Japan raises fee for permanent residence applications from October
Foreign residents will also face tiered counter charges of up to 75,000 yen when changing their status or extending their period of stay.
- The application fee for permanent residence in Japan will increase from 10,000 yen to 200,000 yen starting in October.
- The new fee is set by a government ordinance under the revised Immigration Control Act, which allows for a maximum fee of up to 300,000 yen.
- A reduced fee of 20,000 yen is available for applicants who face financial hardship and meet certain humanitarian criteria, such as caring for a child of a Japanese national.
Foreign nationals seeking permanent residence in Japan will pay 200,000 yen from October, compared with 10,000 yen at present.
Fees for changing a status of residence or extending a period of stay will meanwhile rise as high as 75,000 yen.
The new rates are set out in an ordinance adopted by the government on Tuesday (August 25).
For applications made at administrative office counters, they replace the current single charge of 6,000 yen.
Charges at those counters will depend on the length of permission granted.
Permission covering five years or more will carry a 75,000-yen fee, with 64,000 yen charged for three years to under five years.
The respective amounts for one year and no more than three months will be 33,000 yen and 10,000 yen.
Enacted in May, the revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act caps change-of-status and period-extension charges at 100,000 yen and permanent residence fees at 300,000 yen.
The legislation leaves the actual amounts to be set by ordinance.
Public feedback resulted in a wider group qualifying for reductions.
The Immigration Services Agency’s initial guidelines provided for rates of 10,000 yen in temporary-stay cases and 20,000 yen for permanent residence, but only when both requirements were met.
Applicants had to face financial hardship at a level equivalent to that of welfare recipients under the Public Assistance Act and be considered in need of humanitarian consideration.
The humanitarian category was later broadened to cover foreign nationals solely responsible for the care and upbringing of biological children of Japanese nationals or special permanent residents.
It also applies when denying permission to remain would be considered inhumane.
Special permanent residents are people who have lived in Japan since before the Second World War and lost Japanese citizenship after the war, together with their descendants.
