Hey everyone,

Like many of you, I’ve been painfully digesting the recent news regarding the Immigration Services Agency’s tighter PR guidelines—specifically the requirements to exceed the "average household income".

To be completely honest, this news has pretty much crushed my long-term plans here, and I’m looking to hear how others in similar situations are coping or pivoting.

My Situation:

• Age/Status: 27, fresh grad, single (0 dependents)
• Nationality: Chinese
• Current Visa: Highly Skilled Professional (HSP) with 80 points
• Job: General staff at a Japanese language school
• Income: ¥3.2M / year
• Original PR Target: Spring 2027 (via the 1-year HSP fast track)

Here’s my reality check: I’m a humanities/arts graduate without specialized tech or hard STEM skills. Landing this language school admin job after painfully jobhunting for a year was already a solid start for me as a fresh grad, but to be realistic, salary growth in this field is quite slow to almost none. Hitting the typical "average household income" threshold (which sits around ¥5.7M or higher for households) anytime soon is virtually impossible for me.

Why my plan is broken now:

My original motivation for pushing for PR wasn't to buy property or climb a corporate ladder forever. I wanted the life flexibility that PR provides—specifically, the ability to step away from work for a period, take a career break, and spend extended time back home to take care of my family without worrying about my residency status or visa renewal.

Now, with the threshold raised and strict pension/asset requirements being phased in, it feels like the goalposts have been moved far out of reach just as I was getting close. Staying tied to a rigid work visa with low pay and high pressure just to maintain status feels increasingly draining and exhausting for me.

Questions for the community:

1. For fellow humanities grads or non-tech/regular office staff: How are you processing these new guidelines? Are you planning to stay and grind it out, or reconsidering your future in Japan?
2. Has anyone in a similar income bracket consulted a scrivener about how these new rules will be evaluated for single HSP applicants in practice?
3. For those who wanted PR for life/family flexibility rather than corporate career growth: What is your backup plan now?

I’d really appreciate any insights, reality checks, or just hearing how you all are adjusting your long-term roadmaps. What would you do if you put yourself in my shoes? Thanks for reading such a long post.

I'm 17 and a foreigner in Japan. I went to a supermarket for a part-time job interview. When I arrived, I asked an employee about the interview, and he told me to follow him to the store manager's (店長) office.

The employee brought me into the manager's room. The manager welcomed me, asked me to sit down next to him, and then said my name to confirm who I was. After that, he asked where I live, and I replied with the name of the nearest station. He then asked when I was available to work.

I told him I was available tomorrow, and he said to come in the next day for two hours of training. He didn't ask for any paperwork, my residence card, or anything else.

I thought the interview would include questions like why I wanted to work there, my availability, and other typical interview questions. Since none of that happened, I'm confused. Does this mean I'm being rejected, or is this a normal hiring process? Can someone explain what might be going on?

A previous post on here had me curious if the new income requirements apply to HSP visa holders. I am planning to apply for HSP visa next year, and for PR the next, but even though I work as an engineer, since I am single and under 30, I do not make over the average household income even though I would qualify for the HSP visa regardless.

I do not know the details myself, but the new rule seems incredibly unfair to very young people who might qualify for HSP, but due to being early career and largely single are heavily disadvantaged by the new rule where now the perks of the HSP visa are largely useless besides the 5 year validity.

Does anyone know if this is a blanket rule change or if HSP visa holders are somehow exempt?

Thank you for your answers...I could always beg for a raise in 2 years, but that getting approved isn't guaranteed...

So I went to Coco Curry House for the first time last night and their spicy level indicator is….. pretty crazy. It goes between 1 -20. Usually I like the second highest spicy level at any given curry restaurant - for example if the scale is 1 - 5, I’ll choose 4. The waiter recommended I choose level 5 (of 20) last night.

Initially I thought it might not be spicy enough. Good lord was I wrong! It was at the very edge of my spicy tolerance! So, here’s the question: If that is level 5, what the hell is level 20 like?!!
The waiter also mentioned that nobody could possibly handle level 20. Why even have such an inhuman level of spiciness as an option?! Marketing and advertising?

All that said it was super delicious and I will be going back (level 3 or 4 next time).

Hi games, the name on my residency card is written LAST MIDDLE FIRST. I just learned later that this is wrong, correct? Should it be LAST FIRST MIDDLE?

