Permanent Residency, 3 methods?

Hi guys,
I’m thinking about switching to the Permanent Residency (PR) status (currently under “spouse of Japanese”, considering to purchase a house and I heard PR necessary for some loan/allowing to get better loan).

I believe there are three different kind of application possible, depending on ones situation:
- living in japan more than 10 years
- spouse of Japanese
- score higher than 70/80 points

I actually clear all three above criteria, so I’m wondering which application method is “better” (faster to get the PR, lower chance to be refused,…) or if possible/better to submit all documents for all 3 criteria at the same time?

Any experience or advice? Or is spouse of Japanese enough to get good house loan?

Thank you

In theory, spouse of a Japanese national will allow you to qualify for permanent residency the fastest. The person has been married for at least 3 years, and lived in Japan for at least 1 year.

But.... I've heard a lot of stories where the permanent residency application was rejected or they had to apply 2 or 3 times before getting it. Thus, it was not granted to the spouse until the 5th year or even much later.

Often there were issues dealing with income and taxes. In addition, the spouse is usually the guarantor, which can cause complications if there is a divorce. If a divorce happens too soon after permanent residency is granted, the person can be accused of a fake marriage. The Japanese spouse can also tell immigration that they don't wish to be a guarantor and don't want to be on any paperwork, thus the foreign spouse is forced to find a new guarantor.

Another but... Sometimes Japanese immigration will give a foreign spouse multiple 1 year marriage visas/extensions. Have heard of them doing it 3 times in a row. It appears to be in cases of couples married less than 5 years, have just came to Japan, low income, or if there is any suspicion. In order to apply for permanent residency the person has to get at least a 3 year visa.

If you score higher than 70/80 points, then you can get permanent residency in 5 years. The other advantage of that is you don't need the spouse as the guarantor. If you got divorced in the future, there wouldn't be any connection to your permanent residency status or any type of drama with immigration.

If you are one of those few that have such a high score, I would personally recommend going that way as the number 1 option. Then if you don't qualify, you still can get it via marriage visa. As for the remaining way, 10 years is a long time. Plus in the normal 10 years of a work visa route, they need 5 years of tax returns, health insurance, and pension proof. The 10 years can become way longer if Japanese immigration rejects the application, so could end up as not granted until the 11th year, 12th year... who knows.

Thanks for your detailed reply.
However as I mentioned previously I do clear with no issue the 3 criteria
- living more than 10 years: already in Japan for more than 10 years, no tax issue, “high” income vs all usual requirements, etc,..
- spouse of Japanese: already married for a while, already received the 3 years residency Zairiu card “ spouse of Japanese”,…
- score system: higher than the minimum required.

So I’m unsure what method is best or should I prepare all doc from all 3 different procedure to show that my profile is “perfect”?
Will that help my application (speeding the process?) or not?

Any personal experience from anybody who applied/received the PR status?

Thank you

I am afraid that you misunderstand the rules.
if you are on the status of "spouse of Japanese national", then you can apply permanent resident status under the reason of "spouse of Japanese national".

even if your spouse is a Japanese national, but if you are not on the "spouse of Japanese national" status, you can't apply permanent resident status under the name of "spouse of Japanese national".

thus, you can't choose the criteria. it depends on your current resident status.

@ken

I am not so sure. As far as I understand the HSP point system if you fulfilled the criterion of 80 points a year ago, you can ask for PR. Regardless of the visa you are on currently. Ie you do NOT need to be on HSP right now.

@OP, maybe best is to ask an immigration lawyer or the immigration officer themselves. Also might depends how easy it is for you to gather the documents for HSP. Eg I am starting now application for HSP and need to proof 10 years of relevant work experience, which isn’t just showing your CV, or showing old employment contracts, but you need a letter from your employer confirmation when you were working for them, what was your role and a summary of the job description. Luckily I worked for 8 of the 10 years at the company I just rejoined. So that one will be easy to get. But I need to convince an other past company (that I just left) to give me a certificate for the remaining time.

So it kind of depends which points you are going to use and how easy it is to proof them. Eg if you have a PhD, high salary and JLPT N1 that is probably already enough and pretty easy to proof. But if you need to use some other categories it might be more cumbersome to get all paperwork assembled.

@LikeBike
you are right. if your points are higher than 80, you can apply it with another status. as you already pointed out, you need a full set of proofs of your points. that will be the almost same full set to apply 高度人材 status from the beginning. the proof letters from your previous companies should describe your previous job type. (that is a tricky point. you may need to direct your old companies what should be descried. when immigration does not satisfy the letters you get, you again ask new letters to them. no one is happy to do.)

off topics:
some site says that , when you have 高度人材 status and want to change the company, your new company also needs to meet 高度人材. so, your company changing may be restricted.