Hello, this is Kou of IMS Legal Professional Corporation. Nagasaki University and others have started clinical trials of China’s Sichuan University developed COVID-19 vaccines in Japan. After it is approved, I am sure that many people will be immunized with this Chinese-developed vaccine. Last week was another busy week with many inquiries and requests. In this post, I would like to focus on one of the inquiries we received last week.
A student of a foreign nationality who was studying abroad, but enrolled in a university in Japan, wanted to know if he needed to obtain a status of residence. Relating to this inquiry, I would like to explain, what exactly is a “status of residence”?
From the beginning of 2020, due to the COVID pandemic, working remotely and teleworking has become more prevalent, and work styles in some industries are undergoing major changes.
Also, assumedly, there are actually not a few cases of companies employing foreign nationals to work remotely. In such cases, some may wonder about the status of residence of the foreign national employee if they belonged to a company based in Japan but residing overseas.
What is the Status of Residence?
“Status of Residence” is a status required for foreign nationals to enter Japan with a certain purpose and stay (reside) in Japan. For example, the status of residence “Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services” applies to those who want to work in Japan, “Student” for those who want to study in a university in Japan, and “Business Manager” for those who want to build and run a company in Japan. A status of residence complying with one’s purpose of stay is required.
Therefore, like those employed by a company in Japan but working remotely overseas, and like those enrolled in a university in Japan but taking classes online, if the foreign nationals themselves are not in Japan, there is no need for them to obtain a status of residence. If, in the future, they plan to do such activities inside Japan, they must obtain a status of residence according to their purpose of stay (activity content) beforehand in order to enter Japan.
Can My Status Be Revoked?
For foreign nationals who are staying in Japan with a certain status of residence with a period of stay of 1 year, 3 years, or 5 years, there is a regulation stating that their status of residence will be revoked if they do not continue with the activity allowed within their status for more than 3 months or 6 months, depending on the case (i.e. withdrawing from the organization in Japan that they belonged to, divorce or death of spouse, etc.). I will go into more details about “cancellation of status of residence” in my future blog.
As I have already mentioned, for foreign nationals to enter Japan with a purpose of some kind, they must obtain a status of residence according to their purpose. At IMS, we have supported many foreign nationals with their status of residence related procedures. If you need help inviting foreign nationals from abroad, or having problems with status of residence related procedures of those already in Japan, please feel free to consult us.
For more information, please contact us below ↓
https://imsvisa.support/en/contact/
