On July 9, 2012 the new Residency Management system came into effect.
There are two main ways the structure is changing.
- The Alien Registration System is ending and will replaced by a residency management system, under the authority of the Immigration Bureau of the Justice Ministry. A ‘Residence Card’ will be issued, replacing the current Alien Registration card
- Foreigners will now be registered locally on a “Residence Record” or juminhyo, the same system used by Japanese nationals, which is under the authority of the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.
Due to the complexity of any system like this it is probably best to directly read the two ministry’s explanations about how these systems are changing:
Changes to Residence Card System
www.immi-moj.go.jp/newimmiact_1/ (Japanese)
www.immi-moj.go.jp/newimmiact_1/en/index.html (English)
Changes to the Residence Record (juminhyo) System
Download PDF (Japanese)
Download PDF (English)
Some Highlights that may be of interest to you:
- The Alien Registration Card (gaikokujin torokusho) will be replaced by a new “residence card,” containing an IC chip. The card will include residence status, period of stay, as well as name, address, birthdate, etc. The IC chip will contain all of the information printed on the card, and is to prevent the cards from being forged or altered.
- The maximum visa term available will be extended from 3 years to 5 years for most visa categories.
- A “Re-Entry Permit” will no longer be required for trips out of Japan less than 12-months in length.
Originally broadcasted on June 20th, 2012, Real Estate Japan is proud to present Steve Burson, President of H&R Consultants, to give us an in depth talk about what this means for you.
Some Frequently Asked Questions:
You have up to 3 years from July 9th to change your card. The Alien Registration Card will be equivalent to the new residence card during the 3-year transition period. The Residence Card will be issued when you renew your visa, need to change your status, or when your Alien Card expires. If you have Permanent Residency status you will need to obtain the Residence Card by July 8th 2015.
If you are coming to Japan on a visa with a status of residence that is longer than 3 months, you will receive your Residence Card ay the airport in Tokyo (Narita and Haneda), Nagoya (Centrair) or Osaka (Kansai Airport). The card should take an additional 2-3 minutes to prepare as part of the other administrative procedures on arrival.
The card issued on arrival at the above airports will not have your address printed on it. Within 14 days you must go to your local government office to complete the “Residence Record” (juminhyo) details. This puts you on the local register of people, and has links to your health insurances, pension, etc. Your address will also be added to the back of your Residence Card.
A Residence Card will not be issued at the airport. Your passport will be stamped indicating that the card will be mailed to you at a later date. After you complete the “Residence Record” (juminhyo) details at the local government office (within 14 days), the Regional Immigration Office will mail your card to you. It will take about 2-3 weeks to receive the card.
If you are coming to Japan for the first time on a mid- to long-term visa (i.e. not a 90-day visa), you will have already sent photos with your visa application. These photos will be scanned and used on your residence card. Therefore, there is no need to supply a photo at the airport, as it will already be in the Immigration Bureau system.
When you renew your visa, you will need to provide a photograph as part of your renewal application. This photo will be scanned and used on your card.
No, this is not possible. This may change in the future, but as of now, only newly entering mid- to long-term residents will receive their Residence Card at the airport.
From July 9th, you can change the address on your Alien Card. Any other changes must be made at the Immigration Bureau and your Alien Card will then be changed to a Residence Card.
No, you don’t need to report in person for this, as your employer will no longer be listed on your Residence Card. However, if your visa is based on your employment, you will need to submit a form to the Immigration Bureau by post, to notify them of the change.
No, the passport number, along with date of issue of the passport, your place of birth, residence in your home country, and a few other things will all be missing from the Residence Record and Residence Card.
In fact, under this new system, the Residence Card will show your Status of Residence and period of stay, items that were included in the visa stamp in your passport. The only time any of this information will be entered in your passport is on your initial entry to Japan. On renewing a visa, the information will only be entered on your Residence Card. Each time you renew your “visa (status of residence)” you will be issued with a new Residence Card.
*It is going to be quite important, therefore, that you always have your Residence Card with you when you are traveling in and out of Japan. Your visa status can be verified only if you have your Residence Card with you.*
Under Japanese Law, they are only allowed to record on the IC Chip the information that is already on the card. There will be no additional private information on the IC Chip.
