【Case Study】The application for permanent resident visa in case of highly-skilled personal/professional (including those who are equivalent to them)

1. Requirements to obtain a permanent resident visa in principle

Regarding the permission for permanent residency, the Immigration Act provides that “the Minister of Justice may grant permission only when the Minister finds that the Foreign National conforms to the following items and that their permanent residence will be in accordance with the interests of Japan” (Article 22, paragraph 2, the first sentence). Moreover, as the other requirements, the Immigration Act lists that “the Foreign National’s behavior and conduct must be good” and “the Foreign National must have sufficient assets or skills to make an independent living” (Article 22, paragraph 2, item (1) and (2)).

Thus, to obtain a permanent resident visa, the requirements of 1) conformity with the national interest (Article 22, paragraph 2, first sentence of the Immigration Act)，2) good behavior and conduct (Article 22, paragraph 2, item (1) of the Immigration Act), and 3) independent living (Article 22, paragraph 2, item (2) of the Immigration Act) must be satisfied.

From the expressions of each requirement, it is difficult to judge whether such requirements are fulfilled as the wordings are pretty abstract, especially the requirement of 1) conformity with the national interest. It is almost impossible to imagine what cases conforms with the national interest. So here is the “Guideline for Permission for Permanent Residence,” which helps to interpret and understand the requirements.
According to the Guideline for Permission for Permanent Residence, the following requirements must be met to satisfy the requirement of conformity with the national interest, which is one of the requirements for obtaining the permission for permanent residence.

a) In principle, the person has stayed in Japan for more than 10 years consecutively. It is also required that during his/her stay in Japan the person has had work permit (with an exception for those with the “Technical Intern Training” and “Specified Skilled Worker (i)” residential status) or the status of residence for more than 5 years consecutively.
b) The person has been never sentenced to a fine or imprisonment. The person adequately fulfills public duties (duties such as the payment of taxes, public pension contribution and public health insurance contribution, as well as notification in accordance with the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act).
c) The maximum period of stay allowed for the person with his/her current status of residence under Annexed Table 2 of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act is to be fully utilized.
d) There is no possibility that the person could do harm from the viewpoint of protection of public health.

Thus, as described in a) above, as an element of the requirement of conformity with the national interest, at least 10 years of residency is required, and it is also required that, among the 10 years, the person has had work permit or the status of residence for 5 years or more.

2. Requirements to obtain a permanent resident visa for those who are equivalent to highly-skilled personal/ highly-skilled professional

At least 10 years of stay in Japan is required in principle to apply for permission for permanent residency. However, there are some exceptions listed in the Guideline. One of them is when you meet requirements to be qualified as highly-skilled personal or highly-skilled professional.

The Guideline states as follows.

(1) – (5) omitted
(6) The person has a total score of 70 points or more based on the points calculation criteria prescribed in the Ordinance to Provide for the Criteria in the Right-Hand Column Corresponding to “Highly-skilled Professionals as Specified in Appended Table I (2) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act” (hereinafter referred to as “Ordinance of the Ministry of Justice”), and comes under one of the following.
a. The person who has continuously stayed in Japan as a “Highly-skilled foreign Professional” for 3 years or more.
b. The person who has continuously stayed in Japan for 3 years or more, and who is deemed to have a total of 70 points or more when calculating with reference to the situation at 3 years before the date of the application for permission for permanent residence.
(7) The person has a total score of 80 points or more based on the points calculation criteria prescribed in the “Ordinance of the Ministry of Justice”, and comes under one of the following.
a. The person who has continuously stayed in Japan as a “Highly-skilled foreign Professional” for 1 year or more.
b. The person who has continuously stayed in Japan for 1 year or more, and who is deemed to have a total of 80 points or more when calculating with reference to the situation at 1 year before the date of the application for permission for permanent residence.
The Immigration Act provides a status of residence called “Highly Skilled Professional” as a sort of work visa. The visa aims to invite foreigners who has highly professional skills and knowledges (highly-skilled foreign professional) in various fields such as IT field to strengthen the international competitive power of Japan. To facilitate the work by such excellent foreign professionals in Japan, the number of years of residence required for highly-skilled foreign professionals to obtain a permanent resident visa is shortened

Now, let’s go into the details!

The highly-skilled professional visa is very different from any other status of residence. To obtain the visa, you have to score 70 points or more in total, which are given based on your academic background, work history, certifications, income, etc.
If you score 70 points or more and live in Japan with a highly-skilled professional visa, the years of residence required for the application for a permanent resident visa is shortened to 3 years.
Moreover, if you score 80 points or more and live in Japan with a highly-skilled professional visa, such years of residence is shortened to 1 year.

Now, we would like to focus on (6)(a) and (7)(a) of the Guideline.
Even in case that you do not have a highly-skilled professional visa, if you score 70 points or more when applying for a permanent resident visa as well as 3 years before the date of application, you are still able to benefit from the mitigated requirement of years of residence for the application for the permanent resident visa, which is shortened to 3 years.
Likewise, in case that you score 80 points or more when applying for the permanent resident visa and had 80 points or more 1 year before the date of application, even if you do not have a visa for highly-skilled professional, the years of residence required for applying a permanent resident visa is shortened to 1 year.
In other words, no matter if you have a visa for highly-skilled professional or not, as long as you score at least 70 or 80 points, you are able to apply for a permanent resident visa after staying in Japan for 1 year or 3 years.

Thus, highly-skilled foreigners who has a visa for highly-skilled professional or has eligibility to be recognized as highly-skilled professional may try to apply for a permanent resident visa after staying in Japan only for 1 or 3 years.

3. What was the result of the application this time for a permanent resident visa for highly-skilled personal/ highly-skilled professional (including those who are equivalent to them)?

In principle, Mr. A should be unable to apply for permanent residency as he hasn’t stayed in Japan for more than 10 years. However, as he had completed graduate school in Japan and passed JLPT N1, there was a possibility that he was qualified as a highly-skilled professional. Accordingly, we proceeded to check if he would be able to obtain a permanent resident visa for those who are equivalent to highly-skilled professional.

Since Mr. A worked for a medicinal supplies manufacturer as a researcher/developer, he was regarded as engaging in services requiring knowledge or skills in the field of natural sciences based on a contract entered into with a public or private organization in Japan. We therefore calculated in accordance with the point calculation table for advanced specialized/technical activity (item (1)(b) of highly-skilled professional). As a result, we could confirm that he had more than 80 points because of special additional points based on academic record, income, work history, age, Japanese language skills, etc.
We advised Mr. A to apply for permanent resident visa as a person equivalent to highly-skilled professional. We supported him to collect necessary documents and to submit application, and finally, Mr. A managed to receive a permission for permanent residence after living in Japan only for 6 years.

4. Summary of the application for permanent resident visa in case of highly-skilled personal/ professional (including those who are equivalent to them)

Even in case that you do not have a highly-skilled professional visa and have lived in Japan for less than 10 years, if you are highly-skilled foreign professional who has 70 points or more according to the point calculation table, you may be able to receive a permanent resident visa by the application of the special provisions, just like the case introduced in this article.

Therefore, we believe that there are many people who actually meet the requirements of receiving a permanent resident visa by the application of the special provisions. Especially, those who have graduated from university or completed graduate school in Japan and also passed JLPT N1 often have more than 70 points. Like Mr. A, by talking to specialists, you may be able to receive a permanent resident visa sooner than you expect.

If you would like to receive a permanent resident visa as quickly as possible, please try our free consulting on permanent resident visas!