Immigration requesting pension papers?

So another letter arrived from the immigration office requesting "proof of payment" forms for me and my wifes' national pensions.

I have never heard of any other foreigners with permanent residence needing to provide pension forms to immigration but times are changing.

Am I the first foreigner that has ever been requested to provide national pension information? Lol

Our current pension status is "exempt" and the staff at the national pension office don't think I need to worry too much about this but this was before the immigration office requested this, so I meed to return to the pension office and see what they say this time.

I believe that due to our status being "exempt" meaning I'm currently not making payments on either account, I'm almost positive immigration isn't going to grant me permanent residence lol.

I saw most of my friend got PR although they were never paid pension. But you must have reason why you are not paying pension. Some foreigners say that they are not willing to stay in Japan for long time, so immigration consider it. So please mention the reason. Pension is not compulsory the PR applicant.
I have a friend who never paid pension installment got PR. He is living out of Japan with his Japanese wife.

As long if you have a residential addresses registered in Japan, you are required to participate the national pension system. There are some exemptions but if you apply for a PR I may amuse you have a job.
in recent years, the government has been getting tougher on people who do not support the pension system, and thanks to the My Number system it may have gotten easier to check

If you are staying in Japan for a short period you can apply for a Lump sum to get your pension back.

It seems like there is truth to what both of you say.

@Chan40 I assume all of your friends that were able to obtain PR were able to obtain it years ago not recently...am I correct?

@justmyday I agree that things are changing, but I will still give immigration a reason why I'm not paying into the pension system at the moment, which is due to being successful after applying for exemption status. I will make a few lump sum payments to both accounts most definitely.

I'm actually going to call up immigration and ask for more details about this letter I received in the mail:

”í•ÛŒ¯ŽÒ‹L˜^�Љî‰ñ“š�‘�@(Insurance Record Introduction Answer)

If you have an exemption, just provide the documentation that shows that.

The "My Number" system is pretty hit and miss given how few people have it so if they did manage a "hit" in a data match, that is a bonus for immigration. (I don't have a current one and I don't miss it, nor have I been asked for it at any stage in the last year since it expired).

Everybody has a My Number, but it is used mostly for tax purposes and not for pension.

Even if your My Number card expires, the number itself does not.

I have never been asked about this before and every other foreigner I know hasn't been nor knows anyone that has...so my situation is extremely strange.

Since immigration is asking me for my pension papers, I must have been "hit" in a sense lol.

Could you clarify the basis of your exemption?

Guess the immigration read what you wrote here few days back about divorcing your wife once you get the PR, so they are trying to find way to block it

Jokes apart, why would someone who is earning not pay pension? It�fs for you when you are old. Why would they grant PR to foreigners who is going to be a burden on the country after some years, Japan already has a lot of old non earning citizens they don�ft need more.

It depend on officer handling your application.

when i got my PR 2014 , they sent me letter requesting for my health insurance paying statement since i enter japan. one week after sending it to immigration office ... i got my postcard. while all my friends they never ask them such .
if you dont have .. write an explanation letter send to them.

Isn't that ”í•ÛŒ¯ŽÒ‹L˜^"�Ɖï"‰ñ“š�‘? It is: response to inquiry into the record of the insured, "the insured" being you, I suppose. You go to the pension office and ask for that. If you have a pension number, they can just pull it out for you.

I have heard an immigration expert mention that recently they require "good" tax payment record and good health insurance payment record for all of the three years (I believe they ask you for the past 3 years' records) to be granted PR, but they never mentioned pension scheme.

Update:

So I called immigration directly and asked them if being on exemption status for the national pension will lead to a rejection of my permanent residence application.

I realize people are going to think doing this is a stupid thing to do and that is fine. I'm just tired of all the speculation and researching online without coming up with definite answers.

I also realize each PR application process is case by case, but I figured talking with one of the friendly immigration staff members would be worth a shot.

He was actually really polite and kind over the phone. He told me that he isn't able to give me an answer as it is ultimately up to the person in charge of my application.

He did answer another question I had. I mentioned to him that one problem I have had for a while is that I receive many full-time teaching job offers but all the schools are located outside Shizuoka City. I mentioned that according to Japanese immigration law, I'm supposed to be living together with my wife, which means I need to find a full-time job here in Shizuoka City and there aren't many. The ones I have found here never seem to be hiring as the countryside companies tend to hire teachers and hold onto them tightly and of course the teachers hold onto these jobs tightly knowing there aren't many other offers should they quit. So as a result, I told him that I often turn down these job offers outside Shizuoka City for fear that my marriage will look fake should I be working and living in another city.

He told me something quite unexpected. He said that it is totally OK to take up a full-time job outside the city where my wife lives. He also mentioned that it is also OK to not only be working in another city, but to be living in another city. He did say that I would need to make visits to my wife each month or week if possible and show proof of this in the form of tickets/receipts.

Now I know that he is just one person working at the immigration office, but it would be strange of another staff member would say the opposite is true. I guess it is a possibility, but I believe that this man was giving me accurate information.

He also mentioned that it is OK if I'm living at a different address in the city I work full-time in as long as the registered address is the same as my wife.

I realize that some people on here are going to say that they already know this but this is for the people that think living separately from wife = guaranteed deportation without question

@AK Yes, that is what I always thought was the case. That immigration only seriously looks at my tax and insurance payments, which I have been paying. I guess with the new My Number system (which isn't too new) they are able to check up on if people are making pension payments as well.

One guest mentioned on here about how I'm not paying pension, so that must mean I'm a deadbeat lol.

They must not live in Japan or realize that living in Japan is not cheap, especially here in the Shizuoka area. After paying, rent, utilities, insurance (for me and my wife), food money, transportation money...I don't have enough money left to make these expensive pension payments they are expecting each month.

@AK and yes, I forgot to mention that I went down to the local pension office earlier this week and requested these forms for me and my wife to be mailed to my registered address.

There is a good chance I will be one in the first wave of foreigners denied permanent residence for not constantly paying into the national pension/My Number system, but we shall see.

For anyone reading this thread, what AK said in the last paragraph is also true for simple work visa extensions.

For crying out loud, please tell us what happened! The world wants to know. Or at least a few of us do!!
Please and thank you
And I hope it all worked out for you the way you wanted it to, surferboy!!

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181109_36/

this is for the people that think living separately from wife = guaranteed deportation without question

Nobody ever said that, though...

Hello, all!

A friend just confirmed to me that immigration has requested him to submit a document indicating that he doesn't owe pension arrears after 8 months into his PR application. I think it's becoming the norm to somehow pay pension in order to get PR approved.