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I'm Japanese - can I purchase JR pass?

kaoru
kaoru
over 11 years ago
2 responses

Hi ,

I am Japanese and living UK now. My partner is Spanish and I am holding resident card of a family member of a EEA national.

Am I entitle to buy JR pass? and If I am holding partner visa, not marriage visa, is it still ok to purchase it?

Many thanks,
Kaoru

avatar
mari
1950 posts
over 11 years ago
Expert

Hi there,

Yes, provided you are a Japanese with permanent residence in a country outside Japan you can purchase the JR Pass. Specifically, the rules for Japanese nationals are if you are either:

  1. qualified to permanently live in a country outside Japan or,
  2. married to a non-Japanese residing permanently in a country outside Japan

In your case you can prove via your residents card/visa that you are qualified to live permanently outside Japan so you will qualify via point 1 of the above.

Hope this helps!

kaoru
kaoru
2 posts
over 11 years ago

Hi,

Thank you for your reply,

I wonder my visa has got expire date means not permanently to qualified to live here. and also I have not officially married, just been considerd as a partner.

still ok to buy it?

avatar
mari
1950 posts
over 11 years ago
Expert

I see - if your visa is not permanent I'm afraid you will not be eligible for the JR Pass.

The rules governing Japan Rail Pass use are very strict so unfortunately you either need to be a permanent ex-pat of Japan, or married to a non-Japanese living permanently outside Japan.

I have experience of this and can say that JR is very firm on JRPass use.

I'm sorry for the bad news!


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