What if renewing your right to stay in a country cost an entire month's salary? Starting in October, foreign residents in Japan will face exactly that.
Japan's Immigration Services Agency, under the Ministry of Justice, will raise fees for renewing residency status for 2.91 million foreign residents, the Tokyo Shimbun reported on the 27th. The figure covers all 4.12 million foreign residents in Japan as of the end of last year, excluding 940,000 permanent residents and 260,000 special permanent residents. The fee had been a flat 6,000 yen (about 52,000 won) regardless of the length of stay, but will now be divided into seven tiers and charged at different rates.
Fees Reach 75,000 Yen for Stays of Five Years or More
The increases grow in proportion to the length of stay. Stays of three months or less will cost 10,000 yen (about 87,000 won), while stays of five years or more will jump 12.5-fold to 75,000 yen (about 650,000 won). The increase for permanent residency permits is steeper, rising 20-fold from 10,000 yen to 200,000 yen (about 1.73 million won). The new fees take effect on October 1, and with roughly 300,000 foreigners obtaining new residency status each year, the burden is expected to be considerable.
Some are already voicing concern about the impact. A Myanmar-born man in his 40s said the fee exceeds his take-home monthly pay of 200,000 yen, calling it "a really heavy blow." A member of the Rohingya minority, he fled persecution to Japan and was recognized as a refugee in 2022. For a family of three including his child, the renewal fee charged every five years had been 18,000 yen, but will rise to 225,000 yen (about 1.95 million won) from October.
He wants to switch to permanent resident status, which requires no renewal, but that is effectively out of reach because the Immigration Services Agency plans to require annual income above that of an average Japanese household.
Civic groups have also expressed concern. Yamagishi Motoko, secretary-general of the Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan, said it is a problem for the government to push through the policy while ignoring objections from those affected, given that it is sharply raising fees that foreign residents in Japan cannot avoid. She added that the change could instead increase the number of people staying without proper status, as some will be unable to afford the fees.
Higher Bar for Permanent Residency
The fee increase is tied to tougher screening for permanent residency. The Immigration Services Agency is moving to revise its permanent residency guidelines to require applicants to have income above the average Japanese household and expected future pension benefits above a certain level.
Japan's average household income was 5.752 million yen (about 49.93 million won) as of 2024, though it has not been decided whether that figure will be used as the actual screening threshold. Holdings of savings and other financial assets that could make up for insufficient expected pension benefits are also expected to come under review.
Japanese language ability, understanding of everyday rules, and whether children of compulsory school age are enrolled in school are also likely to be included in the assessment. Authorities are also considering tightening the special provisions on marriage and length of stay that have applied to spouses of Japanese nationals and permanent residents.
Behind the changes is a rising number of foreign residents. At the end of last year, Japan had 4.12 million foreign residents, about 1.5 times the figure at the end of 2021. The Japanese government is even considering setting a cap on the share of foreign residents in the population, and plans to draw up a basic policy in March next year.
