Japan Mulls Hiking Permanent Residency Permit Fee to Up to 300,000 Yen

Tokyo, Nov. 27 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government is considering a plan to raise the fee for issuing a permanent residency permit to as much as 300,000 yen from the current 10,000 yen, it was learned Thursday. The government presented the plan to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which held the first meeting of its task force on optimizing immigration and residency management for foreign nationals on the day. The government hopes to raise fees for residency-related procedures to levels on par with European countries and the United States. The government is also considering making it more difficult for foreign residents to acquire Japanese nationality. A 1981 law revision set the cap on residency procedure fees at 10,000 yen. As the number of foreign nationals living in Japan is rising rapidly, the government believes it is necessary to strengthen related personnel and systems. In addition to setting the cap on the permanent residency permit fee at 300,000 yen, the government is considering raising the fee for renewing or changing residency statuses to 100,000 yen from 6,000 yen in person and 5,500 yen online. Regarding conditions for naturalization, the government is considering requiring 10 years of residency or longer, compared with the current five years. On Thursday, a separate LDP task force on legislation related to land acquisition by foreigners also held its first meeting. Participants called for expanding the scope of the existing law that restricts the acquisition and use of land lots linked to national security. The two task forces are placed under the party’s headquarters on policies related to foreign citizens. Based on discussions by both task forces, the headquarters will compile a proposal regarding the government’s plans by the end of the year and submit it to the government as early as January. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]