/// 08 · MAINTENANCE  ·  TOKYO --:--:-- JST

/// 08 · MAINTENANCE  ·  維持

Renew, report,
never slip.

Getting in is one fight. Staying — renewals, taxes, pension, address changes, re-entry permits — is the quiet one nobody warns you about.

The throughline Staying in Japan comes down to four habits: pay your tax, pay your pension, keep your insurance, and keep every notification current. Do those on time and renewals are routine. Skip them and you put your status, and from 2027 even permanent residence, at risk. This page is the keeping-it playbook, not the route-picking one. Confirm anything here against the Immigration Services Agency (出入国在留管理庁) before you act.
RENEWALS01 · ON TIME, CLEAN

Apply before your period of stay expires

Your residence status has an expiry date printed on the card. You can file the extension (在留期間更新) from about three months ahead, and in 2026 you should file on the first day you can. Processing has slowed: Tokyo is running roughly two to four months on a standard renewal, longer for complex cases. File late and you risk falling out of status entirely.

The paperwork is a short, repeatable list. Pull the tax and income proof fresh, most must be issued within the last three months.

  • 01Tax certificates from your city hall: 課税証明書 (taxation) and 納税証明書 (payment). These show you earned and actually paid.
  • 02Proof of employment or income: a contract, a company letter, or recent payslips.
  • 03The application form, a photo, your residence card, and your passport.
  • 04If a third party files for you, a gyoseishoshi (administrative scrivener) such as Oak Immigration Services can package it.

The rule On time and clean equals routine. A messy or late file is what turns a renewal into a fight.

CARD DUTIES02 · 14-DAY CLOCK

Carry the card. Report a move in 14 days

Your residence card (在留カード) is your legal ID. Carry it at all times. Police can ask to see it, and not having it on you is an offence.

Move within the same city and you file a change-of-address notice (転居届) within 14 days. Move to a new city and you first collect a moving-out certificate (転出証明書) from the old one, then file a moving-in notice (転入届) at the new city hall within 14 days. They write the new address on the back of the card on the spot. Miss the window and you can be fined, and the gap shows up at renewal time.

Leaving the country short-term? Use the special re-entry permit (みなし再入国): tick the box on the departure card and you can re-enter within one year with no extra permit and no fee. Two catches. You must be back within one year of departure, and if your period of stay ends sooner, you must return before it expires, whichever comes first. Planning to be out longer than a year needs a full re-entry permit before you go.

Heads up From June 2026, new and renewing applicants start getting the integrated 特定在留カード, which merges your residence card and My Number card into one. The duties are the same.

PERMANENT RESIDENCE03 · 永住

The long road to 永住

Permanent residence (永住) drops the renewal treadmill and the job-tied status. You stay a foreigner, you keep your passport, but you no longer re-apply every few years. The standard bar is real residence in Japan for about ten years, with at least five of those on a work or qualifying status.

There are faster lanes if you qualify:

  • 01Highly Skilled Professional, 70+ points on the official table: apply after three years.
  • 02Highly Skilled Professional, 80+ points: apply after just one year.
  • 03Spouse of a Japanese national or permanent resident: roughly three years of genuine marriage plus one year living in Japan.

Non-negotiable Whatever the lane, a clean tax and pension record is mandatory. Immigration pulls your payment history and gaps sink the application. ACROSEED and similar firms run free point self-checks if you want to test your timeline.

NATURALIZATION04 · 帰化

Citizenship is a different door

永住 (PR)You keep your nationality and passport. You stay a registered foreigner with a residence card. No vote, but a settled, near-permanent status.
帰化 (Naturalization)You become Japanese. Your residence status ends, you get a Japanese passport and the vote, and Japan generally makes you renounce your other citizenship. It is a Ministry of Justice decision, not an immigration one.

As of April 2026 the screening practice tightened. The five-year line is still in the Nationality Act, but reviewers now look for about ten years of residence history, five years of tax records, and two years of social-insurance payments before they say yes.

Who this hits Long-termers deciding between a Japanese passport and keeping the one they have. Most start with PR and decide on naturalization later.

WHAT PULLS YOUR STATUS05 · NEW RISK

Even 永住 can be revoked now

BeforeOnce granted, permanent residence was treated as permanent. Unpaid tax was a tax problem, not an immigration one.
From Apr 2027Under the revised Immigration Act (passed June 2024), permanent residence can be pulled for wilfully skipping taxes or social-insurance premiums, or for certain criminal penalties. Only malicious cases are targeted; illness and genuine hardship are excluded. Around 918,000 PR holders sit under the new rule.

It is not only PR. From June 2027, Japan plans to deny visa renewals and status changes to residents who have not paid National Health Insurance and National Pension, with municipal records wired into the immigration database via My Number. And working outside what your status allows is its own fast way to lose it, see SHIFT for how the lines moved.

Who this hits Permanent and long-term residents who let payments slide, and anyone earning off-status.

THE FOUR HABITS06 · KEEP IT

Pay, pay, insure, notify

Strip away the detail and staying legal is four standing habits. Run them on autopilot and renewals, PR, and naturalization all stay open to you. Drop one and you start closing doors.

  • 01Pay your tax. The 課税/納税証明書 are your receipt, and immigration reads them.
  • 02Pay your pension. National Pension runs about ¥17,920 (about $120) a month in FY2026 if you are not on an employer plan. From 2027 it is tied to your visa.
  • 03Keep your insurance. National Health Insurance is mandatory and, from 2027, checked at renewal.
  • 04Keep your notifications current. Address, employer, and status changes filed on time, every time.

The point The big approvals are not won at the counter. They are won by years of quiet, on-time upkeep before you ever apply.

INTEL07 · DURING YOUR STAY

Stay plugged in

Staying legal is the spine of a long stay. Staying current is the rest of it. These are the English-language hubs foreigners keep open for years: budget tips, news, culture, and the broad how-to portals. Bookmark a few and daily life in Japan gets easier to read.

Recommended

GaijinPot

The most comprehensive English-language hub for living in Japan — the deeper, robust version of the playbook you just read. Jobs, apartments, language study, visa and how-to guides, news and an active community, all under one roof. If you keep one site bookmarked for the years after you land, make it this one.

  • Jobs board built for foreigners — English-friendly roles and visa-sponsor filters
  • Apartment listings that rent to non-Japanese, minus the guarantor headache
  • A deep library of how-to guides: visas, taxes, health insurance, daily life
  • Study support: language schools, courses and the GaijinPot Study placement service
  • English news, city guides and an active community forum for real answers
Visit GaijinPot →
Tokyo CheapoHow to live well in Tokyo for less. Transport hacks, cheap eats, deals, and the budget angle on everything.→ The Japan TimesThe country's oldest and largest English-language daily. The default for national news in English.→ Time Out TokyoWhat is on, where to eat, and what to do this weekend. The events-and-culture radar for the city.→ Tokyo WeekenderRunning since 1970, the city's oldest English lifestyle magazine. Culture, food, interviews and long reads.→