Permanent residency

This article is about the "Permanent Resident" status of residence. All foreign nationals in Japan are required to have a status of residence under the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act. Japanese nationals do not hold a status of residence, so this article only applies to individuals who do not have Japanese nationality.

The Immigration Services Agency has official guidelines for permanent residency, provided in Japanese with automatic machine translation into various languages.

• Guidelines
• Application requirements

For the application requirements, pay particular attention to the links in the "Required documents" section that list all the documents depending on your residency status. The machine translation is not accurate, so make sure to check the Japanese version for the accurate document names.

Considerations

Permanent Residency is beneficial for three main reasons:

1. There is no restriction on how long you can live in Japan.
2. There are no restrictions on your lifestyle.
3. Permission is granted to you personally, compared to other statuses of residence which are tied to an occupation, spouse, etc.

Even though the status of residency has no expiration date, you can lose it if you stay out of Japan for too long. Specifically, this is easy to do if you stay out of Japan for more than one year while using a Special Re-entry Permission, which cannot be renewed. Consider purchasing regular Re-entry Permission if you are planning to be abroad for a prolonged period. Further detail on re-entry permits and special re-entry permits can be found on this wiki.

If your status of residence is currently employment-based, obtaining a personal status like Permanent Residency (or Spouse) makes you eligible for the exit tax.

Like all statuses of residence, permanent residency is permission, not a right, to reside in Japan as a foreigner. Permission can lapse or be revoked, unlike naturalisation, which gives the holder a right to reside in Japan as a citizen.

Eligibility

10 years of continuous residence

Normally you need to live in Japan as a resident for 10 consecutive years to be eligible to apply for permanent residency permission.

There are a number of exceptions to this rule, listed in the official guidelines linked above. Specifically, exceptions exist for:

• 1 year: Spouses or children of Japanese nationals, permanent residents, and special permanent residents (spouses must have been married for 3 years)
• 1 year (or 3 years): Highly-skilled professional according to the points-based system
• 5 years: Recognised refugees
• 5 years: Applicants with the "Long-Term Resident" status of residence
• 5 years: Recognized as contributing to Japan in the fields of diplomacy, society, economy, culture, etc.

Currently have a 3+ year period of stay

This does not necessarily have to be on the same status of residence. The application guidelines initially refer to the 'longest possible period of stay', but then the following clarification is buried towards the end:

With this guideline, applicants will be treated as "residing in Japan with the longest possible period of stay" as stated in section 1, 3 (c) if they have a period of stay of "three years."

Applying as a highly-skilled professional via the points-based system

It is possible to apply via the points-based system to reduce the number of consecutive years of residency required to apply from 10 years to 3 years (for 70 points) or 1 year (for 80 points).

It is not necessary to have a Highly Skilled Professional status of residence to apply via the point system. If you have a different status of residence, you can still apply if you have had the required number of points for 1 or 3 years. You must supply two point calculation forms: one for the present, one for 1 or 3 years earlier, along with all documentary evidence for both forms certifying the number of points you have now, and the number of points you had 1 or 3 years ago.

If you do have the Highly Skilled Professional status of residence, you still need to submit a current point calculation form with documentary evidence. However, for the past point calculation form, for documentary evidence it is sufficient to submit the certificate that was issued by the immigration office that certifies the number of points you had when you were granted the Highly Skilled Professional status of residence. Because of this, it is simpler to apply via the points system if you already have a Highly Skilled Professional status of residence, but it is not a requirement.

Designated employer

There are two kinds Highly-Skilled Professional status of residence, types (i) and (ii). Type (i) only allows you to work for the employer that was designated at the time of application. You can only convert to type (ii) after first attaining type (i). Other statuses of residence, such as Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services, do not have this employer restriction. It is worth considering this if you are thinking of getting the Highly Skilled Professional status of residence as a stepping-stone to permanent residency, because changing employer while holding a type (i) status will require that you re-apply for the Highly-Skilled Professional status of residence in respect of your new employer.

It's also worth noting that type (ii) is similar to permanent residency, in that there is no expiration of duration of stay. This may be beneficial for those who are enjoying some of the privileges of the Highly-Skilled Professional status of residence, and also may prevent exposure to the exit tax. However, it is not equivalent to permanent residency because you must continue to fulfil the requirements of being a highly-skilled professional to remain in Japan. Ceasing to do so for 6 months may result in the status of residence being revoked.

Applying as a spouse of a Japanese national, permanent resident or special permanent resident

The basic time-related criteria are:

• Resided in Japan for 1 year or more
• Been married for 3 years or more
• Currently possess a 'period of stay' of 3 years or more (see #Eligibility section above).

Other points of note:

• The spouse of the applicant will ordinarily act as the guarantor.
• Late pension payments on behalf of spouse in the last 2 years can be grounds for rejection, see https://www.retirejapan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=17541#p17541

Residence card: validity and renewal

The residence card is valid for 7 years from the date of issue, or until the individual's 16th birthday if the individual is under 16. Renewal is straightforward and free, and is primarily to update your photograph. Application for renewal can ordinarily be made from 2 months before the expiration date, or from 6 months before the expiration date in the case of a residence cards which expire on the holder's 16th birthday. Earlier applications may be accepted if there are unavoidable reasons making it difficult to apply within the usual application period such as business trips or periods of studying abroad.

For more information see the application page from the Immigration Services Agency.

Residency for tax purposes

Permanent residency is a status of residence and should not be confused with residency for tax purposes. An individual with a resident status of permanent residency may or may not be a 'resident other than non-permanent resident' for tax purposes, and an individual without the residency status of permanent residency could be a 'resident other than non-permanent resident' for tax purposes.

Documents: notes and links

Applicants should thoroughly check the official application requirements as they vary according to circumstances and may change over time.

This section of the wiki includes links to English information about some of the documents required for some applicants. The aim is to give guidance in English beyond that which is available on the official guidelines, including what the document is (with visuals if possible) and how to obtain it.

• Tax payment certificates (and in particular, 納税証明書（その3))

• See Nenkin net for guidance on how to access and print pension records