Extending your period of stay is the routine administrative task of living in Japan on a residence status. You keep the same status of residence and ask for more time on it. The formal name is Application for Extension of Period of Stay (在留期間更新許可申請), and it is filed at an immigration bureau in Japan.
Most extensions are granted without incident. The ones that go wrong usually do so for reasons the applicant could have addressed months earlier.
When to file
You can apply from three months before your period of stay expires. File early in that window rather than late.
The reason is not just processing time, though two weeks to a month is typical. It is that if immigration comes back asking for additional documents, you need room to answer without your status lapsing. Someone who files three weeks before expiry and then receives a document request is in a much worse position than someone who filed in month one.
If your period of stay expires while a properly filed application is still under review, you may generally remain in Japan under the same conditions for up to two months while a decision is made. Treat that as a cushion, not a schedule.
What you file
- Application for Extension of Period of Stay
- Passport and residence card
- A photograph to specification
- Certificate of employment (在職証明書) for a work status, or a certificate of enrolment for a student
- Income certificate (課税証明書) and tax payment certificate (納税証明書)
- The withholding statement from your employer (源泉徴収票)
- For family statuses, documents showing the relationship continues
Many extensions can now be filed through the Online Residence Application System rather than in person.
How the period granted is decided
You do not get to choose. Immigration decides the length, and the factors are consistent:
- How long you have been in Japan and how clean your record is
- The stability of your employer, and which of the four company categories it falls into
- Whether your taxes and social insurance are paid, and paid on time
- Whether your circumstances have changed since the last grant
First extensions often come back at one year. Longer grants of three and five years follow as the record builds. A five-year grant is a signal that immigration considers your situation settled.
The length matters beyond convenience. From 1 April 2027, a permanent residency application generally requires you to hold the longest period of stay available for your status. If you are on rolling one-year grants, getting to three and then five years is a prerequisite for PR rather than a nicety.
Fees are changing substantially
An extension currently costs ¥6,000 flat at the counter, or ¥5,500 online, whatever period you are granted. That has been the amount since 1 April 2025, when it rose from ¥4,000.
Applications accepted on or before 30 September 2026 keep it. From 1 October 2026 the fee scales with the period granted:
- Three months or less: ¥10,000
- Over three to six months: ¥18,000 in person, ¥15,000 online
- Over six months to under one year: ¥25,000 in person, ¥21,000 online
- One year: ¥33,000 in person, ¥27,000 online
- Over one to under three years: ¥48,000 in person, ¥42,000 online
- Three to under five years: ¥64,000 in person, ¥56,000 online
- Five years: ¥75,000 in person, ¥65,000 online
The fee is based on the period actually granted, not the one you asked for, and it is payable on approval. Online filing saves money at every tier above three months. Reduced fees of ¥10,000 are available to applicants in financial hardship, claimed at a counter rather than online. See 2026 Fee Changes.
Why extensions get refused
- You are no longer doing the activity your status covers. An Engineer/Specialist holder who has been working in a role outside the permitted categories is the classic case.
- Unpaid or late tax and pension. Increasingly the decisive factor, and it is checked directly against the records.
- Your employer has become unstable, or you have left and not found a new job in the same field.
- Your circumstances changed and you did not report it. Changing employer, changing address, marriage and divorce all carry 14-day notification requirements.
If you are between jobs, immigration takes a dim view of extended unemployment on a work status. Three months without activity is generally the point at which a status can be revoked, so keep them informed and move quickly.
Keeping the record clean
The things that make extensions easy are done over years, not at filing time: pay every tax and pension bill on the due date, report every change within 14 days, stay within the activity your status permits, and keep your residence card address current. None of it is difficult, and all of it is checked.
Where to go next
To move to a different category rather than extend, see Changing Your Status of Residence. To stop renewing altogether, see Japan Permanent Residency.
Back to How to Apply.