanent residency, you can leave the country for as long as you want up to the point where your re-entry permit is no longer valid. So that means if you have permanent residency here and plan on making most of your career here etc you can still go to another country and work for a year and then come back. That wouldn't be possible as a landed-immigrant in Canada, for example (but then, in Canada, you can get citizenship in six years after arriving- three if you show up already having landed immigrant status). |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| Quote: |
| But there are things that could be done to make it all less of a nuisance, such as allowing you apply by post, or by making it so that you can process the permit at same place and time as your ARC. |
I agree on the latter, but as for the former, let's consider security here. |
If you mean getting lost in the post, then it could be an issue but the Japanese Embassy back home was quite happy to post passports back using the crappy Royal Mail. They could always add a surcharge for courier services, which for many of us is probably cheaper than the return trip to immigration.
There could be a security issue with posting but I can't see how it could be any less secure than allowing your housemate or possibly other unrelated people to go and submit in your place. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:26 pm Post subject: |
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| seklarwia wrote: |
| If you mean getting lost in the post, then it could be an issue |
No, not getting lost. I just meant that if someone sent in the forms in your name just to get a stamp, then who's to say who really asked for it? That's the "security" I meant.
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| There could be a security issue with posting but I can't see how it could be any less secure than allowing your housemate or possibly other unrelated people to go and submit in your place. |
Letting/Asking someone to go is one thing...
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| That said, the entire re-entry thing does seem a little bit 'big brother'-ish. But then, if you have permanent residency, you can leave the country for as long as you want up to the point where your re-entry permit is no longer valid. |
PR holders have essentially the same time limit for reentry as someone with a 3-year visa.
You know, this may all be moot by spring 2010.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090620a3.html |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| You mean lie on a legal document? So tick tourism when you are actually going for a medical procedure that you don't want to tell people about. So when there are complications and you end up not returning when you said you were going to, are you saying that immigration isn't going to start asking questions on your return? And when you eventually come clean, they aren't going to give you hell about ticking the tourism box when you applied for the permit? |
They do not questions you about how long you were gone or what you were doing while you were away- I believe the "which country", and "business, tourism" thing is just for statistics they keep- they honestly do not care what you do while off Japanese soil, it is of no concern to them whatsoever.
I have been outside Japan 8 or 9 times on each of my re-entry permits (3 year visa), and I only had to say where I was going when I actually applied for my re-entry permit, and even then I probably guessed as I got my re-entry permit at the same time as my visa and hadn't actually planned any trips yet.
Immigration has never asked me about where I went or what I did while there, not once in my 11 years here. They didn't even blink an eyelid when I came back after 7 months away, having visited around 20 countries in the meantime, and I certainly didn't put that on my re-entry permit application! You are thinking about this way too much, seklarwia, it is not that big a deal.
You will be happy to know in any case that the re-entry permit is one of the things to be changed in the upcoming overhaul of the Immigration laws- I'm not sure if it is being scrapped completely, but I have heard that it will be going, or only certain types of visa (student, for example) will require it. |
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