Job Discussion Forums

[nightsintodreams]

Japanese permanent residency without a spouse or Japanese ancestry...

I know it can be done but I'd like to hear from someone who has actually done it.

What were your circumstances?

Why do you think you were granted it?

How long had you been living in Japan?

Did you have any JLPT?

etc

Failing that, do you know someone who has done it? Please tell me a little about their circumstances.

Or has anyone ever tried and failed?

This is something I'd really like to know more about, so thanks in advance.

[rxk22]

I am interested as well. I am pretty sure that you can self sponsor if you make enough. I think you sponsor yourself enough, you can get perm. No idea though, as everyone I know who lives here long term is married.

[kzjohn]

[nightsintodreams]

No, I tried to answer someone's question. The question you quoted above was a rhetorical question, of course I didn't expect anyone to actually answer it.

I moved this to another thread partly because it was going off topic and partly because I want everyone to be able to see it, not just people who want to read about Japan vs Korea.

Hope that's OK with Lord Kzjohn.

[hivans]

A similar question cropped up in a poll on PR for those with spouses a month or so ago, didn’t it?

Anyway, I was recently granted PR status, on the basis of working here (not through marriage) for ten years.
The criteria are reasonably well documented on the internet, but 10 years continuous residence seems to be the starting point for application (unless you have done something really amazing). You then need to demonstrate a salary (of over 3.6 mil yen a year I think) and local and national taxes paid for the last few years (can’t remember if it was 3 or 5). You need to have a guarantor (Japanese citizen or permanent resident) and write your own supporting letter (in Japanese), and to have no criminal record. Of the top of my head, I think those were the major points.

I got the impression they all have to be passed, and that you are evaluated thoroughly and fairly on each point, so maybe it is not so much a question of any one criterion being more heavily weighted than the others. I don’t think there was any formal requirement for the JLPT, but it takes a bit of Japanese knowledge to go through the process, so perhaps that is regarded as a language test enough in itself!