2026 is the year Japan repriced immigration. Two separate reforms, four months apart, move fees that had been unchanged for decades. If you are working from a guide written before mid-2026, every number in it is wrong.
July 2026: consular visa fees
On 1 July 2026 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs raised visa issuance fees for the first time since 1978:
- Single-entry visa: from ¥3,000 to ¥15,000
- Multiple-entry visa: from ¥6,000 to ¥30,000
A fivefold increase. The stated rationale was that the fees had not moved in nearly fifty years and no longer covered the cost of processing.
The practical impact falls on nationalities that need a visa to visit Japan at all, which means the change is felt most by travellers from countries outside the 74 on the visa exemption list. Visitors from the US, the UK, the EU, Australia and Canada pay nothing, because they need no visa.
October 2026: domestic immigration fees
The larger reform takes effect on 1 October 2026 and covers applications filed inside Japan with the Immigration Services Agency.
Permanent residency: ¥10,000 to ¥200,000
A twentyfold increase, and the headline number of the whole reform. Applications accepted on or before 30 September 2026 keep the ¥10,000 fee even if the decision arrives later, which produced a visible rush of filings through the summer.
The fee is payable on approval, not on filing, so a refused application does not cost ¥200,000. It costs the months you spent preparing it.
Extensions and changes of status: scaled by period
Both currently cost a flat ¥6,000 at the counter, or ¥5,500 online. From October they move to a scale based on the period of stay actually granted:
- Three months or less: ¥10,000 either way
- 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
Two things stand out. Online filing is cheaper at every tier above three months, by ¥3,000 to ¥10,000, which is a deliberate push toward the Online Residence Application System. And the fee scales with what you are granted, not what you requested, so you find out the cost when the decision comes.
Worth noting: the ¥6,000 being replaced is itself recent. Until 1 April 2025 an extension or status change cost ¥4,000 at the counter, and permanent residency ¥8,000. October is the second increase in eighteen months, not the first in decades.
What this does to the economics of living in Japan
For someone on a one-year cycle, the annual cost of simply remaining resident goes from ¥6,000 to ¥33,000, or ¥27,000 online. Over five years of one-year renewals, that is ¥135,000 to ¥165,000 in fees where today it would be ¥30,000.
A single five-year grant costs ¥75,000, less than half the cost of five annual renewals. Longer periods of stay were always preferable; now there is a direct financial argument for them as well.
For a family, multiply everything. Each person files separately and pays separately.
Reduced fees are available to applicants in financial hardship comparable to welfare eligibility — ¥10,000 for an extension or status change, ¥20,000 for permanent residency — but must be claimed at a counter rather than online.
Beyond fees: what else is changing
The October 2026 reform is not only about money. Two related changes affect permanent residency:
- Financial standards from October 2026. Household income will be benchmarked against the national average for a comparable household over the previous five years, with pension sufficiency assessed alongside it.
- A language requirement and a revocation ground from April 2027. Applicants will generally need Japanese at roughly JLPT N2, and deliberate non-payment of taxes or social insurance becomes grounds for revoking permanent residency after it has been granted.
April 2027 also brings a stricter period-of-stay rule: applicants will generally need to hold the longest period available for their status, rather than the three years that currently suffices.
What to do about it
If permanent residency is in your plans, the timing question is now a financial one as well as a procedural one, and the direction of travel is toward higher bars rather than lower ones.
If you are renewing, file online where your category allows it, and take a longer period of stay when immigration offers one. Both save money, and a longer period is a prerequisite for a PR application from April 2027.
Where to go next
For the current fee tables in one place, see Japan Visa Fees by Category. For how the PR changes fit together, see Japan Permanent Residency.
Back to Fees & Costs.