Address change 90 days after divorce?

So my wife is Japanese and we both agreed to a divorce and filled out and signed the required form do to so. I have permanent residence status, so I know that even after a divorce, my long-term status will not change.

I know that I need to report the divorce to immigration after the divorce, but the divorce form leaves the option for you to put that you are still living with your spouse and will keep living at the same address even after the divorce.

Here is a link mentioning about needing to report a change of address within 90 days of a divorce: https://kokusaikekkon7.com/eiju-divorce/

I could be wrong, but I believe that this requirement to change your address only applies when you state that you plan to change your address when you fill out the divorce application form...but if you don't state that you will change your address...then you aren't required to change your address within 90 days?

My wife thinks that I'm supposed to change my address as well?

I know that it is not illegal for a divorced couple to live together, so I don't know why she is misinformed. I believe she is thinking that if we get divorced and yet stay living together, immigration will see that as suspicious?

One issue is that a friend of mine got divorce from his Japanese ex-wife and the divorce certificate was mailed to his registered address. My problem is that my registered address is where my wife and my mother-in-law live. My mother-in-law hates me, so if a mail carrier shows up at her apartment for me to sign off on receiving the divorce certificate, she will be pissed because she doesn't know we are getting divorced.

Even though she hates me and maybe wants us to get divorced, I don't want her to know until it has been finalized be able to avoid drama and cut contact after the divorce. I will continue to help my wife out financially each month even after getting a divorce though.

I'm curious if there is anyone on here that knows if it is possible to request to physically pick up the divorce certificate from City Hall instead of having it mailed to the registered address?

I know I could just ask the City Hall staff directly, but they might find that a suspicious question to be asking...maybe I can have a friend of mine ask for me.

Please don't flame me with hateful or rude comments. I'm only looking to see if there is anyone on this forum that is knowledgeable on the subject.

I am checking Immigration Bureau’s website and found this passage on this page:
http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/tetuduki/zairyuu/qa.html

Toward the end of Q9,
�B 中長期在留者が住居地の届出を行わない場合又は虚偽の届出をした場合
次の場合が当たります。ただし，�T及び�Uについて，届出をしないことについて正当な理由がある場合は，在留資格取消しの対象とはなりません。

i.上陸の許可や在留資格の変更許可等により新たに中長期在留者となった者が，９０日以内に法務大臣に対し住居地の届出をしない場合
ii.中長期在留者が，法務大臣に届け出た住居地から退去した日から９０日以内に，法務大臣に新しい住居地の届出をしない場合
iii.中長期在留者が，法務大臣に虚偽の住居地を届け出た場合

When the medium-/long-term resident don’t report the new address within 90 days (under I and II), but it says that “for I and II, if there are valid reasons for not making such a report, then it will not be subject to revocation of resident status.”

So… in your case you are not moving, so I don’t think this applies to you.

(By the way I don’t find the link provided as very trustworthy, for the wording used there… so it might be a patch-up piece of information from different law firm/scrivener offices.)

About having the paper mailed to you - people get separated, so i think it is OK to ask city hall to have it sent to another address...set up a P. O. box c/o a post office, or report yourself "out" from that address to c/o a friend? Best wishes.

If you are not living together use you actual address - you should anyway.
If you are still living together with ex-wife and mother-in-law, you have a problem of your own making.

@AK Yes, setting up a P.O. Box is a great idea but is that a common thing for foreigners in Japan to do?

Is this something I can easily set up at the local post office?

I'm actually living with a Japanese woman that is a friend only. None of my guy friends here are able to let me stay with them due to them being married, lack of space, etc.

Since immigration will see it as suspicious and assume I'm having an affair even though I can prove I'm not, they could revoke my permanent residence status...so I would rather report a P.O. Box than that I'm living with her.

Since immigration will see it as suspicious and assume I'm having an affair even though I can prove I'm not, they could revoke my permanent residence status...so I would rather report a P.O. Box than that I'm living with her.

Umm... why exactly would immigration worry about you having an affair? You have PR status and you got divorced from your wife. So there isn’t actually the possibility of an affair. I’d think immigration would be more concerned if you report a wrong address (ie that of your ex wife where you no longer live) or a post box. As you clearly can’t be living in a post box.

What I mean is even though I have PR status now, I'm still married. So at the time I fill out the divorce form I will just put that I will keep living at the same address as my wife for a short time until I find my own apartment.

Then after a couple months, I can report to immigration that I'm living with a friend (current roommate) because I haven't found my own place yet.

If I report that I'm living with another woman (just a friend) to immigration at the same time I report the divorce, it will still be really suspicious.

