Status of Residence, PR & Kika

INDEX

• Link to Feature Pages
• Introduction
• Benefits of Choosing Our Office
• When Should You Consult a Gyosei-shoshi?
• Work Process 
• Areas We Cover
• Fees of Our Office
• Important Notes When We Work for You
• Privacy Policy
• Office Information 
• Representative’s Profile
• Please Feel Free to Contact Us 
• Special Feature: Recent Situation Surrounding Foreign Residents in Japan (October 2026)
  • Drastic Increase in Fees for Residence Procedures
  • Stricter Requirements for Permanent Residence
  • Stricter Requirements for Status of Residence
  • Requirements for Kika (Naturalization) also become stricter

Link to Feature Pages

You can directly go to the feature page that you are looking for.  Please click the underlined name of the page below to go there.

Applications for Status of Residence

Foreign nationals who want to come to Japan to work, study, or join their family, and foreign nationals who already live in Japan, need different types of status of residence. 

We explain the various applications for medium or long terms residence procedures and the necessary documents for these applications.

You can also move to the following three special pages related to status of residence:

・Statuses of Residence by Type 

・Revocation of Status of Residence

・Deportation

Application for Permanent Residence

Permanent residence is an essential status of residence for foreign nationals who have worked in Japan for many years or who have married a Japanese citizen, and who wish to continue living in Japan for a long time due to various reasons. 

However, after the revision of “Guidelines on Permanent Residency Permits” on October 1st, 2026, the required annual income level was raised drastically. As a result, it has regrettably become something that ordinary foreigners can no longer reach.

Application for Kika (Naturalization)

Japan does not consider it desirable for its citizen to have multiple nationalities.  Therefore, under the Nationality Act, a person who becomes naturalized must give up their original nationality. 

Losing one’s original nationality is a very serious matter in life.  Even so, some foreign nationals hope to naturalize because of their family or business. 

We provide advice to those who wish to apply for kika that is a word for naturalization in Japanese.

Introduction

Our office provides the professional services as a certified administrative procedures legal specialist, i.e., gyosei-shoshi in Japanese, mainly in two fields. 

One field is the work related to applications for status of residence, permanent residence, and kika (naturalization) for foreign nationals, which is introduced on this website. 

The other field is contracts related to family matters. If you are interested, please take a look at its website as well.

Foreign nationals who wish to enter Japan and stay for a medium or long period must obtain a status of residence that suits their activities in Japan (such as work or study) or their position in the family.

Our office handles various applications related to status of residence for foreign nationals, including: Certificate of Eligibility (COE), Change of Status of Residence, Extension of Period of Stay, and Application for Permanent Residence.

We also support foreign nationals who wish to obtain Japanese nationality through the process of “kika” which means naturalization in Japanese.

We always try to work carefully according to each individual case.  And we hope that as many foreign nationals as possible can live in Japan with peace of mind and comfort.

Benefits of Choosing Our Office

– Careful support for each individual case!

– Free online consultation!

– Reasonable service fee structure! 

– Fixed fee with no worry about extra charges! 

– Reliable legal knowledge and research skills!

When Should You Consult a Gyosei-shoshi?

♦ Extension of period of stay for a Thai cook for example

A Thai cook works at a Thai restaurant in Tokyo. If he wants to continue working at the same restaurant and extend his period of stay, preparing the application by himself is not very difficult.

But what if he leaves the Thai restaurant and starts working at a large hotel, cooking not only Thai food but also dishes from many other countries at the hotel’s international buffet?

In such a case, it is better to consult a gyosei-shoshi.

♦ Negative factors that may cause a refusal for change of status of residence or extension of period of stay

Besides changing jobs, many things can happen during your stay in Japan: getting married, paying a fine for a traffic violation, a student becoming a worker, bringing your child from your home country, and many other events.  The longer you stay in Japan, the more things may happen.

However, not all of these events are considered positive by the Immigration Services Agency (and by the regional Immigration Services Bureaus such as the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau that are branches of the Immigration Services Agency).

