Yesterday, my wife and I went to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau in Shinagawa to apply for the extension of my residence permit.
This is the second time I have applied for renewal, this time with a validity of five years.
The normal validity period is one year, but since this is my second renewal, I decided to apply for a five-year validity period.
I heard that even if you apply for 5 years, the validity period is actually only 3 years at best.
In the case of a "Japanese spouse, etc.", the marriage is expected to continue for a period of three or five years. The applicant must have a stable household income. The main breadwinner must not be delinquent in paying taxes. The main breadwinner must not be delinquent in paying taxes, and must be recognized as having a solid living foundation and continuity of life.
If the Immigration Bureau decides that it does not need to check the marital status every year, it will be valid for 3 or 5 years.
Apparently, the criteria for deciding whether to stay for three or five years includes whether or not they have children, and if they have school-aged children, whether or not they send them to school properly.
In our case, we don't have children, so even if it were approved, I think it would only be valid for three years.
Even if we eventually move to Cebu, the longer my wife's residence permit lasts, the better.
It would be great if my wife could get a permanent residence permit. That way, my wife can continue to live in Japan even after my death.
I heard that the Immigration Bureau has a manual, but it is not open to the public, so I don't know how to prepare the environment as an applicant, but if you live a normal life as a good citizen, at least you will not be denied permission to stay.
The result of my wife's application for permission will be notified to me in about a month.
She will take the notice with her to the immigration bureau again to receive the updated residence card.
The fee is 4,000 yen.
On the other hand, if I were to get a spouse visa in the Philippines, the fee would be 11,200 pesos. In Japanese yen, that's about 25,000 yen. The fee in the Philippines is overwhelmingly higher. It may be a common foreigner's price in the Philippines.
