GuidesPublished 2026-05-16Updated 2026-10-273 min read

Long-term residence and renewals: turn daily records into evidence

For visa renewals and permanent residence, keep tax, pension, insurance, work, study, address, and family records organized before you need them.

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For long-term life in Japan, immigration looks at whether you live by the rules over 12-month cycles. Taxes, social insurance, stable address records, and continuous work or study all matter. If you organize records as you go, renewals are much easier.

Status and renewal documents

Status	Main documents	Typical period
Engineer / Humanities / International Services	Employment contract, withholding slip, tax certificate	1-5 years
Student	Enrollment, grades, attendance above 80%	1-2 years
Dependent	Sponsor’s residence card, employment proof, household juminhyo	1-3 years
Permanent residence	10 years residence, 5 years of resident tax, 2 years of pension and health insurance records	Permanent

For work-status renewals, tax certificates, payment certificates, and social-insurance or pension gaps are common problems. Save annual taxation and tax-payment certificates from your municipality each year, even if each copy costs around ¥300.

What to do regularly

Pay resident tax on time or set up bank transfer. If you cannot pay national pension, apply for exemption or postponement rather than ignoring bills; approvals are usually reviewed by year and affect 12 months of records. Approved exemption is different from non-payment.

If you are not covered by company social insurance, enroll in National Health Insurance. When you move, file the correct address notice within 14 days and update the address on your residence card.

Permanent residence basics

The general rule is 10 years in Japan, including 5 years under work or residence status, good conduct, independent livelihood, and benefit to Japan. The old rule of thumb of about ¥3,000,000 a year no longer applies: the guidelines revised on October 1, 2026 ask whether household income stays above the average for Japanese households of the same size, without publishing a yen figure, and this already applies to applications filed from April 1, 2026.

Your current status must also carry the longest period of stay available. A 3-year permit counts until March 31, 2027; from April 1, 2027 a 5-year permit is generally required, and applications from that date are also assessed on Japanese ability (B1 level or above) and time spent outside Japan over the past 10 years. The permission fee is ¥200,000 for applications received from October 1, 2026, up from ¥10,000.

Spouses of Japanese nationals, permanent residents, or special permanent residents may qualify after 3 years of marriage with 1 year in Japan, and their children after 1 year in Japan. For applications from April 1, 2027 this becomes 5 years of marriage with 3 years in Japan, and 3 years for children. Highly skilled professionals may qualify after 3 years at 70 points or 1 year at 80 points.

Documents to keep

Each year, keep taxation certificates, tax-payment certificates, pension notices, employment contracts, and contract renewals. When changing jobs, keep withholding slips issued around January or at resignation, separation documents, and new contracts.

For moves, keep moving-out documents, moving-in records, and juminhyo copies. Permanent residence applications look at the last 5 years of resident tax records and the last 2 years of pension and health insurance records, so annual filing is easier than emergency collection.

Common mistakes

Ignoring resident tax or pension because you are foreign can damage renewals and permanent residence for years. Paying later helps, but the history of late or missing payment may remain through a 5-year review period.

Noticing the visa deadline with only 1 month left is also risky. Employer documents can take time, so start preparing about 3 months before expiration.