Money shows up in almost every Japanese immigration application, but the test is different each time. Sometimes it is a hard threshold. Sometimes it is a judgement about whether you can support yourself. Knowing which one you are facing tells you what to prepare.
Where a fixed number applies
Only a few categories publish an actual figure:
- Digital Nomad: ¥10 million in annual income from outside Japan. Hard threshold, documented with tax certificates or client contracts. See the Digital Nomad visa.
- J-Skip: ¥20 million a year for researchers and engineers, ¥40 million for business managers. This is the flat-threshold route within Highly Skilled Professional status.
- Business Manager: ¥30 million in paid-in company capital since October 2025, up from ¥5 million. See the Business Manager visa.
- Working Holiday: typically around ¥300,000 in savings, more if you have no return ticket. The figure varies by country agreement. See the Working Holiday visa.
- J-Find: around ¥200,000 in savings for graduates of highly ranked universities coming to job-hunt.
The HSP points table also scores income in bands, where more is simply worth more points rather than being pass or fail. Applicants in the academic and technical tracks generally need at least ¥3 million a year to score on income at all.
Where the test is "equivalent to a Japanese national"
Every work status carries this rule. Your pay must be at least what a Japanese national would receive doing the same job at the same company. There is no published minimum, but reviewers treat roughly ¥200,000 a month as a floor for a new graduate in an Engineer/Specialist role, and they compare offers against market rates for the position and region.
The test bites hardest at small companies, English teaching roles and internship-adjacent positions. An offer well under the local rate gets refused regardless of your qualifications.
Student applications: proving someone can pay
Student visa applications turn on funding more than anything else. Immigration wants to see that tuition and living costs are covered for the course, by you or by a named supporter.
A realistic figure for a year of study plus living costs in a major city is around ¥2 million, though schools state their own expectations. What matters as much as the balance is where it came from. A bank account that jumped from near-zero to several million yen shortly before the application triggers questions, and a weak explanation sinks the CoE. Evidence of how the money was accumulated, or of the supporter's regular income over years, does more than the balance alone.
The supporter file usually includes their income certificate, tax payment certificate, employment certificate, bank records and a letter explaining the relationship and the commitment.
Permanent residency: the standard just changed
Permanent residency has never had a published income floor. Immigration assesses whether you can maintain an independent livelihood, weighing employment stability, several years of income history, savings, and how many people depend on you.
The widely repeated figure of ¥3 million a year was never a rule. It was an approximation of what tended to succeed for a single applicant.
From October 2026 the assessment is explicitly benchmarked: household income is measured against the national average for a household of comparable size over the previous five years. Japan's 2024 average household income was around ¥5.75 million, which gives a sense of the level, though the comparison is size-adjusted. Pension sufficiency is assessed alongside it, and financial assets can offset a shortfall in income.
Two practical consequences. A single high-earning year does not fix a weak five-year record. And a household with several dependants is measured against a higher bar than a single applicant, which is the opposite of how many people assume it works.
Tax and pension payments are a financial test too
For permanent residency and for extensions, immigration checks not just that you paid but that you paid on time. Late payments are assessed negatively even when the balance is cleared before you apply. This trips up people who were enrolled in the National Pension but paid in irregular lumps.
If your record is untidy, the practical answer is to get current and then accumulate two or three clean years before filing.
Documents that prove income in Japan
Four documents do most of the work, obtained from your city or ward office and your employer:
- 課税証明書 (kazei shomeisho), the taxation certificate, showing your declared income for a given year
- 納税証明書 (nozei shomeisho), the tax payment certificate, showing what you actually paid and when
- 源泉徴収票 (gensen choshuhyo), your employer's annual withholding statement
- 在職証明書 (zaishoku shomeisho), confirmation of current employment
Most applications ask for the last three to five years of the first two. Order them early; some offices take several days and older years may need a separate request.
Where to go next
For the income rules specific to each category, start at Visa Types. For the full permanent residency picture, see Japan Permanent Residency.
Back to Eligibility & Requirements.