TOKYO - Japan plans to tighten permanent residency screening under an Immigration Services Agency draft prepared for an October 1 revision of the guidelines.
Applicants covered by the financial test would generally need annual income above the average for Japanese households. They would also need projected pension benefits at the level expected after 30 years in employees’ pension insurance at that income, rather than 30 years of contributions already completed.
A shortfall could be offset by savings or similar holdings, according to Japanese reporting on the draft.
Most of the new criteria are expected to be used for applications submitted from April 2027. The agency has yet to publish the October revision, and its website still lists the February 24, 2026 version of the permanent residency guidelines.
Officials would also consider applicants’ Japanese-language ability, understanding of Japanese systems and rules, and whether school-age children are enrolled in school, according to reports on the draft.
Kyodo described the proposed language standard as the level of an “independent language user.”
The draft would also lengthen the shorter residence route available to spouses, according to Japanese media reports. Spouses can currently qualify after three years of marriage and one year living in Japan; the proposal would increase those periods to five years and three years respectively.
Permanent residency generally requires at least 10 years of continuous residence in Japan, including five years under qualifying work or residence statuses, although shorter routes are available to some applicants.
Immigration Services Agency foreign resident data showed 947,125 permanent residents at the end of 2025, up 29,009 from a year earlier and the largest individual residence-status category. Japan’s total foreign resident population reached a record 4,125,395.
Another change already announced by the agency will take effect on April 1, 2027. Applicants will generally need to hold the longest period of stay available under their residence status rather than relying on a three-year period.
People holding a three-year period of stay on March 31, 2027 can still be treated as meeting the requirement for the first permanent residency decision issued during that period.
