Complications with Moving

Hello there.

I came to Japan on a spousal visa in January. Unfortunately soon after my wife and I had issues, so I moved away(from Chiba) to Osaka and thought I would start living down there. My ARC card was given to me by where I was living in Chiba, but I went to the area I was living in Osaka and registered. I also registered for Health Insurance.

As luck would have it, my wife and I reconciled and I will be moving back to Chiba. I have received a few notices(from the city I registered in Osaka) about picking up my health card and also a questionaire about my work situation in 2009(I wasn't in Japan).

What should I do about both the health card? And the tax questionaire? Can they be ignored since I will have to reapply with my wife as a dependent when I get back to Chiba?

Thanks.

I would suggest contacting the Osaka office and explaining that you no longer require those cards/documents, as you are returning to Chiba where you already possess such documents.


Its better to explain it nicely than to cause any problems down the road.

Good to hear you're getting back together :)

You'll have to go to the city hall in Osaka to report that you are moving out, so you might as well talk to the people in the health insurance section as well - just tell them what happened, and that you will be moving to Chiba, and they will probably ask you to pay the outstanding national health insurance contribution amount to Osaka for the number of months you were there, or if you tell them you will be covered by your wife soon again, they might just not charge you for anything, if you were in Osaka for under a month.

For the tax questionnaire, since you will not be paying tax in Osaka, you could inform the tax office in Osaka that you will answer these questionnaire once you are back in Chiba, if necessary.

When you talk to the city hall people, you might want to say you were only "temporarily" separated from your wife, - as spouse of Japanese national, you were granted the status so that you can live together with your spouse, so you are supposed to be living together :).