Let
me start this with an anecdote. The first
few years in Japan, I got into the habit
of going home for Christmas time. This particular
Christmas time, I had been offered a ride
to the airport by some friends and jumped
at the chance of not having to take the
bus with my oversized luggage. Along the
way my friends and I traded stories about
what we planned to get up to back home and
out of the blue one of the guys says “Do
you need anything to get back into Japan?”
At first I did a quick mental check to see
if I had all my travel documents in order.
Wiping the sweat from my brow, I realised
my friend wasn’t asking if I had everything
in order but was genuinely concerned that
he did not. And indeed, he did not.
There
are two types of re-entry permits:
1. Single Re-entry Permit
Costs 4,000 yen to get and lasts, as the
name suggests, for a single return.
2. Multiple Re-entry Permit
Costs 6,000 yen and lasts for the life of
the visa (for example someone with a 3 year
extension on a Specialist in Humanities
and Social Science visa can reuse the re-entry
permit as many times as they like for the
life of that extension)
Now
I know you are probably thinking “I
couldn’t bare another trip to Immigration
to stand in a line all day”, but obtaining
the re-entry permit is really a matter of
filling out an application form, paying
your money at one counter, getting your
expensive little stamp attached to your
application from the same counter, waiting
a couple of minutes and away you go…Of
course smiling all the while at the hordes
of people there renewing their resident
status at the other counter…in my
opinion the seventh level of hell
If
you’re planning to stay in Japan for
a while, I suggest getting the multiple
re-entry option. It’ll save you money
and an unnecessary trip back to Immigration
in case you want to leave again… and
come back again.
Happy
travels!
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