I often see posts here from presumably younger people planning to move to Japan on visas tied to either studying or working, and most of the information I find seems to assume one of those two situations.
For those on work-based visas, what typically happens once you hit retirement age? Are you able to remain in Japan and retire there long-term (assuming you’ve contributed to things like social security and pension systems), or does the visa simply expire, meaning you’d have to leave unless you qualify for another status? Is obtaining permanent residency before that point essentially the only reliable path?
I'm a bit older person and I fell in love with Japan later in life. I see a potential opportunity to go live and work there, but the topic of retirement is an important one to factor in. I would feel bad to work and contribute to the Japanese society, move my whole life there, setup a home, etc., but based on potentially moving goal posts would never be able to stay if I wanted to.
How does one navigate this issue at an older age? I would be scoring 70 points for PR status (and perhaps 80 when getting N2 at some point) within 3-years, if this matters. Is the Japanese government honouring all request for PR that seem to adhere to all the standards, or is there still chances you will be denied PR just based on some numerus fixus?
Recently, I’ve read that the new Japanese cabinet is considering changing the rules that would not only make it harder to obtain permanent residency but also make it easier to revoke for those who already have it. How seriously should this be taken? Do we have a sense of which direction this is heading, or is it mostly aimed at certain nationalities and something a West-European like me wouldn’t need to worry much about?
by Far_Bookkeeper_3529
7 comments
>For those on work-based visas, what typically happens once you hit retirement age? Are you able to remain in Japan and retire there long-term (assuming you’ve contributed to things like social security and pension systems), or does the visa simply expire, meaning you’d have to leave unless you qualify for another status? Is obtaining permanent residency before that point essentially the only reliable path?
It will simply expire. There is no retirement visa (Status of Residence). Hopefully, you will have gotten PR by then.
You can still collect pension outside of Japan. But, for you to collect pension, you need 10 years of payments. 10 years of residence is also the requirement for PR, so if you can collect pension, you can apply for PR.
>How does one navigate this issue at an older age? I would be scoring 70 points for PR status (and perhaps 80 when getting N2 at some point) within 3-years, if this matters. Is the Japanese government honouring all request for PR that seem to adhere to all the standards, or is there still chances you will be denied PR just based on some numerus fixus?
Judgement of whether you actually have those points is up to the discression of immigration. Also, you need to be in good standing. These are all up to the people judging your application, so you can fail. Also, if things go the way they are going now, you may face other requirements in the future.
Also, this is the thing about immigration to other countries and age. When you are working age, you are a benefit to the country. But, as you get older, you can become a burden on the country financially. So, it’s intentially harder for older (past retirement age) people to get visas. So, if you want to stay, get PR.
Yes, basically PR is what you need to retire in Japan. A spousal visa works until it doesn’t. If something happens to your spouse then you no longer have a visa, which obviously isn’t secure. I think there are two reasons you don’t see much posted about this. First, the vast majority of people will leave Japan before retirement – being a lifer is actually quite rare. If you stay here for life you’ll realize that most foreign friends you make are gone within a few years. Second, people in general are pretty bad about planning for retirement. The last thing a lot of people are thinking about is what sort of visa they need to be able to retire securely.
>Is obtaining permanent residency before that point essentially the only reliable path?
It’s not the only reliable path, it’s the ***only*** path. There’s no retirement visa in Japan.
>I would be scoring 70 points for PR status
You can’t actually know that until you’ve secured a job in Japan. A large chunk of those points come from your salary, and the only salary that counts is your salary from a Japanese employer. So calculating your points based on your current situation isn’t particularly relevant. It can give you a loose ballpark, but it’s not going to give you your actual number.
>Is the Japanese government honouring all request for PR that ~~seem to~~ adhere to all the standards
FTFY. It’s not “seem to” adhere to the standards. If you meet the requirements you’ll generally get approved… Eventually. PR applications in most of the major cities are backed up, sometimes taking over a year to process.
>I’ve read that the new Japanese cabinet is considering changing the rules that would not only make it harder to obtain permanent residency
Most of the proposed new requirements are quite honestly common sense things that should have been implemented years ago like adding a Japanese language fluency requirement.
>but also make it easier to revoke for those who already have it
Simple solution to not getting PR revoked under the proposed new rules: Pay your taxes/pension and don’t do crime.
The proposed new rules for revoking PR are again fairly common sense things like being able to revoke PR for nonpayment of taxes or commiting crimes.
>or is it mostly aimed at certain nationalities and something a West-European like me wouldn’t need to worry much about?
News flash: We’re all foreigners in Japan. In other words… No, it’s not targeted at certain nationalities. Frankly the number one “victims” of the new PR revokation rules are going to be westerners who don’t pay their taxes.
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We’ll have a lot more data and anecdotes in the next 10 years. There was a big wave of us that came over in the 90s.
I would say, you’d want to get PR. I had a work visa for a number of years and then could have qualified for a spouse visa but got PR. So I am not concerned. If I leave Japan, I would still get my pension l, but my understanding is there is some surcharge for receiving it from outside the country.
I’ll just point out for those considering getting PR to retire in Japan: remember Covid. Even if you had PR, if you left the country you couldn’t get back in. Don’t count on these guys not making a boneheaded decision in the future that has a disastrous effect on *you*.
You can only get one pension…either social security or nenkin.
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