Permanent Residency in Japan for Spouses, Children and Long-Term Residents

Are you really eligible before you start collecting documents?

I receive many inquiries every day from foreign residents in Japan.

The single most common question is:

教えてくん

Could you please tell me what documents I need for a permanent resident application?

To be honest, this is a difficult question to answer right away. The list of “standard required documents” is already clearly written on the Immigration Services Agency website.

Before I hear the details of your personal situation, I cannot responsibly give you a more precise answer.

In fact, documents are something you can think about later.

Even if there are documents you cannot obtain, that does not necessarily mean you must give up your application. There may be:

• Alternative documents you can submit, or

• A written explanation you can prepare about why a particular document cannot be obtained.

The first and most important question is:

横山先生

Do you actually meet the legal requirements for permanent residency or not?

This article focuses on that point – going through each requirement one by one so that you can first check whether you are eligible, and then start gathering documents.

Who is this page for?

This page is specifically for foreign nationals who fall into one of the following categories:

• Spouse of a Permanent Resident

• Biological or adopted child of a Permanent Resident

• Spouse of a Japanese national

• Biological or special adopted child of a Japanese national

• Foreign nationals who currently hold a Long-Term Resident (定住者) status of residence

Except for “Long-Term Resident”, your current visa type does not matter.

For example:

• You are married to a Japanese person,

• But your current status is “Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services”.

You may still be eligible to apply for permanent residency as a “spouse of a Japanese”, even if your current status is a working visa.

Please do not give up just because the name of your current status is different.

Now, let’s go through the requirements one by one.

1. Length of Stay in Japan

(1) Spouses of Japanese, Permanent Residents, or Special Permanent Residents

You must:

• Have had a genuine marital relationship for at least 3 years, and

• Have lived in Japan continuously for at least 1 year.

This can be satisfied in either of the following ways:

• You married overseas, 3 years have passed since the marriage, and you have lived in Japan for at least 1 year after coming here; or

• You married in Japan, and 3 years have passed since the marriage.

(2) Children of Japanese, Permanent Residents, or Special Permanent Residents

You must:

• Have lived in Japan continuously for at least 1 year.

This also applies if you were:

• Born overseas, then entered Japan and have now lived here for at least 1 year; or

• Born in Japan and have lived here for at least 1 year.

Depending on the case, a child born in Japan may be able to apply directly for permanent residence without waiting 1 year, so please contact us for advice.

(3) Long-Term Residents (定住者 Teijyu-sha) – other than the above

In principle, you must:

• Have lived in Japan continuously for at least 5 years.

However, there is a special pattern:

• If you are the child of a Permanent Resident,

• Born outside Japan,

• And you now hold Long-Term Resident status,

then you may be eligible after 1 year of residence in Japan, using the rule for “children of Permanent Residents”, rather than the 5-year rule.

(4) “Continuous residence” and long trips abroad

For the most recent 1 year, you must have spent most of the time living in Japan.

For example:

• If you technically kept your visa,

• But you spent more than 6 months out of that year in your home country,

your application will usually not be approved, unless there are very special circumstances and you can explain them clearly.

2. Your Current Period of Stay Must Be “3 Years” or “5 Years”

Regardless of what type of status you have (Spouse of Japanese, Long-Term Resident, Engineer, etc.), please look at the period of stay on your residence card.

To apply for permanent residency, you normally need to hold:

• A 3-year or 5-year period of stay.

I often meet clients who say:

お客様

Immigration only gives me a one-year visa every time…

In such cases, we first work together to improve the situation so that you can obtain a 3-year period at your next renewal.

Why does Immigration only give you 1 year?

In many cases, it is because Immigration does not yet fully trust you – but the reason may simply be that:

• The documents submitted at each renewal were insufficient, and

• Your situation was not properly explained to the examiner.

This is exactly where a professional can help. Please feel free to consult us.

3. No Criminal Record

You must not have received:

• Any fine (罰金刑), or

• Any custodial sentence (imprisonment, etc.).

Minor traffic violations with only a small administrative penalty are normally not an issue, but any criminal fine or above is a serious problem for permanent residency.

