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Permanent Resident

"Permanent Resident" & "Naturalization"

Permanent Resident: Foreigners who wish to maintain their nationality but engage in any activities without any restriction in Japan.

Naturalization: Foreigners who are willing to acquire Japanese nationality by giving up their nationality.

Advantages for Acquisition of "Permanent Resident"

  • No restriction in terms of the scope of activities,
  • Obtaining indefinite period of stay, and
  • Gaining social credibility.

There are following REQUIREMENTS for foreigners who apply for the "Permanent Resident".

  1. A person is of good conduct (※1),
     

  2. A person has sufficient assets or skills in order to make an independent living in Japan (※1), and
     

  3. A foreigner’s permanent residence is regarded to be in accord with the interests of Japan;

    1. ​​A person has stayed in Japan for more than 10 years consecutively (※2).
       

    2. A person has had any work permit or any status of residence for more than 5 years consecutively during his/her stay in Japan (※3).
       

    3. A person has been never sentenced to be a fine or imprisonment.
       

    4. A person fulfills public duties such as tax payment including health insurance and pension payment.
       

    5. A person fulfills duties to give notifications to the Regional Immigration Services Bureau (※4).
       

    6. A person is currently granted his/her work permit or status of residence with the maximum period of stay (※5).

(※1)

  • If an applicant is a spouse or a child of a Japanese national or Permanent Resident, the above requirements 1 and 2 do not be applied.
  • If an applicant is a welfare recipient, the permission of "Permanent Resident" will not be granted unless there are "special circumstances" such as an applicant currently holds the long -term resident.
  • The requirement of "sufficient assets or skills" is confirmed on a household basis of an applicant. The annual household income of more than 3 million yen is desirable. 

(※2)

  • If an applicant is a spouse of a Japanese national or Permanent Resident, and has been in a martial relationship for more than 3 years consecutively and stayed in Japan for more than one year consecutively, this requirement is exempted. Moreover, if an applicant has stayed in Japan for more than 5 years consecutively with the status of long term resident, this requirement is also exempted.
  • If an applicant's total holding period of status of residence of the "Long-Term Resident" and either "Spouse or Child of Japanese National" or the "Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident" becomes in five years after divorce, the permanent residence status may possibly be granted.
  • If an applicant satisfies any of the requirements in "Guidelines for Contribution to Japan" and has stayed in Japan for more than 5 years, this requirement is exempted.
  •  The "highly skilled professionals" holders who have 70 points or more will be able to acquire the permanent resident status in 3 years, and one year for those with 80 points or more. The applicant needs to maintain these points when applying for the permanent resident. 

If an applicant does not currently hold the "highly skilled professionals" but satisfy the following condition, he/she is still eligible to apply for the permanent resident earlier.

  • applicant has/had a total score of 70 points (*1) or more according to the point calculation table and has been staying in Japan for over 3 years, or

  • applicant has/had a total score of 80 points (*2) or more according to the point calculation table and has been staying in Japan for over one year.

    (*1) Applicant needs to have a score of 70 points or more at 3 years before the date of the application and on the date of filing application for the permanent residence. 
    (*2) Applicant needs to have a score of 80 points or more at 1 year before the date of the application and on the date of filing application for the permanent residence. 
     

  • Even a foreign national who has continuously stayed in Japan for more than one year as a highly skilled professional with 80 points or more is granted permission for permanent residence, his/her spouse and children will not be granted permission for permanent residence at the same time. They will be eligible to apply for permanent residence after they have continuously lived in Japan for more than 3 years. Therefore, they have to change their status of residence from the "Dependent" to the "Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident" for his/her spouse and "Long-Term Resident" for children after highly skilled professional is granted permission for permanent residence.

(※3)

  • An applicant has had any of the working visa or the status of residence for the most recent five-year period.

Work Permit: Business Manager, Researcher, Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services, etc.
(excluding Technical Intern Training and Specified Skilled Worker(i))

Status of ResidenceSpouse or Child of Japanese National, Long Term Resident, etc.

(※2) & (※3)

  • If an applicant had stayed overseas on a long-term basis during the count period, he/she needs a reasonable explanation for his/her stay history. If an applicant had stayed overseas for extended periods of time, and his/her personal residence history in Japan is questioned in terms of "continuity", he/she is better to file an application after he/she makes some residence record in Japan.
  • If an applicant entered Japan with his/her parents and finished most of his/her compulsory education in Japan, the permission of "Permanent Resident" may be granted in some cases nevertheless these requirements are not met.
  • If the permission of "Permanent Resident" is granted to a foreign parent (an applicant), there is the possibility the permission is also granted to his/her spouse and/or child belonging to the same household. Therefore, there is a case that it is better to apply for the permission by a whole family.

(※4)

  • Cases when notification to the Regional Immigration Services Bureau is required.

(※5)

  • For time being, a period of stay of 3 years shall be regarded as the maximum period of stay.
Number of Permanent Resident, 2019 -2023
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Increasing Rate

2019 - 2023

793,164 807,517 831,157 863,936 891,569 + 12%
Number of Permanent Resident as of 2023/12 - by Age
0-19 20-39 40-49 50-59 Over 60
115,961 195,197 215,798 209,900 154,713
Number of Permanent Resident as of 2023/12 - by Nationality (Top 20)
China Philippines Brazil Korea Peru
330,810 139,534 115,287 75,675 33,151
Taiwan Vietnam Thailand USA India
25,016 24,505 21,738 19,856 8,754
Indonesia Nepal UK Pakistan Russia
7,632 7,145 6,880 5,340 4,539
Canada Bangladesh Sri Lanka France Malaysia
4,229 4,177 4,007 3,649 3,372
Number of Permanent Resident as of 2023/12 - by Prefecture (Top 20)
Tokyo Aichi Kanagawa Saitama Osaka
179,806 98,933 92,425 73,197 60,615
Chiba Shizuoka Hyogo Gunma Ibaraki
58,707 41,039 28,300 21,649 21,516
Gifu Mie Fukuoka Hiroshima Tochigi
20,623 19,145 16,370 14,617 14,590
Nagano Shiga Kyoto Yamanashi Hokkaido
14,247 11,030 10,377 6,777 6,526
Number of Foreign National Granted Permission for
Permanent Resident during 2023 (Top 20)
Ranking Nationality Number of Foreigners Component Ratio
1 China 15,891 47.5%
2 Brazil 2,873 8.6%
3 Philippines

2,648

7.9%
4 Vietnam 2,458 7.3%
5 Korea 1,802 5.4%
6 Taiwan 952 2.8%
7 Nepal 836 2.5%
8 USA 750 2.2%
9 India 591

1.8%

10 Thailand 415 1.2%
11 Peru 360 1.1%
12 Indonesia 299 0.9%
13 Sri Lanka 260 0.8%
14 Bangladesh 245 0.7%
15 France 221 0.7%
16

UK

208 0.6%
17 Myanmar 207 0.6%
18 Russia 187 0.6%
19 Pakistan 184 0.5%
20 Hong Kong 167 0.5%
- Others 1,916 5.7%
TOTAL - 33,470 100%

Required documents at the time of the application

If you are planning to apply for the Permanent Resident in the near future, it may be useful to check the required documents you will need to submit in advance.

※ If a current status of residence expires during an examination period of permanent resident (i.e., the residual period of less than 3 months when applying), a foreigner needs to separately apply for its extension of period of stay. The "special exception on the period of stay" does not apply in this case.