From: fester@island.COM (Mike Fester)
Subject: Re: Reentry permits (wasRe: registering marriages)
Organization: /usr/local/rn/organization
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 17:24:21 GMT

In article <WPM.92Sep3181916@exile.is.morgan.com> wpm@is.morgan.com (W. Phillip Moore) writes:
>
>>>>>> "David" == David Luke <luke@platypus.ee.byu.edu>:
>>>>>> "Hank" == Hank Cohen <hank@westford.ccur.com>:
>
>David> I believe you can just go to Japan like anyone else.  The only
>David> problem would be if you had an unused spouse visa (they are
>David> single-entry) already stamped in the passport, or a valid re-entry
>David> permit from a previous visit.  I don't know whether you could talk
>David> them into ingoring it and letting you enter as a tourist.

>I can almost guarantee you they would give you a hard time about this, and
>depending on where you were from/coming from, they might not let you into
>Japan.  

I had three valid visas. I just opened my passport to the appropriate page
and let the guy at Narita figure out the rest.

>Hank> Or surrender your Alien Registration Card to the immigration agent at
>Hank> the airport.  If you surrender your alien registration card then you
>Hank> have to re-apply for another one on your return.

>Do you know anyone who has tried this??  I suppose you could get away with
>it, but you'd be coming back to Japan and starting with the immigration
>authorities from scratch.   

This was recommended to me by the JAPANESE immigration office in Tokyo, when 
it was apparant that my company had not applied for my work visa renewal in 
time. They said, get a tourist visa in the US, then apply for a change of 
visa status when I got back to Japan. Worked fine, and for a while I had 
*THREE* perfectly legal visas (tourist, work and spouse).

>If you have a working VISA, then it should be for just one year.  I have
>been told repeatedly that I can't get a working VISA longer than 1 year.  
>The multiple reentry permit has no time limit, but is only good until your
>current VISA expires.  

I believe you can get a working visa for up to 3 years (my last one was for
2 years). Depends on whether they like your face or not.

>Note on re-entry VISAs:  Immigration authorities are fairly forgiving if
>you leave Japan with the intention of returning, and forget to get a
>reentry permit.... the FIRST TIME ONLY.  The first time I left Japan on a
>business trip, I waited until I was at the airport, played stupid, and got
>my reentry permit there.  The second time, they noticed that I had pulled
>this once already, and they gave me a royally hard time -- kept me in their
>office until 5 minutes before my plane was scheduled to depart
>(intentional?? neah....)

>I know several other people who have had similar experiences, and they were
>treated far worse -- one individual was forced to return to the Osaka
>immigration office and come back the next day.  Ruined his vacation.  I
>suspect that part of this was due to the fact that I had a working VISA,
>and worked for a Japanese firm (Matsushita Electric Works, my first and
>LAST Japanese employer 8-).
>
>I recently changed jobs (now work for a US investment bank) and am finding
>out that immigration isn't as friendly as they used to be.  In fact, they
>have thus far stalled my VISA application for over two weeks -- have to
>check out my new employer thoroughly, or so they say.  Sure -- Morgan
>Stanley has been in Japan for over 20 years, and many of our employees are
>ex-patriots.

Only two weeks? Not bad. All my visa applications took 2 months to process, 
but then I got the longer term visas as a result. When I got to the airport,
(outbound) they took my reg card (no big deal). When I got back to Japan, 
the people at the Mitaka shiyakushou were almost apologetic about the "trouble"
and insisted that I ask them for help next time, to avoid any unnecessary
troubles.

>Discriminatory??  You bet!!  Don`t play games with immigration, as they can
>make your life rather miserable, including kicking your ass out of Japan.
>I've seen that happen to lots of English teachers.  

Yeah, be nice. As mentioned NUMEROUS times, immigration officials have TREMEN-
DOUS latitude in what they can do. If you insist on your "rights" you're going
to find that you don't have too many. If you ask for their help, you'll find
that most of them are quite magnanimous, if you are NOT Chinese and can speak
a modicum of Japanese. Sometimes, you've got to shake the hand that feeds
you.

Mike
-- 
Disclaimer - I'm only doing what the little voices tell me to do.