Japan Finalises Tougher Permanent-Residency Guideline: Income, Pension, B1 Japanese and a Five-Year Marriage Rule

Japan's Immigration Services Agency (ISA) published its revised Guidelines on Permanent Residence Permission on 1 October 2026, turning the summer's public-comment draft into the standard its examiners now apply. The text asks for household income that continuously exceeds the average for Japanese households of the same size, a projected pension in line with 30 years of employees'-pension contributions, Japanese at the B1 level of the national reference framework, and evidence that the applicant understands Japan's rules and sends school-age children to school. Spouses of Japanese nationals and permanent residents now need five years of real married life and three years in Japan before the ten-year residence rule is waived, instead of three years and one. Most new tests apply to applications filed on or after 1 April 2027, but the income standard and the public-burden check also apply to applications filed on or after 1 April 2026 that were still pending on 1 October. The same day, the permanent-residence fee rose from ¥10,000 to ¥200,000.

Background

Permanent residence is the most stable status a foreign national can hold in Japan, with no limit on the kind of work and no period of stay to renew. At the end of 2025, 947,125 people held it, 29,009 more than a year earlier, out of 4,125,395 foreign residents, according to the ISA. The law sets three conditions: good conduct, the means to live independently, and a finding that the person's permanent residence serves Japan's national interest. The guideline explains how the ISA weighs them. GoMate reported the draft in July (/news/japan-permanent-residency-guideline-tightening-2026). The final text cites the government's comprehensive measures on orderly coexistence of 23 January 2026, and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi wrote on X in late September, as quoted by AFP, that "some citizens feel anxiety and a sense of unfairness" as the foreign population grows. The fee increase was fixed by cabinet ordinance on 25 August (/news/japan-residence-fee-hike-cabinet-approved-october-2026).

What exactly changed

The income test is explicit and runs at household level: the ISA considers whether the household's annual income has continuously reached a level above the average for Japanese households with the same number of members. Income earned by a household member on a non-work status, such as a spouse on a Dependent visa with a part-time permission, is not counted, while dependants living abroad are added to the household size, and households of five or more are measured against a higher figure. The pension test asks whether the applicant's projected pension, based on age, contribution history and current income, reaches what 30 years in the employees' pension scheme at that benchmark income would pay; financial assets can cover a shortfall, with a lower asset bar for younger applicants. The guideline also scores payment of taxes and social-insurance premiums, and past arrears count against the applicant even if nothing is outstanding today. Under the national-interest heading it lists ten years' residence including five on a work or residence status while holding the longest period of stay, no single absence of six months or more and no more than two and a half years away in total over the last ten years, Japanese at B1 or above, a check on understanding of Japan's systems built around the official Guidebook on Living and Working, and school attendance for children of compulsory-education age. The B1 test is waived for highly skilled professionals and their families, for anyone with six or more years of Japanese primary or secondary schooling, and for Japan-born children of permanent residents whose parent meets B1.

Who it affects and what to do

The widest group is foreign employees on work statuses who were counting on the old ten-year route. An engineer whose salary sits around the national average, with a spouse on a Dependent visa and two children, now has to clear a four-person household benchmark on one counted income. That test already applies if the application was filed between April and September 2026 and is undecided, so expect the examiner to ask for household income evidence under the new standard. Spouses of Japanese citizens face the longest delay: someone married for three years who could have applied this autumn now waits until the marriage reaches five years and their residence three. Anyone filing between now and 31 March 2027 is still assessed under the old guideline for every test except income and public burden, which makes that window valuable for people on a three-year period of stay or without B1 Japanese. From 1 April 2027, expect to document Japanese-language ability, pension contributions and children's school enrolment alongside the usual tax and income papers. Highly skilled professionals under the points system keep their one- and three-year routes and are exempt from the language test. The ¥200,000 fee applies to every application received from 1 October, whichever guideline governs it. Nothing changes for people who already hold permanent residence. Our Japan guide covers the statuses that lead to permanent residence (/country-guides/japan).