Leaving before Jan 1st

[AnotherTag]

I don’t personally see the point of asking people in this forum anything unless it’s sex related.

Off topic, but you sure you trust the answers in this forum even for sex related questions ?

 

[warubuta]

A

Many people believe in ghosts or Santa Claus too! Your residence card and your visa have no direct link to each other. If you have work visa then leaving that company can eventually lead them to cancel your visa but even that is not so clear cut.

But if you for example have a work visa for Japan but your company decides to send you to another country for a year your visa still continues to be valid even if you are not a resident.

Nit-picking continues: there is no tourist visa. It is exactly visa exemption that they give you for three months. So in theory totally different, in practise just the same.[/

It does as far as I know. But if one is self employed versus working for a conpany, then you could technically just leave. On the other hand, sometimes people get caught in a tax problem. I focus on taxes because just relinquishing your residence card is very simple and can be done by checking a box on the customs form. Many have problems when they just exit and fail to take care of their tax obligations. And when they least expect it, they get detained at the airport. But my general understanding is that changing your status isn’t even all that difficult, especially in this case.

Nobody ever gets detained at the airport for not paying their residents taxes or any other taxes. That is completely unfounded ridiculous fear mongering. Now maybe if you are a tax fugitive who has been found guilty of tax evasion in the courts and you are trying to flee the country, well I guess it would be a possibility. Baring that, it has never happened and will never happen.

 

[impish]

If you wish to use an international driving permit from another country you must be out of Japan for at least three consecutive months, and if you wish to convert a license obtained in another country, you need to be in the country in question for at least three months in total.

Ah, ok. I thought you were talking about the time you could drive in Japan on an international drivers permit, not the amount of time inbetween travels needed to be able to do it, that makes sense now.