Visa for Parents from Abroad

We noticed that many people who are married to Japanese nationals need to ask their parents in home country to come to Japan for company. What type of visa will be needed and what requirements need to be met if you have such need?

Usually the below visas are recommended.

• -Temporary stay visa
• Designated activity visa (elderly support)
• Highly-skilled professionals visa

We will mainly explain how to apply for Designated activity visa (elderly support) as the Highly-skilled professionals visa and other visas are complicated to get.

About Designated activity visa (elderly support)

• Want to ask parents to come live in Japan
• Want to ask parents to come to Japan and take care of them
• There’s no one who takes care of the parents in home country

Actually there’s no such visa to allow parents who live abroad to come in Japan as company, because it is reckoned as almost no merit to the country.

However as many people have such need and worries, the Designated activity visa (elderly support) can be applied if certain conditions are met.

Standard for visa examination

 The Designated activity visa (elderly support) is comparatively hard to get because the standard for permission and no permission is not clear. However, we can still summarize some key points from the successful cases.

If the foreigner parents are at senior age

 The age of the applicant’s parents will be taken into serious consideration, usually over 70 years’ old will be easier to get through, besides, if the parents have physical inconvenience or illness, there will be preferential treatment for such applicants.

Financial capability to take care of the parents

It’s not hard to understand that if you are able to work and have parents to support, your income will not make it come true. Even there’s no clear standard saying your annual income has to be over certain amount otherwise the application will be denied, generally speaking if you are single permanent resident and at least have more than 3,000,000JPY as annual income, the rate of getting the visa will be higher. (even though there’s case of getting the visa with annual income around 2,200,000 JPY)

In case of one more person needs to be taken care of, annual income of 600,000-800,000JPY more will be added at application, in a word, the financial capability should be firstly confirmed before moving to the next step.

※ suppose you ask your parents to come, but you are not able to work because of sickness, even if you work as part time, the proof of financial capability is still weak.

No one takes care of parents in home country

If your parents have no other one to take care of them while you live in Japan, the condition of application will be proving as such. Otherwise, you’ll be encouraged to go back to your home country to take care of them in most cases.

※ if both of your parents are alive, it’s usually considered that they are able to take care of each other, even if both parents are sick, it is often judged that it is possible to support each other. Of course in this case if you apply for both of them to come, it’s not likely to get the visa.

The supporter has eligible residence

If you already have visa to stay in Japan but you often need to travel to abroad for work, and as a result you don’t have enough time to take care of your parents, the key point is to prove that you not able to physically look after your family.

If this requirement is met, the visa may be granted based on moral and humane consideration.

The procedure of visa acquisition

As mentioned above, there is no such type of visa for parents from abroad. Therefore, the usual procedure is to apply for temporary stay visa at first, when you arrive in Japan, further change it to Designated activity visa (elderly support) by raising the change of residence application.

The acquisition of Temporary Stay Visa

The visa can be applied at Japanese Embassy or at the Consulate General of Japan. As regard to the reason of application, “would like to change the visa to Designated activity visa (elderly support) after entry of Japan” can be added for later use.

Change to Designated Activity Visa

As mentioned, go for the temporary stay visa at first then make change to the Designated activity visa (elderly support). As this is not an usual case, the application will not be processed at the reception. As instead, please talk with the visa department beforehand, with their approve, you can proceed with the application.

The notice of permission and non-permission

If the application is passed, the residence card will be issued, then you can go pick it up.

There are many inquiries regarding change of visa within one year after the residence card is picked up, so please make sure your visa is renewed within the period of stay.

※ the period of stay of the Designated activity visa (elderly support) will not possibly be 3 years or 5 years.

Summary

As there is not clear standards for the visa for parents from abroad, the acquisition of the visa is therefore difficult.

The key point is to prove why the parents have to stay with you in Japan rather than in your home county.

Though it is a difficult one to get, and we understand how you worry about your precious family, and no one would like to leave them alone and away from you. If you do have such worries, please no hesitate to contact us, we are happy to assist.

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We are Yanagi Group, which have offices in Osaka (Abeno and Tennoji), and our affiliated offices in Tokyo (Shibuya and Ebisu) are also available for an on-site consultation. We have handled many applications for permanent residence permits, naturalization permits, work visas, college student visas, management visas, etc., as well as visa renewal procedures related to the status of residence with the Immigration Bureau (Immigration Bureau) as a one-stop service. Our experienced administrative scriveners are also available to help you with any problems you may have.

We also have staff members who can speak each of the native languages and can assist you in obtaining a visa.

※If you wish to be consulted in Nepali or Bengali, please inform us in advance via our website or social media, and the translator will contact you ahead of time.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about your status of residence or visa, even if they are trivial.

Toll-free number: 0120-138-552 

For English speakers: 080-9346-2991

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