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The Immigration Services Agency issued the revised permanent residence guidelines and new revocation guidelines on 1 October 2026; most of the text applies from 1 April 2027, but the income and public-burden provisions reach applications already filed.
The Immigration Services Agency's end-June 2026 figures put Specified Skilled Worker residents at a record, with food service at 98.1 per cent of a ceiling that has been closed to new entrants since 13 April 2026.
From 1 October the fee for a renewal or status change is not only larger but paid differently, and the online route carries a settlement surcharge the hardship reduction cannot reach.
The education ministry and the Immigration Services Agency have asked language schools to point students at tests other than the JLPT, after the December sitting in Japan closed early for lack of seats.
Narita's two largest terminals began joint immigration-customs kiosk operations on 24 September. The customs half applies to residence card holders in full; the immigration half does not work the same way.
The Immigration Services Agency warned on 24 September about fraudulent emails demanding residence application fees, days before online applicants start paying by convenience store or bank transfer.
Applications accepted on or before 30 September keep the current fees. From 1 October a renewal costs between ¥10,000 and ¥75,000, and permanent residence goes to ¥200,000.
The government presented a plan on 9 September to open the aviation field to Ikusei Shuro. The programme's overall ceiling does not move, so the new field draws on the existing allocation.
The Immigration Services Agency published a reinforced Zero Overstayers package at the end of August, while figures showed nearly 1,000 Business Manager visa holders left Japan in the first half of 2026.
The Immigration Services Agency published the new fee schedule in late August. A flat ¥6,000 renewal becomes a scale running to ¥75,000, and permanent residence goes from ¥10,000 to ¥200,000.
The Immigration Services Agency opened consultation in August on two documents: revised permanent residence approval guidelines, and the first guidelines on when permanent residence can be revoked.
The Justice Ministry published a new Basic Plan for Immigration Control in July — the document that frames immigration policy for the years ahead, including JESTA by 2028.
Reports in late July set out the government's intended permanent residence criteria — household income above the national average, pension equivalent to 30 years of enrolment, and a language test.
A Justice Ministry project team set out in July how a structured programme teaching Japanese and the country's rules would work — the mechanism behind January's panel recommendation.
Japan's international tourist tax went from ¥1,000 to ¥3,000 on 1 July, the same day consular visa fees rose five-fold. Both are charged on top of the fare.
Consular visa fees go to about ¥15,000 for a single-entry visa and ¥30,000 for a multiple-entry visa from 1 July 2026, the first revision since 1978.
From 14 June 2026 mid- to long-term residents can apply for a single card combining residence card and My Number card functions. It is optional, and there are reasons to think about it.
Japan signed a memorandum of cooperation with Thailand on the Ikusei Shuro programme in June, part of the bilateral groundwork that has to be in place before the 2027 start.
The Diet passed the immigration bill on 29 May. It creates Japan's electronic travel authorisation system and lifts the statutory ceiling on residence procedure fees to ¥300,000.
A run of Immigration Services Agency notices in late May covered the new residence card design, photo rules for children, Specified Skilled Worker reporting, and the questions the agency is fielding most on keiei kanri.
Six months after Japan raised the capital and staffing bar for the Business Manager visa, a survey of foreign entrepreneurs shows how many are struggling to requalify at renewal.
From 15 April 2026 applicants for Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services status must show Japanese-language proficiency. The status covers more than 475,000 people.
The Immigration Services Agency released the operating manual for Ikusei Shuro, the programme replacing technical intern training from April 2027, along with revised standards for two Specified Skilled Worker sectors.
From 1 April 2026 the residence period required to apply for Japanese nationality doubled from five years to ten, the first substantial change to the test in decades.
The Immigration Services Agency's end-2025 figures put the foreign resident population at 4,125,395 — up 9.5% in a year, and the first time the total has cleared four million.
The cabinet endorsed a bill in early March establishing a Japanese electronic travel authorisation for visa-exempt travellers, alongside a sharp rise in the statutory fee ceiling.
The Immigration Services Agency revised how it assesses permanent residence applications in late February, putting more weight on tax, pension and public-charge conduct.
The Immigration Services Agency's preliminary count of foreign arrivals and Japanese departures for 2025 sets the baseline for this year's border policy arguments.
A late-January policy package points at zero illegal overstays, land purchase rules, expanded language education and a possible cap on the foreign share of the population.
A government expert panel's final report in January 2026 recommended structured language and civics learning for foreign residents, and floated tying it to long-term status.
The Future Creation Individual (J-Find) route lets graduates of highly ranked universities job-hunt in Japan for up to two years. The qualifying list was refreshed in January 2026.
Worker intake targets, a naturalisation review and a fee overhaul were all settled before the year began. Here is what foreign residents in Japan should expect in 2026.