On Mar 8, 3:29 pm, sensyujin <iamsoluc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> What are the REAL requirements for becoming a permanent resident in
> Japan?
>

As has been mentioned, nobody really knows.  It will often depend on
the attitude of the
person behind the desk and how they react to you.  Or not.

> I am unmarried and I have lived and maintained an address (I have
> moved several times) in Osaka for 5 (going on 6) consecutive years. I
> worked as an English teacher for four years through the JET Programme,
> and was unemployed for 3 months before securing a contract (renewable
> yearly) at a company at which I have been employed for 1.5 years. I am
> currently on a new 3 year working visa. I have also recently passed
> the JLPT 1.
>
> I know the immigration office guidelines are vague. I have checked
> quite a few sites and realized that many, including debito.org, are
> quick to exalt the benefits of being married. I don't think I should
> get married for the express purpose of attaining permanent residency.
> I don't think I should be expected to either. I've always enjoyed
> supporting myself and enjoyed my freedom. If I am able to support
> myself financially, I don't think attaining residency should be so
> difficult.
>

Marriage is probably a help but isn't, of course, a requirement.
Marriage might decrease
the (vaguely defined) required time to be accepted.  Continuous
employment is also a help.
I presume you are paying your taxes and I am sure you paid nenkin/
kenkou hoken
while on JET.  Are you still paying those now?  Did you pay them when
you were unemployed?
Can you prove it?  Not having paid those then, or not paying those now
might give you a bit of a black
mark on your application.  I recommend paying them (taxes/nenkin/
kenkou hoken.)  You need
to show you are an upstanding individual contributing to the system.

> I would especially like to hear about what topics were used in the
> essay (理由書）part of the application and what type of person you chose
> to be your guarantor（保証人）.
> I am hoping to complete my application within the next few months. It
> will be interesting to see if I am eligible.
>

I was 8 years continuous in Japan with 5 years of a spouse when I
applied.  My company of 7 years
was packing up and pulling out so I needed to apply fairly quickly.
My "essay" was probably about 3-5 sentences in length, if that.  It
was along the lines of
(in Japanese, of course) "I have established a life here in Japan and
would like to continue doing so."
I don't remember getting a guarantor although the spousal unit might
have served that purpose.
An unmarried friend (10+ years in when he applied) doesn't seem to
recall what he did either though
agrees he must have had one.  His "essay" was probably similar (based
on the advice I had given him.)

I don't know if there was any specific requirement to draw a map to
your house on anything I could find
when I was applying but all the Interweb rumours seemed to think you
needed one.  So I included one.
Any and all documentation you can provide would be good.  Too much
documentation is probably never
enough.

Include proof of tax payments for the last several years (3 ought to
be good.)  Available at your local tax
office for a modest fee.  Include a copy of last year's income
statement (源泉徴収票) to show you
are able to support yourself.  Multiple years if you have them
wouldn't hurt.

Submit and wait.

I get the impression that things are easing up quite a bit on PRs.  An
acquaintance of the spousal unit
applied fairly recently and was told the wait would be about 6
months.  I was told 1 year for processing
about 5 years ago.

Doesn't cost you anything (nominal copying fees and transportation
costs aside) to submit so you might
as well do it.  I don't know if they give reasons for rejection or
not.  If they do, you can try to work on that
bit.  Most likely reason I can think of would be not enough time in.
But you never know.

Just make sure you have been paying your taxes and your nenkin/kenkou
hoken are up to date.  Things
are going to get a bit hairy on those last 2 in the coming days, it
seems.