The IC Chip will enable authorities and 3rd parties to verify that the information written on the card is actually correct. i.e., this is to protect residence cards from being forged or altered.
This hasn’t been announced yet. One can safely assume that Immigration offices, police, and the like would have them. Japanese driver’s licenses throughout the country are being updated with IC chips. In the case of the licenses, it is possible to see the information on the chip using “readers” at the License Centers. One can imagine that banks and perhaps mobile phone providers will initially be the type of places who will buy the “readers” in order to verify information on the cards.
The biggest time-saver for new arrivals to Japan is that you won’t need to make an extra trip to
Immigration to get a re-entry permit. As long as you are going to be coming back to Japan within 12 months, you will be exempt from needing a re-entry permit.
For permanent residents the Residence Card will be valid for 7 years. You will need to go to the
Immigration Office every 7 years to get renewed. For any other resident, the “Residence Card” will be valid for the length of your status of residence (the maximum length of a visa will be extended from 3 years to 5 years).
The most common reason would be to renew your visa (status of residence) or when your child turns 16, which will automatically see you getting a new Residence Card. The next most common will probably be if the card is lost, stolen, damaged or defaced. And then there are other cases such as when your status of residence changes (mostly happens when renewing your visa any way, but could change if you are no longer a “student” or if you get divorced from a Japanese and are on a spouse visa), if you change your name, if you change your sex (could be an issue for some parts of Shinjuku I suppose) or your nationality changes.
Yes, you need to take a trip to the Immigration Bureau to get your new card. It should be issued there on the spot, unless of course you are renewing your visa, in which case it would be done once your new status of residence is given. On the spot issuance is supposedly only to take a few minutes, although you will need to complete an application form and submit your photo to be scanned, so I imagine it will be like the time it takes to get your re-entry permit now. However, it is not recommended that you try changing to the resident card in the first few months from July 9th, as congestion is expected, and initially you might need 2 trips.
I believe that Japan will be notifying all the countries of the world and the airlines about the changes. The best solution here is to carry your Residence Card with you at all times, even when overseas, as this will be the only form of identification of your status in Japan (aside from any old passport stamps). So, present your Residence Card with your passport in any situation where it is necessary to prove residency!
Children will be issued with a Residence Card, but no photo will be placed on the card. Children up to the age of 16 have no legal requirement to keep the card on their person, as per the child alien registration card from before. From the day of their 16th birthday, children need to receive a new residence card with the photo, and will need to keep the card on their person like the rest of us.
Up until this point, passport numbers have been recorded on the AR card. The passport number is not placed on the new Residence Card and there is no need to notify changes in your passport number if you get a new one. The Residence Record (juminhyo) also does not require your passport number, so the only place where your passport number will be recorded now is when you come in and out of the airport, and perhaps on the applications for your visa and visa renewals. This is a change in favor of everyone, as there is no longer anything to do when your passport changes.
We have confirmed that this is likely to be similar to the time it takes to get your Re-Entry Permit- they will issue on the spot on the same day. However, they are not confident to commit to any guarantees of how long things will take initially, as like any new system they are not quite sure how long things will actually take, and what problems they will come across. The Immigration Bureau sincerely recommends that, if possible, to refrain from changing your card immediately, as if there is a rush on the Immigration Centers, they are not sure that they will be able to handle the influx. Best recommendation would be to “stay away for a while”!! But, eventually, it should be a very straight-forward process. If you are renewing your visa, you would receive a new Residence Card once the new visa has been approved (obviously this won’t be the same day).
The Immigration Bureau has indicated they will be doing this as thoroughly as possible. However, no matter how well they do it, and how well they explain things to the airlines, there is going to be obvious confusion initially at every airport that boards a person to Japan. The best and only advice therefore will be, without fail, always take your Passport and Residence Card with you to the airport, and treat them as a pair when you are traveling.
If you have any other questions, please contact Steve Burson of the H&R Group (Relo Japan) at steve_burson@morethanrelo.com.
Comments
What if you don’t have a new residence for your residence card?
Em, did you ever figure this out? Our visas in our passports expire next month but our residence cards have another two years on them.
I am a Permanent Resident and my alien registration card expired in April, but I was told even though it has expired, being a Permanent Resident I have until July 8th 2015 before I need to change over to the new Resident Card system. Is that correct?
