Can you invite elderly parent to Japan from abroad with mid-long term visa?

There are many people living in Japan with some form of visa who wish to bring their parents to Japan to live together. However, there is no such thing as a “parent’s visa" in principle. Even if you are a “permanent resident" or have naturalized and obtained Japanese nationality, there is no visa for your parents.

However, under certain conditions, parents can be granted a “designated activities" visa, which allows them to stay in Japan.

“Designated activities" is a visa aimed at doing certain activities, and these particular activities are defined by a notice issued by the Minister of Justice. The notice indicates 1-49 specific activities (not all are currently active as some have been removed). However, a “parent’s visa" is not defined in this notice and is considered a special activity outside of the notice.

The specific activities visa outside the notice is a visa that the Minister of Justice (in practice, an immigration inspector) decides based on the applicant’s special circumstances, and even if the conditions are met, it is not always granted.

However, realistically, if certain conditions are met, there is a possibility of getting it.

Conditions for inviting parents with a designated activities visa

The conditions for inviting parents with designated activities are written below. You cannot miss any of them. If any of these conditions are not met, there is a high possibility that it will not be allowed.

1. 1. The child living in Japan is staying with some kind of medium to long-term residence status (like a work visa or permanent resident)
   2. The child living in Japan has sufficient assets or income to support their parents
   3. The parent you want to invite is over the age of 65 => Recently it seems to have become over 75 years old.
   4. The spouse of the parent you want to invite has already passed away or is divorced
   5. There are no other siblings in the home country (if there are, you will need to prove that these siblings cannot take care of the parents.)

To invite your parents from your home country, you need to meet the above conditions. Therefore, basically, the necessary documents are documents that prove that you meet the above conditions.

Addition:

This visa is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. It’s not enough just to meet the above requirements, it is also required that the child living in Japan is in a situation where they must care for the parents. In other words, you need to prove that it is very difficult for them to live alone in their home country. It is not recognized just because you want to live together.

This is a very difficult visa to obtain.