What is Designated Activities Notification No. 40?
Designated Activities Notification No. 40 is a status of residence for those who wish to stay in Japan for a period not exceeding one year and engage in activities such as tourism and recreation, as well as activities as an accompanying spouse. It is aimed at those who intend to stay for a long period beyond the 90-day short-term stay, and requires a savings balance of 30 million yen or more and insurance coverage for the period.
Online application is not eligible
I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I thought that the designated activities category could be applied for online.
I received an email from the Immigration Bureau informing me that online applications were not possible. When I called the Immigration Bureau, they told me that the residence statuses that can be applied for online are listed on their website.
There certainly isn’t a No.40.
Headed to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau
On Monday at 9am, I went to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau with documents. It’s been a few years since I’ve been here, as I’ve mostly been online lately.
Conversation at the counter
- (Immigration Officer) The applicant (signing the application form) is in Japan, right?
- (Me) No, he’s overseas. I had him send me the signed application form in advance.
- (Immigration Officer) For this application, the applicant must be in Japan.
- (Me) What? But aren’t applications for a Certificate of Eligibility filled out by people overseas?
- (Immigration Officer) To apply for Designated Activities Notification No. 40, you must first enter the country as a short-term visitor, then apply for a Certificate of Eligibility, and once the certificate is issued, apply for permission to change your status of residence from short-term visitor to designated activities (No. 40). If you apply for the Certificate of Eligibility at the same time as entering the country, it will probably be issued in about 60 days, so you should be able to apply before your short-term visitor (90 days) expires.
Lesson learnt
So, what I’ve learned so far is the following:
- Some designated activities visas cannot be applied for online(See reference.)
- When applying for a Certificate of Eligibility, if a residence status does not specify a representative, the applicant must be present in Japan.
- A change of residence status from “Temporary Visitor” is permitted “only in unavoidable cases,” and the practice has been established that “unavoidable cases” require the attachment of a Certificate of Eligibility. However, as in Designated Activities Notification No. 40, there are also cases where people enter the country on a short-term stay basis, obtain a Certificate of Eligibility, and then “naturally” plan to change their residence status from “Temporary Visitor”.
It would be much easier to understand if they had excluded it from the public notice in the first place. (Those not included in the public notice for “Designated Activities” are not subject to applications for a Certificate of Eligibility, and all of them are obtained by applying for permission to change their status of residence after entering the country.)
Because the definition of Certificate of Eligibility is, a Certificate of Eligibility is an application that a foreign national seeking to enter Japan must submit before entering the country to prove that they meet the conditions for landing, such as that the activities they intend to engage in in Japan fall under one of the residence statuses (excluding “Temporary Visitor” and “Permanent Resident”).