Author Archives: 司法書士大石人士司法書士大石人士

Why do you have to submit Driving Record Certificate in naturalization procedure?

In naturalization procedure, you have to collect a lot of documents.

In one of them, there is a document called Driving Record Certificate.

This certificate shows the record of traffic accident and violation of traffic regulations in the past.

Why do you have to submit this?

Let’s check the article 5(1)(ⅲ) of Nationality Act which stipulates the condition

of naturalization.

Article 5

(1)

The Minister of Justice may not permit naturalization for a foreign national who has not met the following conditions:

(iii)

Being a person of good conduct

To confirm whether you meet the condition of “Being a person of good conduct” or not, they use this certificate as information for making a decision. That’s why you have to turn it in.

How to get this certificate?

1.Get application form.

You can get it at police station, police box, or Japan Safe Driving Center.

2.Fill in the application form.

3-1. Pay the fee (630yen) and apply at the post office nearby.

3-2. Apply directly at Japan Safe Driving Center.

4.You can get it in two weeks when applying at the post office. They will send it to you by mail.

When applying directly at Japan Safe Driving Center, they will send it to you in a week or so.

Thank you.

Solicitor Hitoshi Oishi (司法書士・行政書士　大石人士）

Procedure of Naturalization

I get a lot of inquiries on naturalization from readers, so today, I will explain the outline of the procedure of it.

Procedure of Naturalization

1.Consultation with officers in charge at Legal Affairs Bureau

2.Making application documents / Collecting accompanying documents

3.Submitting the application to Legal Affairs Bureau

4.Checking and Receiving the documents

5.Screening

6.Sending the documents to Ministry of Justice / Screening

7.Making a decision by the Minister of Justice

8-1.Approval / Publication in the Official Gazette / Notification to the applicant by Legal Affairs Bureau

8-2.Disapproval / Notification to the applicant by Legal Affairs Bureau

Usually, it takes 8 months or more to get the result from section 4.

Solicitor Hitoshi Oishi (司法書士・行政書士大石人士)

WHAT IS THE REAL ESTATE ACQUISITION TAX?

1.WHAT IS THE REAL ESTATE ACQUISITION TAX?

Real estate acquisition tax is the tax imposed on those who have acquired land and/or a house located in Japan through trading, exchange, gift, new construction, expansion, renovation, etc.

2.WHO IS THE TAXPAYER?

Individual or corporation that acquired real estate

3.HOW MUCH TAX DO YOU HAVE TO PAY?

The formula for calculating acquisition real estate tax is Assessed value of fixed assets×3%

・Assessed value of fixed assets is the registered value in municipal fixed asset tax rolls, not the purchased value you really paid.

・If acquisition of housing and land is carried out before March 31, 2018, then Assessed value of fixed assets is half the registered price

・If it is acquired from April 1.2008 to March 31.2018, the tax rate is 3% for land and a residential house and 4% for a non-residential house.

However, if you meet certain conditions, you will not need to pay it.

4.WHEN IS THE DEADLINE TO PAY THE TAX?

In Osaka Prefectural Government case, you have to submit “Notification of Acquisition of Real Estate” within 20 days from the date of acquisition of real estate.

Then, they will send a tax notice to you. On the tax notice, they show you a specified date.

Please feel free to ask anything if you have any further questions or problems regarding real estate property.

Thank you.

Solicitor Hitoshi Oishi （司法書士・行政書士　大石人士）

When I marry a foreign woman, can I give her a visa here?

The other day, I got the inquiry as follows;

I’m a Filipino and a permanent resident here in Japan. When I marry a foreign woman, can I give her a visa here?

I will explain it.

A foreigner who get engaged to marry a Japanese residing in Japan or a foreigner living here and then who is going to marry them after entering Japan does not get automatically the status of Spouse or Child of Japanese National, Dependent, and Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident, because at the time of coming to Japan, they are not spouses of the Japanese or the foreigner.

When you want to come to Japan as someone’s fiancé/fiancée, it is important for you to get the short term stay visa (90 days) .

In this procedure, you should state clearly that you will visit your fiancé/fiancée in Japan to marry him/her at the Japanese Embassy or Consulate of overseas.

There is often the case where you come to Japan without the visa when you are the people of the country that has a treaty on exempting visa requirements between Japan.

However, this would run counter to the spirit of the treaty or agreement.

The original purpose is only applicable to short stay visitor.

After marrying, there is a possibility that they would turn down your request to change to the status of Spouse or Child of Japanese National, or Dependent.

So, it is desirable that you should get the visa for that purpose, even though you are exempted from getting the short term visa.

When you take this procedure and come to Japan, you will get the status of short term.

After coming here and marrying in accordance with law, and then making an application for changing the status of residence, you can get the permission of it.