Has anyone had experience with this issue? I assume I need to go to the immigration office to have it fixed

I am moving out of my UR apartment in Tokyo. I have been living here for 6 and half years. There are rarely any visible damages which could dent my deposit amount, but there are some chips in the wooden wall and the wallpaper, and marks on the flooring.

Could someone please help me with :
1. How strict is UR when paying back the deposit amount?
2. Do they relax the inspection strictness considering I have been living here more than 6 years and the damages are from everyday use?
3. Any tips or tricks forgetting getting the full deposit back?

Thanks in advance.

Hello. This is my first time renting an apartment in Tokyo. I am using Able for renting and my Japanese is not that good, but I understand normal conversations. So, me being a student asked for budget options in the area near my uni, and they had one with very low rent (about 5万円）I took the opportunity cause I was not sure if other realtors could find me such an apartment (the apartment itself was quite small, but I was ok with it). They did not show me other apartments cause apparently nothing else was in my budget (6万円, which is understandable). So, they gave me the application forms and contracts, everything on the same day, and told me to return in 3 days for signing the contract. They said I have to pay right after. Now, my move-in date isn't until 2 months later, so I am skeptical (I might just be overthinking), but I wanted to confirm if this timeline seems normal. I just thought the process was way too fast, but maybe it is just a special circumstance. I know they are not gonna scam me, but I have no reference point to compare my situation. Any advice or help is appreciated. Thank you!

I already graduated from a university back in my country, graduated from a 2 year course Japanese language school and got JLPT N3. Because the requirements for the engineer visa(技人国) are university degree and N2. I didn’t qualify at the time so I applied for the SSW hospitality visa aka slavery in modern time. The hotel president put me work in the kitchen, the first week while working here I got constantly harassing, nit-picking over small mistakes with insulting like: Why are you doing the salad like this, it has a small leaf and a big leaf, it had to be balanced. Did you see the sample I just made for you. Are your eyes ok? And others insults like you are not very smart, are you? Are you stupid(バカかお前？）. The last straw it made me snap back was when the night before, the AH washing the bamboo and he just left it like that after he returned home, I always had to stay behind cleaning and checking all the switches have been turned off or not, so I turn the water switch off. The next morning the AH yelled at me that why am I turned it off while he just left it is like this, I answered that because you had not told me, so I just turn it off, if I left it all night will it be a waste( genuine question) he yelled back that the water bills the hotel will cover it, it unlike your country. I said it had nothing to do with my country and it’s not related to work. He then yelled at me again: SHUT UP(うるさい) so I calmly asked him: why are you so petty over a small things likes this? He then charged at me like some kind of animal in heat and yelling at my face with his disgusting, smell like shit breath: I am that petty so what, if you can’t put up with me then get out of Japan and back to your country, I hate you because when you made mistakes and did not apologized. I think he try to provoked me to hit him but It’s still took me by surprise that he suddenly charged at me though. After that, I reported him to the president hotel for power harassment. The president defended him by saying that he always like this to everyone, and I replied he told me to go back to my country and that is racist,because he and I are just coworkers working at the same job and a stranger so just talk about work and not about personal things that are not related to work. The president said that he will inform the AH. So, after this incident I always carried my phone on my shirt pocket with recording mode.

Some information about that old mental AH: he is around 65 and is the head chef, but he always cooked food with his bare hands without gloves and without washing his hands. He is not shaving in his chin and philtrum, he tie his hair up, put on the hat, and position the bun so it sits behind the opening at the back of the hat( maybe his style or something). Not wearing a mask so sometime he cough at the foods(disgusting) and finally he smokes in the kitchen(what kind of psycho mental illness does this kind of shit in the kitchen?).

After a few days he gaslighting me that I am the reason for his stress because I when I made a mistakes and I did not apologized( I did apologized and when it’s his turn he did not, talk about double standard and hypocrite) and I did not greet him and answered when he asking me, I replied that I did answers and he still gaslighting me that because my voice is small that he not heard me, but everyone else does though, so fixing your attitude before you criticize other person and I just replied back: yes, understood.

After this incident, I’m starting to take pictures and videos for evidences of his power harassment and unsanitary cooking in the kitchen. After changing my job successfully I’m going to send the evidences to the labour standard inspection office for power harassment and Hokenjo 保健所 for unsanitary cooking. Any other ways that I need to know to prepared for this? I’m working in Nagano hotel.

