Permanent Residency Application - supportive documents

[confused gaijin]

permanent residency

I have been in japan for over 10 years on a specialist visa and have been paying my taxes.I have all the documents ready except that the pay slips(gensenchou) i have is for only past two years and as far as i know they need for 3 years..what do you think about my case..apart from this paper everything else is there..

[Edokko]

As an update to my posts last year, I finally got around to submitting my PR application.

My situation
- married to Japanese national for 9 years (marriage was registered in Japan)
- current status of residence is specialist in humanities/international services (3 yr term)
- living in Japan for 2 years 11 months (consecutively)

So, I went straight from what is commonly known as a "work visa" to PR.

This MOJ link (in Japanese) sets out the supporting documents to be submitted with a PR application.

Items submitted at Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau

1. passport (just presented at the application counter and returned)
2. gaikokujin toroku shomeisho (aka "gaijin card") (just presented and returned)
3. Application For Permanent Residence (available in PDF and Excel format)
4. Letter of guarantee (available in Japanese and English)
5. my employment certificate (在職証明書)
6. my certificate of registered matters (登録原票記載事項証明書)
7. my tax declaration certificate (特別区民税･都民税　課税証明書）
8. my tax payment certificate (特別区民税･都民税　納税証明書）
9. the wife's family register (戸籍）
10. the wife's residence certificate (住民票）
11. copy of the wife's most recent earnings statement (源泉徴収票) and job contract (employment certificate for spouse is preferred, but they were willing to accept substitute documentation because she could not obtain a certificate due to her work status)
12. Google maps printout showing directions from closest station to my residence (not required, but they took it)

Note that items 6 through 10 can be obtained at your local ward office / city hall for a small fee (in the range of 300 to 600 yen per doc). Immigration wants originals for these.

I'm told that the process should take about 6 months. In the meantime, I had to apply for an extension to my status of residence, as it was set to expire next month. I received the postcard in the mail for that the other day, and I just went to Immigration this morning to get the stamp in my passport (together with a new re-entry permit).

I'll try to update this post when I receive a decision on my PR application.

Hope this helps prospective PR applicants.

Update: I finally received the postcard in the mail at the end of June 2011 (probably delayed a bit because it was addressed to my old address) and went to Tokyo Immigration. This was a non-event. Present the postcard with passport and 8,000 yen revenue stamp, wait, receive passport with PR stamp. No interview or questions asked. In my case, it took about 8 months from start to finish. I'd also like to point out that my experience shows you can go straight from specialist in humanities/international services status to PR. I never had a spouse visa. And at the time I applied, I had lived in Japan (consecutively) for less than 3 years.