4. Proper Payment of Taxes (Public Duty 1)

Japan has many different types of taxes. Foreign residents, just like Japanese citizens, are obligated to pay them. In practice, we focus on two major groups:

(A) National Taxes

Examples include:

• Withholding income tax and special income tax for reconstruction

• Self-assessed income tax and special income tax for reconstruction

• Consumption tax and local consumption tax

• Inheritance tax

• Gift tax

You can prove there is no unpaid national tax by obtaining a “Tax Payment Certificate (No. 3)” from the tax office.

The timing of payment is usually not a problem for national tax, as long as it is paid and properly declared.

Notes:

• Withholding income tax is automatically deducted from your salary by your company, so in most cases there is no issue.

• Inheritance and gift taxes only arise if you actually receive an inheritance or a gift.

• If you run your own business, you may also be subject to consumption tax.

If you are self-employed, a freelancer, or a company director/shareholder who must file a final tax return, then:

• You must not only pay the correct income tax,

• You must also file your tax return by the legal deadline.

In one real case, a foreigner’s application was refused simply because:

• Her husband filed his final income tax return two weeks late.
  Immigration explicitly stated that this late filing was the reason for refusal.

(B) Local Inhabitant Tax (住民税)

Local tax payment methods:

• Special withholding (特別徴収 Tokubetsu Choshu) – for normal employees

  • The company deducts inhabitant tax from your salary and pays it to the municipality.

  • In this case, you are very unlikely to have forgotten to pay; there is usually no problem.

• Ordinary collection (普通徴収 Futsu Choshu) – for self-employed persons, freelancers, some company directors, and in some cases employees whose companies choose this method

  • Your city/ward/town sends you a tax bill, normally 4 installments per year.

  • You must take this bill to a convenience store, bank, etc., and pay it yourself.

For permanent residency, it is crucial that:

• You pay inhabitant tax by the due date for each installment, and

• You keep all your receipts if you pay by ordinary collection.

Please never throw away your inhabitant tax receipts – they are often required at the time of application.

5. Proper Payment of Public Pension (Public Duty 2)

You must be enrolled in, and properly paying, public pension:

• Employees’ Pension (厚生年金 Kousei nenkin), or

• National Pension (国民年金 Kokumin nenkin).

Immigration will check at least the last 2 years of your pension contribution history.

If you are enrolled in social insurance through your company (Employees’ Pension):

• Usually there is no problem – your company deducts and pays it.

However, if you are a company owner (director, president):

• Immigration will also check whether your company has properly paid pension contributions.

• If the company has not paid, and you are the representative, it may be treated as your responsibility.

If you are self-employed, freelance, or not covered by Employees’ Pension, you should be in National Pension.

• If you pay automatically by bank transfer, it is usually fine.

• If you pay at a convenience store using a payment slip, the payment timing and receipt storage become very important.

A common misunderstanding:

• One case involved a husband who paid his own National Pension,

• But thought that his wife, who had no income, did not need to pay.

This is incorrect.
National Pension is individual, not a “family” contract like National Health Insurance. Each insured person must pay their own premium (unless officially exempted).

6. Proper Payment of Public Medical Insurance (Public Duty 3)

You must be enrolled in, and properly paying, public medical insurance:

• Employees’ Health Insurance (健康保険 Kenko hoken), or

• National Health Insurance (国民健康保険 Kokumin kenko hoken).

Again, Immigration checks at least the past 2 years of payments.

• If you are in company social insurance, it is usually fine.

• If you are the company owner, you bear similar responsibilities as with pension.

If you are in National Health Insurance:

• The household head pays the combined premiums for all household members.

• Payment is often done by taking the bill to a convenience store or bank.

• Please make sure you pay on time and keep the receipts.

7. Properly Fulfilling Notification Obligations to Immigration

Under the Immigration Control Act, foreign residents have various notification obligations, depending on their status.

Examples:

• If you have a spouse status (e.g. Spouse of Japanese) and you divorce, you must notify Immigration.

• If you have a working visa, you must notify Immigration when you leave your employer and when you change jobs.

• When you move to a new address, you must register your new address at the city/ward office – this is also part of your notification obligations.

