opening bank account with temp visa

[marianne]

hi,

i need to open a bank account here in Japan but am only on a temporary visitor visa...i'll be able to use my friend's home address but have no registration papers or anything of my own. does anyone know if this is possible?

thanks

 

[bakaKanadajin]

I do not believe this is possible. To open a bank account I think you at least need an alien card. Before your paperwork makes its way through the gears of bureaucracy you get a blue slip of paper (or at least you do in Kanagawa-ken) and this serves as proof of your residency in Japan for X-amount of time. You hand this in when getting a cell phone and bank account. I do not believe that a visitor/non-working visa entitles you to the required documentation.

 

[marianne]

yeah i don't have any kind of paperwork, documentation, registration or anything. i managed to get a prepaid phone on a visitor visa but realise a bank account will be more difficult. do you know anyone i could call to confirm? who would speak some english?

and thanks for your fast response )

(that was meant to be a smiley face at the end there)

 

[Ewok85]

You cannot open a bank account as a visitor, because your identity cannot be verified, you donnot have an address, and you have no valid (legal) reason for one. Pain in the bum eh?

The problem is you need Japanese ID with your current address on it, which means Japanese drivers licence, or Alien Registration Card. Without those, you cannot get an account.

 

[marianne]

but _i'm_ giving _them_ my money, surely i should be the one more worried? yeah i have no address and no papers. guess i'm clutching at straws...

 

[JerseyBoy]

As the previous posters already told you, the banks won't be able to open a bank account for a person without the valid ID (issued by Japanese government). In the past, it was very easy to open a bank account (for example, parents can open an account for their kids regardless of the age; now, it is virtually impossible to do so because of the new rules, which I think came about because of the US pressure after the 9/11).

 

[Ewok85]

Nothing to do with 9/11 (what?) and everything to do with identity theft.

 

[bakaKanadajin]

If you really wanna try to get something going the only bank I know of that has English services is Shinsei Bank, but I think to even talk to someone you have to enter your card number or something. But you can try them. As was stated I'm fairly sure you can't do it.

 

[Windy]

Why do you need to open a bank account?

 

[nocomment1]

Visa's make life so much easier
but sometimes can be so:? confusing

 

[nice gaijin]

I have a Shinsei bank account. You need Japanese ID. You can access your American bank account from various ATMs in Japan, if that is your concern.

 

[GaijinPunch]

Nothing to do with 9/11 (what?) and everything to do with identity theft.

Actually a lot less to do w/ identify theft and a lot more to do w/ the banks actually protecting themselves. Assuming the regulators on the banking side are just as big as *%*@#%'s as they are on the securities side, no way in hell anyone bank would allow anyone w/o kosher credentials have an account.

I was not able to get a bank account in 1996 even... I doubt you ever were w/o some type of official Japanese identification.