After marrying with Japanese, you can get the status of Spouse or Child of Japanese National.

After marrying with foreigner residing in Japan, you can get Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident, or Dependent depending on the foreigner.

Solicitor Hitoshi Oishi

Free consultation is available from here.

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Starting up a business in Japan

The status of residence is the most important point you should consider if you plan to have a business here because you might be deported despite the huge success of your business if you don’t have a legal documents of staying, you would not get a chance to pursue your business and end up handing it over to another person.

Therefore, getting the status of residence is essential to foreign business operators in order to do business successfully and make the base of living in Japan.

So, when starting up a company, you have to make sure that it abides Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act by adopting the business plan in which you take into account getting the status of residence.

When Japanese people start up their business, what they have to do is to establish a company based on corporation law and to abide by the common business practice and laws and ordinances.

But if foreigners want to do so, they have to keep to Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act in addition to the rules above.

This is the biggest differences between foreign investors and Japanese people who want to start their business in Japan, and also is the biggest point to make your business successful.

Those who want to start up a business in Japan will therefore face higher hurdles than Japanese people.

To be continued.

Solicitor Hitoshi Oishi (司法書士　大石人士・おおいしひとし）

How to make your will in Japan?

I got a request from foreign residents in Japan.

He wanted to know about will / testament, so today, I will explain about how to make your will over your properties such as real estate or savings in Japan and overseas.

In general, you can leave your will in Japan, too.

(1)

Firstly, to make an effective will, you have to make it in proper procedure.

What do you mean by “proper procedure”?

As long as you make your will in accordance with the laws as follows, your will is regarded as being made under proper procedure.

・Your national law of when making your will

・Law of your domicile of when making your will

Therefore, it would be no problem if your will meet the procedures of the laws of your country or Japanese.

However, with regard to the properties in Japan, it would be better for you to make it in accordance with Japanese law, because there is a possibility of being complicated when you make it in your national law.

That is to say, the persons concerned such as legal affairs bureau or banks might not understand easily when executing your will.

The Japanese civil law stipulates 3 forms of will as follows.;

・Holographic will

・Will by Notarized Document

・Will by Sealed and Notarized Document

In my opinion, I suggest you should take the form of Will by Notarized Document because you can consult with notary on the effectiveness and contents of your will.

Although it takes time and costs, you can say that Will by Notarized Document is the form that there is low possibility of invalidity.

Since you must make this in Japanese, if you are unable to read and write in Japanese, you have to be with your interpreter.

And also, you have to prepare your alien registration certificate and passport.

(2)

After taking proper procedure, secondly, you have to confirm the matters as follows;

・The effectiveness of the will ( the matters of testamentary capacity, miscomprehension or cancellation of your intention )

・Effectuation of your will

・The effectiveness of the contents of your will

As for these matters, the law stipulates as follows;

1.The effectiveness and effectuation of the will is based on the law of the country where the testator had nationality.

2.Inheritance shall be governed by the national law of the decedent.

Therefore, these matters are judged by the national law of the testator.

(3)

With regard to the properties that you have overseas, though the Japanese court judged your will as effective, whether your will is approved or not must depend on the law where your properties are located, because the execution will be done in there.

Therefore, by consulting with a local attorney, I think it would be better for you to prepare another will based on the law of that country in addition to the will based on Japanese law with regard to the overseas properties.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Thank you.

Solicitor Hitoshi Oishi (司法書士　大石人士・おおいしひとし)

Countervailing Power of Registration

Owning a land or building is a very expensive acquisition, and in addition to that, it is a bit complicated because there are various rules you have to obey.

There might be some cases where you get involved in troubles even though you have prepared well in advance.

Please ask Solicitor or Shiho-shoshi lawyer about real estate transactions and procedures, such as asking an architect about the house design or as asking an accountant about the tax.

Solicitor or Shiho-shoshi lawyer is a person qualified to prepare legal documents, handle real-estate transactions, etc.

We can provide you with safe and secure living environment from a legal point of view.

Registration of real estate is a very important legal system, because it can ensure you the safety of transactions.

The legal affairs bureau registers the information we provide about the land’s or building’s owner, land area, floor space, the existence of collateral, and etc.

Then they disclose the register book so that you can get the necessary information when you consider buying real property.

You need to do the procedure of ownership transfer to change the titles of real property owners when you buy, sell or donate it.

In principle, if you don’t get the registration of ownership transfer, you cannot insist on your rights against other people who have already acquired their registration even though you had bought the real property earlier.

This is called Countervailing Power of Registration.

Solicitor or Shiho-shoshi lawyer is an expert on the procedure regarding Real Estate ownership transfer.

Please feel free to ask anything if you have any further questions or problems regarding this procedure.

Thank you.

Free consultation is available from here.