If you fail to make these notifications, it may be counted as non-compliance and negatively affect your permanent residency application.

8. Having a Guarantor (身元保証人 Hoshonin)

For permanent residency, you need a guarantor in Japan.

In many cases, if your spouse or parent is:

• A Japanese national, or

• A Permanent Resident,

then that person will act as your guarantor.

A guarantor promises to:

• Encourage you to obey Japanese laws,

• Support you in meeting your public obligations (taxes, insurance, etc.),

• Provide moral and practical support as needed.

In practice, guarantor responsibility in permanent residency is limited to moral and guidance responsibility – not financial liability.

However, in permanent residency applications, Immigration will check not only your public duties, but also those of your guarantor.

For example:

• If your Japanese or Permanent Resident spouse is your guarantor,

• Immigration will examine whether they have properly paid their taxes, pension, and health insurance.

Even if you have no problems, if your spouse (guarantor) has serious non-payment or late payment issues, your application may be refused.

Immigration officers have clearly stated:

“Because spouses are in a mutual support relationship, we examine them together as one unit.”

Please be extremely careful about this point.

Additional Requirements for Long-Term Residents (定住者 Teijyusha)

If you are a Long-Term Resident (and not a spouse/child of Japanese or Permanent Resident), the following are especially important:

• Good conduct (no legal violations or serious problems), and

• Independent and stable livelihood, meaning stable income or sufficient assets to support yourself.

These are sometimes called the “good conduct” and “independent livelihood” requirements for Long-Term Residents.

The Benefits of Becoming a Permanent Resident

For Immigration, granting permanent residency is seen as the “final decision” about a foreigner’s long-term stay in Japan.

For foreign residents, obtaining Permanent Resident status is often the ultimate big milestone.

Main advantages:

• No more period of stay

  • Your residence becomes indefinite – no more renewals every 1 or 3 or 5 years.

• No restriction on activities

  • You are no longer tied to a specific category of work.

  • You can change jobs freely, start a business, or even stop working for a time, as long as you maintain a stable life and follow the law.

• Easier access to housing loans and financing

  • Many banks are more willing to offer long-term home loans or business loans to Permanent Residents.

  • This makes long-term life planning and entrepreneurship much easier.

• Security in case of divorce or bereavement

  • If you hold “Spouse of Japanese” status and divorce or your spouse passes away, you must change your status (e.g. to Long-Term Resident).

  • There is always a risk that the change application may be refused.

  • If you are a Permanent Resident, you do not need to change your status – your right to stay is much more secure.

Permanent Residency vs. Naturalization (Japanese Nationality)

Some people consider naturalization (acquiring Japanese nationality) instead of permanent residency.

However, Japan does not allow dual nationality.

To naturalize, you are required under the Nationality Act to give up your original nationality. This can create problems such as:

• Losing the right to own certain types of property in your home country,

• Losing certain inheritance rights,

• Complications with family registration back home.

For many people, especially those who want to:

• Keep property or legal rights in their home country, and

• Still build a long-term life in Japan,

the best solution is often to keep your original nationality and obtain Permanent Resident status in Japan.

Take the First Step – We Are Here to Help

As you can see, permanent residency is not only about submitting documents.
It is about:

• Understanding the legal requirements,

• Checking your actual situation against those requirements, and

• Fixing any problems (tax, pension, insurance, notifications, etc.) before you apply.

Once we confirm that:

横山先生

“Yes, you meet the requirements”,

then we can move on to:

• Deciding when to apply,

• Designing the document strategy for your case, and

• Preparing a strong application package.

If you are:

• The spouse or child of a Japanese or Permanent Resident, or

• A Long-Term Resident who has lived in Japan for several years,

and you are thinking:

お客様

“Maybe it’s time to apply for permanent residency…”

please feel free to contact us.

Let’s take the first step toward your Permanent Resident visa together –
we will support you carefully and thoroughly throughout the process.

Other Question?

Please feel free to contact us for advice!

First, please call +81-3-6264-9388 or leave a message on our website with your inquiry. (Please contact us by phone or consultation page.)

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