Evolution at Immigration

UMJ_web_logo

Evolution at Immigration
By: Richard B. Curtis
The UMJ Volume 4.2 (Opinion)

I recently read a report from another non-Japanese resident in another internet discussion group "Getting rid of "troublemakers" about Immigration officials "advising" a Japanese employer how to harass unwanted foreign workers until they reacted in such a way that they would be unable to maintain their visa status. Although I have not found myself in quite that same situation, I did have an interesting observation of my own at the Kanazawa office of the Immigration Authority last week.

I am here on a spouse visa, and after my wife and I were married, the Immigration officials at that time (six years ago) advised that the pattern would run like this:

One-year visa renewable twice for a total of three years, followed by a three-year visa, after which would come the option for further three-year visas or a five-year visa, and finally after all of these hoops had been jumped through, if the applicant was still in Japan, the final step was permanent residence (or naturalization if the applicant preferred that route).

My current three-year visa comes up for expiration in September, so last week I dutifully marched down with all of the various documents to prove I was still married and gainfully employed. I asked if the five-year visa that I had been repeatedly told about in that very office so many times was in the offing this time. The reply: There is no such thing as a five-year visa, and there never has been. The maximum possible visa for married people was three-years, unless they opted for permanent residence or naturalization, and the officer produced the documents for permanent residence and went through them with me and invited me to take a set home to examine. He further advised that because permanent residence takes a long time to process and my current visa is up in one month, it would be more secure for my family, employment status, and other aspects of my Japan existence if I were to apply for the three-year visa renewal now and then next week or any time after receiving the three-year visa stamp I could apply for the permanent residence if I so desired.

This is all well and good. They are not trying to kick me out of the country. They were polite, and in fact gave me plenty of information in order to help me stay in the country longer if I so desired. For that I am quite thankful. I must say that the general demeanor and level of service (yes! SERVICE) that you can get from the Kanazawa Immigration office is quite high now and nowhere near as frightening as it used to be compared to the days when I was first in Japan and would go with Japanese acquaintances to Immigration often influencing slack-jawed amazement on the part of my Japanese friends. (One man once told me: "I had no idea this was what we Japanese were paying our taxes for . .

In any case, on this occasion the information I received this time is much different than what I and some others have heard in the past, and I am wondering if any of your may have any further information you could share that would corroborate this story or conflict with it. Would appreciate your input.

Finally, one more thing I noticed that was different than in the past was that they could not give the stamp out on the day of application. Generally in the past at the Kanazawa office, if your papers were in order and you were not requesting anything different than you had in the past, the local office could process your papers for you on the spot and stamp your visa. However, the story they gave me was that now they are requiring a one-week period between application and stamping of the visa for all applicants. I quite frankly do not understand why. They are in fact doubling their work, and not getting any extra money for it. And if they prefer to do this than that's fine with me. I don't mind people who like to work extra hard for their money. However, it just seems odd that this government branch which is apparently suffering from under-funding should adopt policies that in effect double their required labor output for the more clearcut visa cases . . . ? ? ? What's more, for me it is no problem to go to Immigration twice -- it is only a ten minute drive -- but for the people who live out in the far reaches of the prefecture, this must be a terrible burden.

Have any of you out there also noticed these subtle little changes along these lines at the Immigration offices around Japan? How is it different for you at various offices around the country?