Almost every problem people have with Japanese immigration paperwork starts here. "Visa" in everyday English means the right to live in a country. In Japanese law it means something much narrower, and the thing that actually governs your life in Japan is called something else.
Two different documents, two different ministries
A visa (查証) is issued by a Japanese embassy or consulate abroad, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is a sticker in your passport that lets you board a plane and present yourself at a Japanese port of entry. It is checked once, at the border, and then it has done its job. Your visa is spent on arrival.
A status of residence (在留資格) is granted by the Immigration Services Agency, under the Ministry of Justice, when you actually land or when you change status from inside Japan. It determines what you may do, how long you may stay, and whether you can work. It is what appears on your residence card, and it is what you renew.
So "my visa expires in March" is almost always wrong. Your period of stay expires in March. The visa expired the day you walked through immigration at Narita.
Why this matters in practice
Three situations where the distinction stops being pedantic:
- Renewals. You do not renew a visa. You apply to extend your period of stay, in Japan, at an immigration bureau. Going to an embassy to "renew a visa" wastes a trip.
- Changing what you do. Moving from studying to working is a change of status of residence, filed in Japan. No new visa is involved. See Changing Your Status of Residence.
- Leaving and coming back. Your residence card plus the special re-entry permit system lets you return without a new visa. Leaving for more than a year, or without the right paperwork, can cost you the status itself.
The sequence for a long stay
For anyone coming to Japan for work, study or family, the order runs:
- A sponsor in Japan applies for a Certificate of Eligibility, which is immigration's advance confirmation that you qualify for a particular status.
- You take the CoE to a Japanese embassy or consulate and receive a visa.
- You travel. At the airport, immigration grants the status of residence and issues a residence card.
- You register your address at the local city office within 14 days.
The CoE is doing the real work. The visa step is largely a formality once you hold one, though it is not automatic and can still be refused if circumstances changed.
Where Long-Term Resident fits
One status is easy to misread. Long-Term Resident (定住者) is not a longer version of permanent residency. It is a separate status granted on case-by-case humanitarian or family grounds: descendants of Japanese emigrants, former spouses of Japanese nationals with children in Japan, some refugee-related cases, and similar.
It carries unrestricted work rights, like the spouse statuses, and it has a fixed period of stay that must be renewed, unlike permanent residency. Five continuous years on Long-Term Resident opens a PR application.
Your residence card
Once you hold a status of residence for more than three months, you carry a residence card (在留カード). It shows your status, your period of stay, and whether work is permitted. You must carry it, and you must report changes: address within 14 days of moving, and employer or marital changes within 14 days of the event.
A card showing "就労不可" means work is not permitted. Permission granted separately is noted on the back.
Where to go next
For the full list of categories, see Visa Types. For the procedure end to end, see How to Apply.
Back to Visa Types.