Japan to Raise Foreigners’ Residency Fees in Oct.

Tokyo, Aug. 25 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s government adopted an ordinance Tuesday to raise fees for foreigners to renew and change their residency status to up to 75,000 yen from a uniform 6,000 yen at present, effective in October. New fees for people who take necessary procedures at an administrative office counter will include 10,000 yen for the period of up to three months, 33,000 yen for one year, 64,000 yen for three to less than five years and 75,000 yen for five years or more. Applying for permanent residency status will cost 200,000 yen, up sharply from 10,000 yen. The fee hikes were included in the revised immigration control and refugee recognition law enacted in May. Meanwhile, the scope of people eligible for reduced fees was expanded based on public comments. The Immigration Services Agency’s related guidelines initially stipulated that the fee can be reduced to 10,000 yen for temporary stay and 20,000 yen for permanent residency for people who meet two conditions–having financial hardships equivalent to the levels of welfare recipients under the public assistance law and needing humanitarian consideration. Based on public comments, the agency expanded the scope of people whose fees can be reduced in light of humanitarian condition to include foreigners who single-handedly safeguard and raise biological children of Japanese nationals or special permanent foreign residents as well as those for whom the denial of residency is considered inhumane. Special permanent foreign residents refer to those who have lived in Japan since before World War II and lost their Japanese citizenship after the war as well as their descendants. The revised law caps the fees at 100,000 yen for temporary residency and 300,000 yen for permanent residency. Specific fee levels are decided under a relevant ordinance. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]