Question about not registering your address?

Hi All,

Apologies in advance for the long text

I wanted to see if someone could help me and or guide me the right direction.

My company is transferring me to their HQ in Tokyo. They applied for my CoE in 2019, received in November of the same year, got my visa on my passport in January 2020 but I was never able to land in Japan to activate my new visa status due to the pandemic. Due to this, my CoE and visa expired after 6 months.

In March 2022, Japan announced that they would extend the eligibility of the CoEs that were processed in 2019, allowing applicants to re-apply for their visas and avoiding for them applying again. When Japan announced this along the borders opening, I only had a short time to get my visa again and activate my "status", neither my company nor myself were ready for my transition as we thought it would come later.

They sent me to activate my visa in July 2022, received my Zaryu Card and then return back to Canada to finalized my transition with the goal to fully move in February 2023. I only stayed in Tokyo for 7 days total and therefore I did not register an address. While in that time, we called immigration checking this as it was stated that I needed register an address within 14 days, they advised me to go in person and explain the situation as I would need a re-entry visa back and also to avoid issues of not having an address registered.

While my visit, I was able to talk to an agent explaining my situation and they advised me that as long as I register an address when I fully move i should be fine and also to explain this to the immigration officers at the airport so I could get my re-entry which I did with no problem.

Now I am moving on February 3rd and to be honest I am super nervous as I have been reading that I could get in trouble and or my status cpuld be revoked even though I was assured that it would be fine.

I am not sure if anyone has been on this type of situation that could advise and or if I need to prepare a company letter explaining so I can submitting it when registering my address in case they question the lack of address in the previous months?

Thank you in advance

I have not been in your situation, but since you had good reasons for not being able to get an address back then, so it should be no problem. Best wishes.

I helped many people with different issues and variety types of difficulties, but this case is really interesting. Why you did not register your address at least to your residence card? Maybe asking your friend’s house or asking a company if you did not make a contact for an apartment. Overall, you are a residence already. What you can do is to contact directly to Immigration authorities through phone directly (sometimes it is busy) or to contact Immigration Agency, which will contact instead of you or your company. I cannot say something since it is first time when I heard such case and never faced with that

I don't think it is a problem.

according to their official site,
Q83：住居地の届出は、入国してからいつまでに行う必要がありますか。
A.中長期在留者は、新規上陸した後、住居地を定めた日から１４日以内に住居地の市区町村においてその住居地を届け出る必要があります。....また、正当な理由なく、新規上陸後、９０日以内に住居地を届け出なかった場合、在留資格が取り消されることがあります。

there seems to be the TWO rules.
1. 住居地を定めた日から１４日以内に
within 14 days after you fixed your staying place. not within 14 days after you newly landed to Japan.

2. 正当な理由なく、新規上陸後、９０日以内に
within 90 days after you newly landed to Japan. but, if you have good reasons, you are OK.

you could violate the second rule.
but, in your case (you came to Japan in July 2022, stayed in Japan for 7 days, then returned to your country (in July or August 2022, presumably). you will come again in February 2023. ), I think they exclude the days absent from Japan. you are OK. the good reason is "you are absent from Japan. there is no way to go to city office to register the address.".

what is the problem ?

The question that Immigration will ask: why you got your visa and immediately left and did not come back for a long time? Is there too many preparations before returning back to Japan? Why you could not go to City Hall while you were in Japan those 7 days? Just be prepared for these questions and that’s all. You can also contact Embassy or Consulate, they can help you too. I do not think this is an issue. Just try to do everything on time, so you can save a lot of time in the future without spending a lot of time for such kind of stuff.

Hi All,

Thank you all for you feedback and replies.

To answer a few questions asked here:

1. Why i didn't use a friend address: I was just newly landed and did not and do not have japanese/expats friends yet an d my coworkers where not comfortable doing it either
2. Why did I not use the company address?
We called immigration and they advised us that we could not use the company address as I wouldn't be living there and it seems to be registered as a business.

3. Why didn't I go to the ward to notify this? To be honest the information i received when I called the immigration hotline, was to directly to go in person to immigration and explain my situation to be advised

As I mentioned my transition was not fully done as I needed to finish training my department which ny company asked me to, as well as prepare for my moving and finish some tasks I had in progress.

Do you think I should bring a company letter explaining this? As it would say the reason and most important i would be truly apologetic since I see the mistake on my side