I've only ever had student residence permits since I'm an eternal student, but yeah, it's a lot different. I was/am allowed to work 20 hours a week alongside my studies, and after I graduate I have six months to look for a permanent job. It was the same in Sweden, and in Ireland too, but when Corona hit Ireland decided that the work seeking permit was only valid for 20 hours a week since they couldn't process renewals. It sucked and obviously no one would hire me, so I'm doing another master's in Denmark. Hoping to go onto a PhD when my permit expires at the end of 2023, but if I can find a job that's cool too!

I guess a disabled person should just marry a Japanese person. Japan won't allow foreign disabled persons?

So the stories I've heard about a foreign couple having to engage in love making in front of a Japanese official are true to get the spouse's p.r.

In Norway it's pink and blue.

Which video?

​@@NatalieeRainekzfaq.info/get/bejne/jb2dp9Oqzr2pnpc.html

perfect explanation of the experience haha

When you say "PR" in the USA does that mean "green card?"

@@kydeanderic Yes, Permanent Residence Card is the official name for green card. It sounds very similar to PR in Japan that you described.

Good luck!

hahaha

Yea, honestly maintaining our USA citizenship sorta gives us a redundancy for life. Giving it up would be annoying is say, we need to spend a long time stateside to take care of a family member or something, we'd need a visa, etc. -E

@@kydeanderic but... USA makes you to pay double taxes. I think its worth to get rid of it...

@@breeze9248 That is inaccurate. -E

Gotta change camera angles as much as possible to keep people from looking at their phone! hahahahaa

Thanks! It took a while but was fun. -E

hahaha yay!

tbh it was just lucky circumstances. it's not a common position to find from outside Japan, especially if you need visa sponsorship.

hrm, I wonder if something has changed since you had PR, but the cost or access to medical treatment didn't change at all when we shifted from normal work visas to PR. -E

I haven't met any so I'm not sure, hahaha. -E

we'd really like to but this winter we don't have the time or spare finances for it unfortunately. -E

Hah, Yea, we aren't sure how we will go about it but we do plan on talking about the process.

In some cases a bit, yes. -E

lol we are all of those things. -E

Neat, thanks for the details! -E

Yea, actually it was like that when we first moved here, so we feel that pain (slightly)

haha, Yea, it's possible

Oh wow, interesting process for Canada. Thanks for the deets. -E

From our perspective not brutal enough. We've had issues with Kurds, Iranians, Africans, Vietnamese, Brazilians, Peruvians, Chinese, Koreans....causing all sorts of problems. The job of immigration office is to root out foreign-nationals who are "undesirable." Once you see the Ghettos and parallel mini-communities in Japan, you'll understand why most of us want tight immigration policy. There are entire blocks and buildings that Japanese will not and cannot live because they are occupied by Chinese, Kurds, Koreans, etc. (It's not as bad or wide-spread as European ghettos, though.) Conversely, people who have valuable skills and education, such as in IT, architecture, finance/accounting, law, medicine, engineering, science...have a much easier time to get their work visas because we desperately need their expertise. Japan just started a new J-SKIP and J-FIND visa scheme, focusing on professionals as well as new graduates of top 100 universities world-wide. In practice, Japanese Immigration policy has always given preferential treatment to foreign-nationals who were born/raised in Japan and international students who've graduated from Japanese universities and graduate schools. They will almost always have an easier time in obtaining work visa, PR, or citizenship. If I recall, most of the international students who graduated from Japanese universities had 5 year work visas. And students, particularly from the UK and former Soviet Union, who've majored in Japan/Oriental Studies, Japanese literature, language, culture, or history at top academic institutions in their home countries...also seem to get special treatment. Obviously, we are more comfortable with people who are fluent in our language and culture.

Yea, that's dramatically different for sure!