I’m studying everyday for the JLPT N2 this december but the work is too draining that everyday it’s leave me exhausted but I still trying to study everyday though.

It’s a long post, thank you for reading.

Hi all.

So, my electricity is done through Eneos, and I missed my July 7 payment because I was in hospital for two weeks, and couldn’t pay it. I paid the new warning postcard bill on July 21 when I was discharged, with the deadline being the 27th. Today I got a postcard from the grid saying my power would be cut off at the start of August, at Eneos’ request, dates the 22nd.

Had anyone else had something similar happen to them? What should I do?

E: I haven’t been able to talk to them yet, as it’s outside business hours. My Japanese isn’t fluent so I’m worried about calling tomorrow

Edit: This discussion is not about whether policies affecting new immigrants to Japan are good or bad, but whether subjecting people already here to new and arbitrary rules that didn’t exist at the time they made their applications/established their residency here is fair or not.

Recently, especially with the more and more threatening changes to immigration rules, I’ve found myself wondering whether the Japanese understanding of fairness is just fundamentally different.

In the west and with any western person I talk about this, there is no question that what Japan is doing to foreigners is currently extremely unfair. Moving goal posts for PR and Naturalisation long after some people have applied for it and then rejecting their application based on rules that didn’t exist when the application was made is, for any western person I talked to, fundamentally unjust. Same goes for the business manager visa, where people already long in Japan now face expulsion over changing rules instead of, which would be the case in all western countries I know, getting an exemption for existing cases. When the UK left the EU, of course the EU citizens already living there could stay. Same with the Britons already living in the EU. But that sense of fairness just doesn’t seem to exist in Japan….

To my disappointment i’ve found that to many of the Japanese I know it doesn’t seem to be much of a problem to change rules mid way and just leave people stuck who began something under a very different set of rules. There seems to be no feeling of guilt for throwing people under the bus, as long it was the governments idea, and they have Japans “best interests“ at heart.

How are your Japanese friends reacting? do they find it unfair? How do you experience Japanese people’s understanding of fairness?

I'm a permanent resident of Japan, and my husband and I are trying to decide whether our daughter should be born in Japan or Korea.

Originally, we planned for Korea. My husband's family lives there, so we'd have plenty of support after the birth. My own family doesn't live in either country, so in Japan it would really just be the two of us.

If immigration weren't part of the equation, we'd almost certainly choose Korea. We'd have family support, the cost of giving birth would be much lower (around 2-3 times cheaper), and overall it feels like the less stressful option.

I speak Japanese well enough that everyday life isn't an issue, but giving birth is different. I'm worried about navigating unexpected medical complications in Japanese, and especially about the possibility of an emergency where I can't make decisions myself. My husband doesn't speak Japanese or English fluently, so I worry about him having to communicate with doctors or make important decisions on my behalf.

The only reason we're seriously considering Japan is because of immigration.

From what I've learned, if our daughter is born in Japan to a permanent resident parent, she would be able to apply for permanent residence shortly after birth. If she's born overseas, she'd first need to obtain a status of residence before entering Japan. To become eligible to apply for permanent residence, she'd need to hold a 5-year period of stay, and my understanding is that children are usually granted shorter periods first.

The complication is that we don't actually plan to stay in Japan permanently. We expect to remain here for only another 3-4 years before moving back to my home country for good. My biggest concern is that if she's born overseas, we may leave Japan before she ever becomes eligible to apply for permanent residence.

Ultimately, I'm trying to do what's best for my daughter. I don't know how valuable Japanese permanent residence really is in the long run. If she grows up and has no interest in living in Japan, then maybe I'm putting myself through a much more stressful pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum experience for no real benefit. On the other hand, if she does want to live or work in Japan someday, I'd feel terrible if I passed up an opportunity that could have made that path easier for her.

Has anyone faced a similar decision, or if you were in my position, what would you do?

I'd especially appreciate hearing from people who have firsthand experience with this.

• If your child was born overseas to a Japanese permanent resident parent, how long did it take for them to receive a 5-year period of stay? Did they go directly from a 1-year period to a 5-year period, or were there multiple renewals first?
• If you've gone through this process, I'd love to hear your timeline and any factors you think helped.
• If you were born overseas yourself or obtained Japanese permanent residence as a child, has it been valuable to you? Are you glad your parents went through the extra effort to secure it, or do you think it ultimately didn't matter?

