The Immigration Services Agency released its half-year statistics on 16 October 2026. The number of foreign residents in Japan reached a record 4,281,026 at the end of June 2026, up 155,631 from the end of December 2025, while the Business Manager status lost 4,034 holders over the same six months, the only large status category to shrink.
Overstayer figures as of 1 July 2026 and first-half arrival counts were published alongside it.
Business Manager fell 8.6 per cent in six months
Holders of the Business Manager status dropped from 46,781 at the end of December 2025 to 42,747 at the end of June 2026, a fall of 4,034 or 8.6 per cent. No other status with more than 30,000 holders declined.
The revised landing criteria took effect on 16 October 2025. New applicants need paid-in capital or investment of at least ¥30 million, one full-time employee from a short list of statuses, Japanese ability at roughly CEFR B2, and a business plan checked by a licensed SME management consultant, certified public accountant or tax accountant.
If you hold the status already, the transitional measure matters more than the headline. The agency states that renewal applications filed on or before 16 October 2028 may be assessed without full compliance with the new criteria, with reviewers weighing business condition and the likelihood of future compliance. After that date, renewals are generally judged against the new criteria. Permanent residence applications must meet them, subject to the same transition. Background sits on the Business Manager visa page.
Specified Skilled Worker is within 13,253 of technical intern training
Specified Skilled Worker reached 444,256, up 53,960 or 13.8 per cent in six months. Technical Intern Training reached 457,509, up 891 or 0.2 per cent. At those rates SSW passes it well before Employment for Skill Development replaces the training programme on 1 April 2027.
Category (i) accounts for 425,961 of the SSW total and category (ii) for 18,295, the latter more than doubling from 7,955. Sector detail sits on the SSW visa page. Employment for Skill Development does not appear in these tables, because the status does not exist yet.
Indonesia, Nepal and Myanmar drove the growth
Indonesia added 41,387 residents to reach 307,456, Nepal added 33,858 to reach 334,850, and Myanmar added 29,035 to reach 211,602. The two largest groups grew far more slowly: China 941,031, up 10,603, and Vietnam 693,750, up 12,650. Brazil, at 209,550, was the only one of the top ten nationalities to fall.
Permanent residents remain the largest single status at 961,342, and Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services posted the largest gain of any work status, up 40,394 to 516,184.
Overstayers fell to 65,229, and Thailand is now the largest group
The number of people overstaying their permission was 65,229 on 1 July 2026, down 3,259 or 4.8 per cent from 68,488 on 1 January 2026. Thailand, at 10,260, overtook Vietnam, at 10,135, after Vietnam shed 1,466.
The status breakdown matters more than the nationality one. Temporary visitor accounts for 39,180 of the total, or 60 per cent, and fell by 2,427. Technical Intern Training fell 1,395 to 7,928. Two categories rose: Designated Activities, up 355 to 7,661, and Student, up 262 to 2,435. Both are held by people living in Japan rather than visiting it, which is where the risk of a quiet lapse sits.
If you live here and hold a residence card
The resident population grew 3.8 per cent in six months and the regional bureaux have not. Counters in the busiest offices are the pressure point, and the online system is the practical answer for anything it accepts. File early rather than close to expiry; see extending or renewing your status.
If you are on Designated Activities, a post-graduation job-hunting permission for instance, those are the figures that moved in the wrong direction. A permission tied to an activity you have finished does not quietly roll over.
If you are arriving as a visitor
Foreign arrivals in the first half of 2026 totalled 21,447,220, up 71,050 or 0.3 per cent on the first half of 2025. New arrivals were 19,706,953, down 21,452, of which short-term stay made up 98.2 per cent. Korea, up 19.0 per cent to 5,553,483, and Taiwan, up 21.2 per cent to 3,769,254, supplied the growth.
Cruise-ship sightseeing landing permissions fell 64.1 per cent to 281,792, which pulled the all-inclusive arrival total down 2.5 per cent. The arrival figure also counts re-entrants, the category covering residents returning from trips abroad, but the agency's summary page does not break that number out.
The end-December 2026 figures, due around March 2027, will be the first to cover a full year under the revised Business Manager criteria, and the first in which Specified Skilled Worker is likely to have passed Technical Intern Training.
Sources: ISA — Number of foreign residents, end of June 2026, ISA — Number of illegal overstayers, 1 July 2026, ISA — Foreign arrivals and Japanese departures, first half 2026, ISA — Revision of the landing criteria for the Business Manager status