Permanent residency visa

Permanent residency is a kind of status of residence for foreigners who live in Japan. When a foreign resident wishes to change his or her status to permanent residency, they indicate that they’d like to receive permission from the Minister of Justice. This status is sometimes referred to as PR, or permanent residency visa.

Permanent residency allows you to stay in Japan indefinitely – without any limits on your activities required to maintain your status （such as working or studying）, or time allowed to stay in Japan. Compared to other visa types, it is very easy to maintain.

There are 3 conditions you must fulfill before obtaining permanent residency – 1. Your behavior during your time in Japan must be good, 2. You must have sufficient assets or means to support yourself independently, and 3. Your permanent residency must be to the benefit of the nation of Japan.

In principle, you need more than 10 years or more of consecutive residency to qualify. 5 or more of those years must be under a work visa or other residence status. Besides that, you can’t have a history of fines or imprisonment during your time in Japan, and all of your taxes and other public obligations must be settled.

However, if you are married to a Japanese national or foreigner who is a permanent resident, or if you have children, you do not need to meet the first two conditions. If you have refugee status, you don’t need to meet the second condition.

There are some special exceptions to the 10-year consecutive residency requirement, so we recommend looking at the below website if you’re considering applying for permanent residency.

[Reference site] – Guidelines for Permanent Residency （Updated April 26, 2017）

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