Permanent Resident Visa

Permanent residency (永住許可) is the most stable immigration status available to foreign nationals in Japan. It grants the right to live and work in Japan indefinitely, in any occupation, without restriction or the need to renew a work permit. For the hundreds of thousands of long-term foreign residents in Japan, obtaining permanent residency represents the culmination of years of life-building in the country.

The standard pathway requires 10 years of continuous residence in Japan, with at least 5 of those years spent on a work or other qualifying visa. Throughout this period, applicants must demonstrate consistent compliance with Japanese law, including regular payment of income tax, residence tax, health insurance, and pension contributions. Japan's immigration authorities conduct a thorough review of an applicant's tax and social insurance records, and any gaps or non-payment can result in rejection.

Accelerated pathways exist for spouses of Japanese nationals or permanent residents (3 years of marriage + 1 year of residence; 5 + 3 years for applications filed from 1 April 2027), recipients of Highly Skilled Professional status (1–3 years depending on points score), and individuals who have made recognized contributions to Japan in fields such as academia, business, diplomacy, or culture. Permanent residency, once obtained, provides the freedom and stability to truly put down roots in Japan, and represents the most significant milestone on the path toward making Japan a permanent home.

The guideline revised on 1 October 2026

The Immigration Services Agency published a rewritten permanent residence guideline on 1 October 2026. It applies to applications filed from 1 April 2027; the household-income standard and the "not a public burden" check also apply to applications filed from 1 April 2026 that were still pending on 1 October 2026.

• Spouses: 5 years of genuine marriage + 3 years in Japan (was 3 + 1), for spouses of Japanese nationals, permanent residents and special permanent residents. Their children: 3 years in Japan (was 1).
• Longest period of stay: you must hold the longest period of stay for your current status. A 3-year stay counts only for applications filed by 31 March 2027 — or, after that, for a first application by someone who held that 3-year stay on 31 March 2027 and is decided before it expires. After that, most statuses need a 5-year stay (Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services, Business Manager, Spouse of Japanese National, Spouse of Permanent Resident, Long-Term Resident and others); for Specified Skilled Worker (ii) the longest is 3 years, and Highly Skilled Professional (i) is always granted 5 years.
• Work years: Technical Intern Training, Employment for Skill Development, Specified Skilled Worker (i), Intra-company Transferee and some Designated Activities do not count as work status for the 5-year part.
• Household income: continuously above the average income of Japanese households of the same size; dependants abroad count in the household size, and income of family members on non-work statuses (such as Dependent) is not added. The guideline gives no yen figure.

Reference: average income of Japanese households (government statistics)

Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions 2025, income table 36 (income for 2024, published 15 July 2026). This is not the agency's threshold — it has published no amount and says it refers to this survey, the Family Income and Expenditure Survey and the private-sector salary survey. "Income" here is pre-tax household income including pensions and property income; one-person households include many pensioners, which pulls that average down. Dependants abroad count in your household size.

• Pension: your projected pension should reach what 30 years of employees' pension on average pay would give, or you need savings to cover the gap (a lower amount the younger you are).

Reference: projected pension (our estimate)

How we estimated it: the full basic pension for fiscal 2026 (¥847,300 a year) × 30/40 years, plus the earnings-related part = average monthly pay × 5.481/1000 × 360 months, assuming the household income in the table above is all salary and stays the same for 30 years. For a couple, the spouse's basic pension for the same 30 years as a category 3 insured person is added, as the guideline does. The agency has published no pension amount — this is only an order of magnitude. Incomes for households of 3 or more reach the cap on pensionable pay (¥650,000 a month at present), so the result depends on how pay and bonuses are split; we don't list them.

• Japanese: B1 level of the Japanese Language Education Reference Framework. Not required of Highly Skilled Professionals and their families, people with 6+ years of primary or secondary schooling in Japan, or Japan-born children of permanent residents whose parent has B1. For reference, JLPT score reports show a CEFR level since the December 2025 test: B1 is N3 with a total of 104 or more, or N2 with 90–111 (N2 at 112+ is B2). The agency has not said which tests it will accept.
• Japan's rules: a check of your knowledge of Japan's systems and rules, based on the government's living and working guidebook, by a method the agency will set.
• Children: school-age children must attend elementary or junior high school.
• Time abroad: in the 10 years before applying, a single absence of 6 months or more, or 2 years 6 months in total, without a good reason counts against you.
• Records: past tax or social-insurance arrears and past breaches of Immigration Act duties count against you even if fixed since; for spouses and children, being a burden on public assistance without special circumstances can count against you.

Unchanged: the 10-year rule, the Long-Term Resident (5 years), refugee (5 years) and contribution (5 years) routes, and the HSP fast track (3 years at 70 points, 1 year at 80). The application fee rose to ¥200,000 on 1 October 2026.