Relocating to Japan- Your New Resident Card!!

As my role of Chair of the European Business Council (EBC) HR Committee, I was priveleged last week to have Matsuno-san of the Immigration Bureau of the Justice Ministry talk to the EBC membership about the new immigration system. A summary of his presentation is below;

- The new law has been passed by the diet, but many of the details remain undecided.

- Under the former system there used to be 2 acts; the Immigration Act（入管法）and the Alien Registration Act（外国人登録法）.

- Under the new system, the Alien Registration Act will be abolished, and the Immigration Act will be amended. The Immigration Act is administered by the Ministry of Justice, and therefore of the big change here is that information will be managed entirely under this “one law”, rather than under two acts as before.

- Under the former system, while foreigners could receive documents that recorded the details of their alien registration（記載自己証明書）, they were not registered like Japanese under the Juminhyo（住民票）system. Under the new system, people that are eligible for the new system (medium to long term foreign residents) will be able to apply for Juminhyo like their Japanese counterparts.

- Under the former system, even if you were an illegal immigrant, you could apply for and receive an alien registration card. Under the new system, illegal immigrants will not be able to receive the new “Resident Card”, as it is basically the same as the stamp (sticker) in your passport.

- The new “Resident Card” will record fewer details than the current card, although all details required now, including the name and address of your employer will be required.

- Under the new system, for people who have received the COE and had it converted to a visa in their passport, you will arrive have your “Residence Card” issued at the airport. At the time of arrival, it is unlikely that you would have a finalized address, so you would be given 14 days to report to your local authority (ward office, city or town hall) to register your address.

- How the address will be recorded on the new registration card is currently not yet decided.

- Basically, any changes that need to be made to your living quarters in Japan must be reported to your local authority, as before.

- However, any changes to your name, date of birth, sex, nationality and most importantly employer and their address must be reported to the immigration bureau. Currently, this means reporting in person, but whether a proxy will be allowed or if reporting can be done by post or by internet (etc.) is currently being investigated (not yet decided, but the Immigration Bureau understands that locations are limited and travel for some people will be extensive, so they are considering all the options).

- Maximum fines for not reporting you details, reporting incorrect information, adjusting or falsifying your “Residence Card, etc. will be JPY 200,000. Such fines would be administered through the Japanese court system, so without being arrested and your case being taken to court, it is highly unlikely that first offenders or minor offenders will be fined for such things as not renewing your details within 14 days of a change, etc. There is no other authority administering the penalties other than the Japanese police and the regular judicial system, so things are unlikely to be any different from what they are now.

- The new “Residence Card” will replace your “status of residence” stamp in your passport. ie. there will be no need to have your status of residence stamp (sticker) changed from one passport to the other, as the Resident Card itself will replace this.

- The maximum visa period of 3 years will be extended to 5 years for certain visa categories. Which categories this will apply to is currently being worked on and is not yet decided.

- The re-entry permit system will remain, but under the new system if you are leaving for Japan for periods of less than 12-months, you will be exempt from needing a re-entry permit.

- However, care is needed if you plan to leave Japan for a long period of time, as if you are out of the country for longer than 12-months, you would automatically lose your status of residence, regardless of the reason. The immigration bureau therefore recommends obtaining a re-entry permit for longer periods of time out of Japan.

- The new system is scheduled to be implemented in July of 2012.

- Once the new system is implemented, there would be a 3-year grace period to change you old alien registration cards to the new “Residence Card”. However, on the implementation of the new system, the alien registration act would be abolished, and therefore an “old registration card” would be treated as being a “Resident Card” in terms of immigration law; ie. just because you continue to have an old alien registration card, it doesn’t mean that the new law wouldn’t apply. The old card would simply be treated as a new “Resident Card” under the new law.

- Further information is available here; http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/newimmiact/newimmiact_english.html

Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me on Steve_Burson@MoreThanRelo.com