Hello!
First off, thank you in advance to this community; you've provided so much helpful information! I'm happy to say that my wife and I recently received our COEs that were issued for 1 year. We're about to submit them to the local Japanese consulate for visas and are planning to arrive in Japan on Jan 20. Whoop whoop!
I have a few questions (ha ok actually an endless list, but these are the priorities) that I was hoping to run by this community to see if you have any ideas. Any info would be deeply appreciated. If you have experience with any of these, I'd love to hear from you!
Our overarching goal is to attain permanent residence in Japan.
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My wife's COE is for "Child of Japanese National"; mine is for "Long Term Resident". We see that as a Child of Japanese National she is potentially able to live in Japan for a year and then apply for permanent residence. Will I be able to get permanent residence at the same time as my wife or do I need to wait for hers and then apply as a spouse? We have been married for over three years.
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Under our circumstance, at what point do we need to start paying taxes in Japan? We will both be working remotely for companies in the US and being paid in our US accounts.
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Since our COE is for 1 year, is it a problem that we’ll need to renew our visa while applying for permanent residence? Also, we've heard that it should not be an issue to renew our visas once we are already in Japan as long as we don't have any legal trouble and follow all the rules. Is that right?
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I've read that there is no definitive written rule about leaving Japan while residing there (other than all the exit paperwork). The general guideline appears to be don't leave for more then 90 consecutive days or cumulatively over 6 months. Does that sound right? I don't want to do anything that would risk our permanent residence, but we do have family we'd like to visit abroad.
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My wife's passport will expire in July 2026. Should we plan to renew that during a trip to the US or is it possible to do that through the US embassy in Tokyo? Is one easier than the other?
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For some reason, our COEs list my wife's mother's address in Shodoshima under the "Profession or Occupation/Organization to be employed or to study in Japan" section. She is the one who helped us attain our COEs through the Takamatsu office. Is that a problem? We don't actually live or work at her mom's place in Shodoshima, but I know that Japan is strict with form accuracy and paperwork. 😅
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We aren't sure where we will live yet. Is it a problem if we move regularly (across Japan) and would it impact our opportunity for permanent residence? We are thinking of spending our first two months in Okinawa, then moving to Tokyo. Will that be a problem, residing in different places in Japan over the next year? Will it create a lot of extra paperwork to switch locations?
Thank you so much!!
by Veggie-Time