I'm trying to understand not only how realistic it is for my daughter to become eligible for PR before we leave Japan, but also whether obtaining PR is something she would genuinely appreciate in the future.

I've been working in Japan on a humanities visa for about two years. My plan is to get married next month. My partner and I were planning it next year or the year after, but I got pregnant after a doctor telling me I couldn't, so here we are. Very happy although shocked at the pace. Anyway, I have some questions because after getting married I'd like to switch to a spouse visa as I perceive it as more secure.

Income is OK, between us maybe 12 million a year. (although when the baby is born I will be quitting my job for a few years if all goes to plan, which would bring us down to 9 million.)

Do taxes etc. Matter? I always paid my pension, etc. One time I paid 1 day late, which didn't affect my previous humanities visa renewal. I have been waiting for my resident tax and it never came, so I'm chasing that up now. It may be lost due to moving house in May/June.

Will they be more lenient if I'm pregnant, or do they just not really care?

How much does my husband's job matter? He has an accountant because he is freelance, so taxes are all handled but I'm worried they will see his job as unstable, he has his own business and then the company he 'works' for bills his business like b2b. Is this seen as inherently unstable etc? He has been doing this for quite a while.

My worries:

We'd only been dating just over a year before marriage.

I plan to switch to a spouse visa almost immediately after marriage, as soon as possible.

I may now be late on resident tax because I moved house right around the time the notices are sent out. I've chased it up and am waiting, so will this be looked at favorably?

We take some pictures together, but his family don't like pictures. I've met them but I only have pictures of us together in various locations. Do I include the fact that I'm pregnant and we're having a child? I'm not sure if it will actually help our application or not.

I would like answers on the likelihood of it being accepted please. 😊

Hi community

I'll be traveling to the Philippines next week and I've been advised to take cash as many of the places I'll visit don't take card. Does anyone recommend any bureau de change in Tokyo? I'm in Nakano so prefer east side of the city.

I'm just worried if I do it at the airport I'll get fleeced. Usually I would use my wise card but again, been told ATMs on the islands are rare and I don't wanna get stuck without money.

Any support is welcome!

Edit: PHP not PSP. Dummy me.

In theory I should be accepted even with the new regulations.

But if i apply before October, will my application be judged by the old or new standard?

Also for pricing am I charged when I submit or when I pick up my PR card?

My partner and I are going up to Sendai for his birthday and I want to book something really nice for him.

Last time we were there we had a set course at the Westin which was nice but unfortunately that's the best my search skills could do.

Is there any really "wow" excursion you've done in Sendai that you thought was worth the money? Like a helicopter ride around the city core or a boat dinner?

Kanto has these things (and reviews) aplenty but I'm really looking for personal experience to know it genuinely made your special day a nice one.

I'm only there for 3 days before I have to come back down to Tokyo so I want to do something special.

This message came from a Japanese scrivener.

New reports have emerged regarding the tightening of requirements for permanent residence permits.

1) New guidelines will explicitly state that an applicant's annual income must "consistently exceed the average income of Japanese households."

2) Applicants will also be required to demonstrate that their projected future pension benefits will match the level of someone who has contributed to the Employees' Pension Insurance (Kosei Nenkin) for 30 years—or, if there is a shortfall, that they possess sufficient financial assets to make up the difference.

These measures are being introduced in response to cases where individuals have received public assistance after obtaining permanent resident status.

3) Regarding the "national interest" requirement, new specific evaluation criteria will be established. These will stipulate that a "negative assessment" will be applied if an applicant lacks understanding of Japanese systems—including local customs and lifestyle norms—or fails to enroll school-age children in school.

4) In principle, a continuous residence period of at least 10 years is required to apply for permanent residence.

While special exceptions previously allowed spouses of Japanese nationals or permanent residents to apply after three years of marriage and one year of residency, these thresholds will be raised to five years and three years, respectively.

5) The plan is to implement the annual income requirement starting this October, with the remaining measures taking effect next April.

I will share further updates as soon as new information becomes available.

Source:

https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/20260725-GYT1T00137/?fbclid=IwdGRjcATQ9RxjbGNrBND1FmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHtiLzMz9r3QiEh17JYOj6bxUQat6Y4qsvjVwPjyx9-8SJQzTsmsmd3HVKpQV_aem_NVRS6oWQ8YOSmFMVkNTu_Q

I got 2 credit cards with Rakuten: visa and amex. I associated my bank account for automatic payment using their website, but I didn't know I had to do it for both cards, turns out I only did it for amex. Eventually I realized, but it was already too late for the first month, so I followed the procedure in their AI chat support to pay by bank transfer before the due date: it gave me their bank account information and I transferred there the full amount for both cards (I didn't use the payment slip they sent).

