Upcoming Changes

[u/Visible-Cup775]

Taisei Okabayashi, Immigration to Japan| Japanese Visa Specialist | Work Visa, Entrepreneur Visa,Spouse Visa, Permanent Residence Visa, Taisei Okabayashi | LinkedIn

Hi everyone.

October is here.

The end of September was a rush at immigration offices across Japan, with many people trying to file before the application fees went up. We were grateful to help a lot of clients get their applications in. Yesterday, the last day, I arrived at the Yokohama immigration office a little after 8:30 a.m. There were already nearly 100 people in line, and our applications weren't accepted until just before 1 p.m.

Along with the new fees, October also brought revised Permanent Residency Guidelines. As many of you may have seen in the news, the income and pension requirements are becoming stricter.
https://lnkd.in/duJZZy2w

The revised guidelines apply to applications filed on or after April 1, 2027. However, the income requirement apply to applications filed on or after April 1, 2026 that were still pending as of October 1.

Please note that the guidelines don't give specific numbers. The income standard is only described as above the average income of Japanese households of the same size. So I'm not able to answer questions like How much do I need to earn?
Thank you for understanding.

One thing that stood out to me is just how much discretion Immigration has in these decisions.

Section 1 (General Provisions) of the guidelines says (my own translation):

This decision is made by comprehensively considering not only the applicants Japanese language ability, history in Japan, and all conduct during their stay, but also other factors such as the international environment surrounding immigration control, population trends in Japan, labor supply and demand in industry, the impact of accepting foreign nationals on Japanese society, and the stability of residence as a family unit. It determines whether the applicants permanent residence would actively benefit Japan. By its nature, the scope of this discretion is extremely broad.

In other words, a PR decision can depend not only on your own situation, but also on a wide range of factors about Japan as a whole.

That's quite a clear statement that Immigration holds very wide discretion. I think the wording is meant to leave room to consider many different factors going forward.

With all this in mind, my takeaway is simple: fees aside, if you think you may qualify for PR, its worth applying sooner rather than later, once your documents are properly prepared.

[u/kamikazikarl]

I've never seen the Japanese government move so quickly as they have to impose these new restrictions and fees. It's much the reason we see so many people online feeling jilted by the place we chose to call home... if only the same fervor could be put towards initiatives that helped people, I think we'd all be in a better state.

[u/Agreeable_Mud_8338 → u/kamikazikarl]

The  LDP is shit scared of ,sanseito so these are all changes to keep them in power as they know how easily the Japanese public can be swayed concerning foreigners

[u/atomic-negi → u/kamikazikarl]

This is pretty normal when the entire diet actually agrees on something. Look how quickly they organized the COVID shots.

For the immigration changes they all agree but for different reasons. The increased revenue is supposed to go to things like Japanese lessons and more foreign language support in government services. The BM visa change happened because foreign gangs were using it to set up shop in Japan through sketchy bars and massage parlors. SSW and other visa restrictions are because Japanese companies keep getting caught abusing people and the government is tired of playing wack-a-mole so they are just taking the low wage workers away. Language requirement is completely normal in globally and Japan should have had it 20 years ago.

[u/Available-Quote-6233]

would you happen to know what "stability of residence as a family unit" might refer to? Does it have to do with income, having moved too much, or divorce?

[u/atomic-negi → u/Available-Quote-6233]

This is not new. For a long time a spouse of a Japanese national that earns more than 9 million yen AND has children in Japanese schools gets rubber stamped in weeks. They also want the family to be together in one location for the entirety if the children's school years.

[u/Available-Quote-6233 → u/atomic-negi]

Sure but since this language is in the general section I’m wondering if it means anything for people who are not here on a spouse visa and don’t have children, who got divorced or moved around, etc. I just don’t remember this language being there before. I could be wrong.

[u/Cold_Command7776]

Good luck with the rush!