You are required to submit a statement of reasons (RIYUSHO / 理由書) if you are applying for Permanent Residence Status in Japan. However, if you have a certain status of residence, such as Spouse of Japanese, Spouse of Permanent Resident, Long-term Resident, it is not required to submit one.
You can write it in your own language but in that case you need to attach a Japanese translation, it does not have to be hand written; you can type it. Ideally it should be just 1 or 2 pages.
My advice is to divide the statement of reasons into 3 parts when you write it.
⓵ Introducing yourself
In the first part, you can simply introduce yourself, such as what makes you bring to Japan, your carrier after coming to Japan.
⓶ Description of your current situation and work
In the second part, you may explain what you are doing for a living, what is your role at your company, how long you have been working for the company.
⓷ Reasons for wanting to become Permanent Resident, emphasizing your qualifications to become Permanent Resident
As for the reasons for wanting to become Permanent Resident, I would recommend that you do not mention anything about wanting to to become freelancer or you want to start your own business once you become Permanent Resident, because Japanese government tends to prefer people with stable job and stable income. For emphasizing your qualifications to become Permanent Resident, you can mention your annual income, how you are paying into your pension, taxes and health insurance fees.
Your statement of reasons is the most important documents to be reviewed by Immigration when you apply for Permanent Residence status because Immigration staff will review your application based on your statement of reasosn. Other than your statement of reasosn you are required to submit multiple documents such as a certificate of Taxation and a certificate of Tax payment, Nenkin documents. Those are the supporting documents to prove that what you are mentioning in your statement of reasosns is true. Meaning if there is something not clear from just reviewing those documents you need to explain in your statement of reasons. For example;
1. Change in number of dependents
On your certificates of Taxation and certificates of Tax payment, there is a section that mentioning number of dependents you are supporting. If you are supporting your parents back in your country, you can claim them as your dependents. However, this affects your annual income requirement. Although there are no official criteria for the annual income that you need to meet in order to apply for status of permanent residence, ideally your annual salary should be higher than ￥3,000,000 if you are single and not supporting any family members. If you are supporting family members your annual salary should have roughly an additional￥700,000 per dependent. So, you might want to adjust number of dependents by removing some of your dependents to meet the criteria. In this case it is better to explain with legit reasons. Such as “My brother is now able to support them so I am no longer supporting them.” etc.
2. Difference in method of paying into your City Tax
On your certificates of Taxation and a certificates of Tax payment, it is often mentioned how you are paying into your City Tax (it depends on the city, as some cities do not mention this on their certificates). There are two ways of paying into City Tax.
- Special collection: Your company is deducting the tax from your salary and paying it for you.
- Ordinary collection: City Tax is not deducted from your salary and you are paying by yourself.
In general, if you are a full-time employee you are paying into your city tax by Special collection. However, in the case where you have any additional incomes other than your salary from your company, such as sold your property, stocks, you need to file a report to a tax office and you will be imposed to pay city tax on your additional income as well. Often this must be paid into by Ordinary collection. In this case it is better to explain your situation in your statement of reasons.
Other than that, if there are any discrepancies such as if there are years of low income or if there are delays in pension/insurance payments, it is better to explain.