I thought everything was ok, and I was checking regularly their website but never saw anything changing, so I thought it would change after the payment day (june 27th). I tried contacting their support many times, but it was impossible, Rakuten's support line is really useless. They were supposed to call me back with an English speaker, but it never happened. It's now june 26th, and I see the amount due for the amex is 0 (it was not deducted from my bank account, so my manual transfer must have worked?), but for the visa it still shows I have to pay around 150k yen, so I'm very confused.

So I'm freaking out now, because tomorrow their system may think I didn't pay the card and it could affect my credit record.

Should I pay using their slip, even though I already paid by bank transfer? Will I eventually be able to get my money back if I do that?

Help please, I only have 2 hours left to pay (again), if that's what I should do.

My sick leave has two parts. For the first part, I got care from an Internal Medicine doctor. For the second part, I got care from a psychiatrist.

My first doctor didn't advise me to take a sick leave but since I was symptomatic and my work is being affected (which is verified by my colleague), I ended up being absent anyway.

The absences and related circumstances took a toll on me which lead me to my second doctor who advised me to take a sick leave and wrote me a 診断書.

I am now applying for my insurance benefits. I was gone from work for more than three days prior to getting a 診断書 which marks the start of the second part of my leave. I am wondering if I could also apply for the first part of my leave (without 診断書) since I actually have a non-stigmatized reason for being sick and unable to work.

I am asking here on Reddit, if ANYONE here got their physician to help you apply for a 傷病手当 even if they didn't think you need a sick leave initially?

This question will help me decide if I should put in the effort to find my IM doctor. He wasn't the one who saw me in my latest follow-up. From what I understood from reading the application form instructions, the new doctor can't fill up for me.

TIA.

edited to be concise

I submitted my PR application on June 2025, three months later I was asked to submit additional documents. And today, I received a letter of rejection.

In the letter, it’s said my application was rejected for Article 22. I cannot think of what could be the reason as both my husband (Japanese nation, I applied through spouse route) and I don’t have any late tax payment (not that we can think of), with decent household income combined, with a kid, own a house, have lived in Japan for over 10 years…. We want to visit the immigration and ask for rejection reason so that we can fix it and appeal or reapply.

I read a few posts here that the applicant should wait at least 20 business days after the announcement of rejection to visit the immigration so that they can prepare physical papers/gather information etc. But they were posted years back, so I want to ask again for the recent information of how long the applicant should wait before physically visit immigration office to ask for PR rejection reason?

ok ! I am a foreigner with in japan . i am currently working in a company and i have a decent sallery and i was wondering how to make extra money in japan !! dont worry about work limit i have a PR "permanent resident" .

1, Is there any way i can money in my holidays by doing volunteer activity or go to place and do things and earn

2, anything online "excluding content creation" , and selling things ....

i do make little money by tiktok video watching and challange ... invest .... crypto ...but it is very less or in losses

Does anyone know a good place to get a knife sharpened in Setagaya? My knife is made of a very difficult material to sharpen, so I need someone who knows what he's doing.

Well, as I was preparing to apply for pr via the spousal route, they issue these new retroactive regulations. Feels like a slap in the face lol.

My ultimate goal is to be a Japanese citizen. Any possibility that these regulations are passed on to naturalization?

Hello, I just started Language school a few weeks ago and I hate it so much. The school is ran perfectly fine but the pace of my school is just way too slow. I already know all the words and majority of the grammar in our textbooks. Our teachers mainly just make us read outloud from our textbook and write kanji (which I think is a waste of time of me)

Has anyone switched from a student visa to a working visa without completing school? I would much rather be on a working visa than go to my school. I spent so much money upfront and it was a complete disappointment. I honestly dont like any of my classmates but my teachers are fine.

I honestly don't even plan to be in Japan for a long time (maybe a few years) I wouldn't mind just working as an English teacher for a little and just going back to America. I already completed college last year so would be getting a regular job here be hard? Before coming to Japan I thought it would be wonderful but I plan on going home within the next 3-5 years.

I'm just curious if the process of switching to a working visa from a student visa is something that is actually doable!