1) With the old system, if you quit your job or were fired, you had (in theory) until your visa expired to have found a new job. Which could be 1 to even 3 years. With the new system, YOU DON’T have such time.
What made a long term visa great and gave foreigners relief in case they had work problems, has been taken away. As usual, the Japanese government took away the only good point about having a long term work visa, and probably don’t realize the negative impact once more foreigners realize how the new system SCREWS them. The new 5 year visa means just about NOTHING, because you do NOT have time to find a new job after quitting or being fired.
With the new system, you have to notify immigration within 2 weeks of change of employment status or PAY A FINE and/or RISK not getting renewed.
You then have ONLY 90 DAYS to find a NEW job OR proof that you are interviewing for jobs. So immigration will breathe down the necks of foreigners with threats of DEPORTATION if they don’t get the job soon enough.
If you haven’t found a new job in 90 days, immigration can REVOKE your visa status OR give you an additional 90 days to have found a job (only 6 months total and based on if doing interviews that satisfy the immigration official). Totally subject to the whim of immigration, so could be only 3 months.
The 90 day trick, totally corresponds to what you could get with a tourist visa. So the new visa is a sneaky DOWNGRADE from the old visa and NOT doing foreigners any favors whatsoever.
2) The re-entry stamp is just smoke and mirrors. It was only 5, 000 yen anyway. Plus, it doesn’t make sense. If you are not in Japan, it likely means you are NOT working here. What company is going to let you stay away from the office for more than 1 year, without
reporting you to immigration?
And remember, your employer is required to report change of status to immigration withing 2 weeks of it happening, so how are you going to stay outside of Japan for longer than 1 year ??? In 99% of the cases, Japanese immigration will REVOKE your visa after 90 days.
The re-entry stamp isn’t needed, because the new ID comes DIRECTLY from immigration and not the city office. Another scam over the heads of foreigners.
I have a lawyer working with me to renew my visa. I’ve lived and worked in Japan for 22 years. Though in the last few years, I’ve been traveling back and forth to US and Japan because of my parent’s health. In 2010 my step father passed away and last year my Mother passed away. So now I’m planning to remain in Japan but as my lawyer says, I’ve not had an income for the last few years, chances are that I might not be able to extend my permit.
Now, I don’t know what to do with my life. If I don’t get my visa renewed in Japan. I’ll have to go back to the US. I’m thinking, I’ve never worked in the US. I’ve paid taxes only in Japan and I qualify for Japanese pension. I don’t qualify for any social security in the US. OMG! What am I going to do with myself. This is so depressing to hear from my lawyer who warns me that It seems hard to get a visa for me after 22 years. Is that true?
When you apply for your visa they take your cert of eligibility off of you. Your visa is then stuck in your passport. I’m trying to remember if they cert. is stapled in there as well.. It was 6 months ago when we came to Japan.
That’s all you really need when you land. If you fly into Tokyo (Narita) or Osaka (kansai) you’re residency card will be issued immediately.
Just tell an airport staff member that you’re needing a residency card and they’ll put you in the right cue.
Juist trying to make sure of this. I get a job -> Cert of eligiability -> visa then when I get to the border exactly what do I need to bring? Like will I have my Cert of eligiability (after getting the visa), how many forms of ID, How much currency (show cash) and what other papers? I guess to say besides my luggage (I know what I am allowed to bring) exactly what paperwork should I carry to the border on my first entry (assuming a instructor/specialist in humanities visa)?
Planning to stay outside japan for 1 year .. Do i have to ask permission in city hall? I have resident card already .Can i enter in japan ?
I think that an important question that no one has answered is this:
Will these changes make permanent residency (永住権) much harder to acquire?
Currently, one of the requirements to apply for permanent residency is as follows:
“[T]he longest period (mostly three years) of stay defined for each type of status of residence has been granted.”
However, starting this month, “longest period of stay” is no longer three years. It’s five.
Does that mean that everyone with a three-year period of stay is no longer eligible to apply for permanent residency?
And if a three-year period of stay is no longer sufficient to apply for permanent residency, will it be hard to acquire a five-year period of stay? Who will be eligible? Everybody, or just CEOs, Nobel Prize winners, and high-level dignitaries?
I’m pretty concerned about this issue. I wish someone had an answer.