New Resident Card for Japan Relocations in 2012

Early in January this year, I visited the Counsellor of the Immigration Bureau within the Justice Ministry to deliever the EBC White Paper and explain our concerns with the upcoming change from the current Alien Registration Card to the new "Resident Card".

For information the EBC White Paper, you can view our recommendations here; http://www.ebc-jp.com/index.php/committees/list-of-committees/759

Or for the whole white paper, please download here; http://www.ebc-jp.com/downloads/2010-WP-E.pdf

I was very encouraged by both the attitude of the Counsellor Koide in terms of listening to our concerns and the way in which the Immigration Bureau is genuinely looking for the best system for not only their ease of management, but also for the convenience of all foreigners in Japan. Here are some points that came from the meeting;

- Most visa categories will have their validity length extended from 3 years to 5 years. Re-entry permits will be extended in line with this too (more on re-entry permits below). Good benefit for most foreigners here.

- The date of implementation of the new system will be announced in autmun of this year (2011). As per the bill passed with regard to these changes, implementation must by made by July 2012.

- Residential address updates will be made at your local ward / city / town office. Updating your local office will result in automatic updating of your Immigration Records held with the Immigration Bureau.

- On implementation of this system, all foreign residents will be placed into "Jumin Toroku (Resident's Record)" like any other Japanese. This will result in all new foreigners to Japan having to submit a "Jumin Toroku Application" to their local ward / city / town office on arrival, in addition to anything required for the "Resident Card Application".

- The new system will see "Re-Entry Permits" exempt as long as you re-enter Japan within 12-months. The Immigration Bureau has confirmed that 99% of foreigners leaving Japan on the current Re-Entry Permit system return within 12-months. They forsee few issues with what happens after exceeding 12-months if you don't have a re-entry permit.

- The bill passed that will change the "Alien Registration Act" keeps the re-entry permit system. While we are not sure to the meaning behind this, it would appear that for long terms out of Japan and for some "special cases" (that no doubt concern those of Korean and Chinese descent) re-entry permits will still be required.

- The Counsellor confirmed that the Immigration Bureau will be reducing the information placed on the new "Resident Card" to about half the number of categories as the current version, and that only these displayed categories will be kept in the IC Card within the Resident Card. They have indicated that they completely understand the privacy issues related to the Resident Card, and will be making sure that a high level of security is maintained for the new card.

Things look very promising for a more convenient system to be introduced in 2012. However, for arriving foreigners there are still going to be the same initial visits to your local authorities to get yourself registered!