Japan to Require Above-Average Incomes for Permanent Residency

Tokyo, Aug. 4 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Immigration Services Agency on Tuesday released a draft revision to its guidelines on permanent residency permits mandating applicants to maintain an income exceeding the average for Japanese households. The revised guidelines would stipulate for the first time that foreigners’ applications for permanent residency status in Japan require especially careful scrutiny, according to the draft. The agency plans to revise the guidelines in October after soliciting public comments from Tuesday. Japan’s immigration control law stipulates that foreigners must have good behavior, have sufficient assets or skills to make an independent living, and be in accordance with Japan’s interests to acquire permanent residency permits. The draft revision tightens the second requirement, for which the current guidelines stipulate that permanent residents must not be a public burden in everyday life and must be expected to have a stable life in the future. It newly adds a requirement as to whether the amount of pensions an applicant with an income topping that of a Japanese is expected to receive in the future would reach a level a person would gain after he or she pays into the “kosei nenkin” public pension program for employees for 30 years. On the third requirement, the revision spells out that applicants “must actively yield concrete benefits to the country.” It lists a certain level of Japanese language proficiency, understanding of Japanese systems and rules, and whether children of compulsory education age are actually attending school as factors for consideration, from the perspective of permanent residents’ smooth integration into local communities. As of the end of 2025, there were about 4.12 million foreign residents in Japan, of whom roughly 940,000 were permanent residents. The agency decided to tighten the guidelines following a survey finding that the proportion of permanent foreign residents receiving welfare assistance was about the same as the that of Japanese citizens on welfare. It aims to implement the revised guidelines from next April while planning to apply the tightened income requirement from applications made this April. The agency also announced draft guidelines on revoking permanent residency status, after it was decided that the intentional failure to pay taxes and social security premiums would be added as a condition enabling such invalidation from next April. As examples for revocation, the draft cites failures to pay taxes and social security premiums even after receiving reminder notices and to carry residence cards. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]