Yes, I have PR status and what if they believe that my marriage was fake and that I only got married to obtain PR status and that is why I divorced only a year after obtaining it?

I could be thinking too much, but my marriage is real. It is a bad marriage, but it isn't a fake marriage.

You are thinking too much. Many people separate and live separately before divorce, and live with their new partner.
It is a requirement in some jurisdictions in fact - I had the obligation to prove I was not living at the same address as my ex for two years - fortunately we keep records so not too hard to prove to the courts here.

@Japancustomtours

In your situation, did you need to go to court for a divorce because your wife didn't not agree to the divorce?

Because my wife and I just agreed to sign a divorce form, which I will mail to city hall and wait for the divorce certificate to come in the mail a week or two later.

My proof that I have not been living with my future ex wife is that my mother-in-law and my future ex wife will have no problem saying that I have been living separately from them for over 2 years.

There are also the people I lived with and the person I'm living with now that can say so as well.

I was under NZ law an that requires a formal two year separation (minimum) - my ex is from NZ too, but she is in living in Saitama. All very amicable - we still work together. But the process here in Japan (where we work/live) needed to be done under some Japanese law too, so the Judge needed to check the NZ law, the evidence (which we had) and the reasons/rationale. The dissolution has been registered back home and she's getting married in December when our daughter visits.
It was a tricky process but we had a helpful court clerk and eventually found time in our travel schedule when we could be in the same spot at the same time and get it done.

Is it true that since my permanent residence status is not affected by a divorce, would I not need to report the divorce to the immigration office?

I don't see why I would need to report my future divorce to immigration, but I just hope that when I go to them in a few years from now to renew my permanent residence status...I hope they don't question me about why I didn't report the divorce?

A friend of mine I know that is also a foreigner living and working here in Japan mentioned that I would not need to report a divorce to the immigration office, since this matter is only dealt with at city hall.

Can anyone verify if this is correct?

Your friend is correct. Don't worry.

It is correct that you don't need to report your divorce to immigration.

You do however need to report your change of address within 90 days, and that's your biggest problem right now: you have not reported that you are no longer living with your wife, so in theory your PR can be revoked for that reason since you say you have been living separately for more than 2 years.

Every foreign resident must report a change of address within 90 days (unless they have unspecified "justifiable reasons"). If does not matter whether you are on a "work visa" of Student or PR or whatever. Nor does it matter that you are getting a divorce or whatever. It applies to everyone, every time you go live to a different place, you report it, period. If you don't, your status is up for revocation. And no, you can't "register" some random address when you are actually living elsewhere.

By the way, the link poste in OP is indeed somewhat misleading.

ちなみに、永住ビザが取り消されるのは、次の４つに該当するときだけです。
[...]
4. 90日以内に新たな居住地を届け出ない

"By the way, a permanent residence visa [sic] can only be revoked in the following four cases.
[...]
4. If you do not report a new address within 90 days."

The problem is that it does not say within 90 days of what, and since the article as a whole is about divorce, it's not unreasonable to understand it as "within 90 days from the date of the divorce". That is wrong, however, it is within 90 days from the date when you actually move to the new address.

http://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/law/detail_main?re=&vm=&id=303...

(ix)　any Mid to long-term Resident who has not notified the Minister of Justice of their new place of residence within 90 days of leaving the previous place of residence, which had previously been notified to the Minister of Justice (except where there is a justifiable reason for not giving notification)

Here is where things get complicated. So I recently talked with my wife and she talked with her mother about allowing me to live with them temporarily even after we get divorced.

So technically, even though I get divorced I will not need to report any change of address because I am moving back in with her in a couple days from now.

We will also most likely be living together for quite a while after our divorce, which isn't illegal.

There is no law that states that a divorce couple can't continue living together or can only live together for a certain period of time.

Once I move into my own place in the future, I will of course report the change of address to the immigration office right away.

We are talking about now. You said you are now living away from your wife, that you have been doing so for over 2 years, and that you have not reported that change of address. That is illegal. Even if you move back in with your wife, it won't change the fact that you didn't report your change of address when you moved out.

Why would I report that knowing that it would 100% cause me a whole bunch of legal issues?

I'm moving back in with my wife and her mother. The only reason I needed to move out was because her mother kicked me out after a huge misunderstanding (long story).

We are on good terms again and I will be living there again soon.

Also married couples also have situations like this or where a spouse is working and living at another address due to their job. I know that not all these foreigners are reporting their temporary living situations.

Why would you have reported it? Because the law says you must.

Many people don't do it? Sure, many people do all sorts of things. Some of them end up in unpleasant places.

I would would end up in an unpleasant place by reporting it as well...so there is that too.

I would*