Japan's Immigration Services Agency opened a public comment procedure on 29 October 2026 on a draft ministerial ordinance that would add a question about willingness to obey Japanese law to the record foreign nationals submit when they apply to land. The agency plans to promulgate the amendment in December 2026 and bring it into force in January 2027, and is accepting comments until 27 November 2026.
The case is numbered 315000150 on e-Gov. It amends the Regulation for Enforcement of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act under article 6(2) of the Act, which governs the landing application, and article 14-2(1) and (2), on permission to land for cruise ship sightseeing.
The question that would be added
The agency's summary sets out the new item in full. On the front of the form, a new item 4 would read 「日本の法令遵守の意思の有無」, recording whether the applicant intends to comply with Japanese law. On the reverse, where the questions are put to the traveller, item 4 would read 「あなたは、日本の法令を遵守する意思はありますか？」, asking whether the person intends to comply with Japanese law.
The agency gives its reason as rising visitor numbers alongside reports of some foreign nationals acting outside Japanese laws and rules, and says the answer would be checked as part of the landing decision. It does not say what an inspector would do with a negative answer, and the draft attaches no criterion to the new item.
Three forms, one explanation
The draft ordinance replaces three annex forms: form 6, form 6-2 and form 17-2. The published summary explains only form 6.
Under article 5(1) of the enforcement regulation, form 6 is the 外国人入国記録, the arrival card. Form 6-2 is the version submitted instead by people holding a re-entry permit issued under article 26(1) of the Act, and by holders of a refugee travel document. Form 17-2 is the application for permission to land for cruise ship sightseeing, prescribed by article 13-2(1) of the regulation.
Two of the three forms are not described anywhere in the material published with it.
If you are arriving as a visitor
Short-stay visitors are the group the arrival card is built around. The agency asks all foreign nationals making a new entry to submit the 外国人入国記録, and the electronic version filled in through Visit Japan Web stands in for the paper card where eligible.
Nothing changes at the border yet. A traveller arriving in November 2026 will fill in the current card. If the schedule holds, the question would appear on cards used from some point in January 2027, and the agency has not published a specific day within that month.
If you live here and hold a residence card
The position depends on how you leave Japan, and the notice does not spell it out.
If you depart on an ordinary re-entry permit under article 26(1), your landing record on return is form 6-2, one of the three forms this ordinance replaces. The agency has not published what the replacement version contains.
If you depart on deemed re-entry permission under article 26-2, which is what most short trips run on, article 5(1) names only article 26(1) permit holders and refugee travel document holders as users of form 6-2, and neither the draft nor its summary mentions deemed re-entry. The agency's guidance already excludes re-entry, deemed re-entry included, from the Visit Japan Web electronic route, so that group is on paper either way.
Deemed re-entry permission itself is untouched by this draft. It still requires a valid passport and, for mid-to-long-term residents, the residence card, plus ticking the temporary-departure box on the re-entry record and telling the inspector at departure.
What to raise if you comment
Three gaps are worth raising: whether the question will appear on form 6-2 and reach residents returning from a trip, what follows from a negative answer, and the exact date in January 2027.
Comments are accepted from 29 October 2026 and must arrive by 27 November 2026. The e-Gov form stays open until 28 November 2026 at 00:00, which is the end of 27 November, not an extra day. Email goes to nyukan74@moj.go.jp with the subject パブリックコメント（外国人入国記録等に関する省令案について）, as plain body text with no attachments or links. Post goes to 〒100-8973 東京都千代田区霞が関1-1-1, 出入国在留管理庁参事官室, marked in red with the same wording. Submissions must be in Japanese, give reasons, and carry a name, address and contact details, or a corporate name and location.
The promulgated ordinance, expected in December 2026, is where the replacement text of forms 6-2 and 17-2 will finally be visible.
Sources: e-Gov — case 315000150, ISA — 改正の概要, ISA — 意見募集要領, ISA — 省令案, Regulation for Enforcement of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, ISA — 外国人入国記録の提出, ISA — みなし再入国許可