Sometimes, after you submit your application, the Immigration Bureau may send you a letter called a “Notification to Submit Additional Documents”. 

This letter is sent when your application documents were not enough, or when the Immigration Bureau has questions about your application and needs more explanation.  If you respond incorrectly, the chance of refusal becomes higher.

Also, applications for permanent residence or kika (naturalization) require many different documents. Even if you read the websites of the Immigration Bureau or the Legal Affairs Bureau, it is often difficult to understand exactly what documents you are required.

When you face such situations or something you do not understand or feel worried about, we recommend consulting a gyosei-shoshi.

Work Process

(an example of status of residence application agency service*)

1. Free Consultation	Free one-hour consultation will be conducted via video conference. It can be divided into two sessions upon request.
2. Contract & Payment	After hearing your request, we will send you a quotation. If you agree to the terms and conditions, both parties shall sign the contract, and you are requested to pay our service fee in advance.
3. Conference	In a meeting in person, we will provide you with the list of necessary documents, explain the timeline, and answer your questions.
4. Preparation	We will review contents of the documents received from you, and advise if any further information is needed in addition.
5. Writing Documents	We will fill in an application form and write other documents (such as a statement of reasons), and ask you to review and sign them.
6. Application	On behalf of you, we will act as an intermediary and submit your application to Immigration Bureau.
7. Follow-up	We will take care of questions and requests from Immigration Bureau on behalf of you until the permission is issued.
8. Receiving Permission	We will receive a notification of permission from Immigration Bureau on behalf of you and deliver it to you.

* Application agency means that we submit the application in your name. If corrections to the documents are needed, they will be made only with your approval. This is different from legal representation.

Areas We Cover

♦ Applications for status of residence and permanent residence

The area under the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau (Yokohama Branch Office, Chiba Branch Office, Saitama Branch Office, and other branch offices in major cities in the Kanto area)

♦ Applications for Kika (Naturalization) 

The areas under Tokyo Legal Affairs Bureau, Yokohama District Legal Affairs Bureau, Saitama District Legal Affairs Bureau, and Chiba District Legal Affairs Bureau

Fees of Our Office

 (JP Yen per case, Consumption Tax not included)

APPLICATIONS FOR	FEES
Certificate of Eligibility (COE)	40,000
Change of Status of Residence	45,000
Extension of Period of Stay (workplace was changed)	45,000
Extension of Period of Stay (workplace was not changed)	25,000
Permanent Residence (for company owners, business proprietors, or members of their household)	170,000
Permanent Residence (for persons other than the above)	120,000
Kika (Naturalization – for company owners, business proprietors, or members of their household)	140,000
Kika (Naturalization – for persons other than the above)	90,000
Explanation of Negative Factor* per factor	10,000

Currently, after October 2025, we are not providing application services for the status of residence “Management and Administration.”　

*Negative Factors are the facts that could be the grounds for a refusal of permission, such as violation of laws in the past. Based on the fact, we will prepare an explanatory letter which, for example, explains occurrence of the negative factor was unavoidable due to circumstances beyond one’s control.

♦Other cases, such as family applications

For cases not listed above, we will provide an individual quotation after hearing your needs. Please feel free to contact us.

For example, if a whole family wants to apply together, or if several people want to apply at the same time for the same status of residence, we offer a discount for the second applicant onward.

♦About Payment

・We request you to pay our service fee in full at the time of contract unless in exceptional cases. 

・If a contract is cancelled or terminated before completion of the services, preparation of the application becomes impossible to continue, or the application after its submission is withdrawn due to reasons attributable to the client, no refund will be made.

・If unexpected circumstances occur and extra costs arise, both parties will discuss and decide based on good will and cooperation.

Important Notes When We Work for You

Our office does not support any illegal acts, such as illegal entry, illegal stay, illegal work, fake marriage or forgery of documents.  If we find suspicious points, we may refuse to work for you.

However, for clients who already have problems, we hope that consulting our office will help correct mistakes or violations.

Certified administrative procedures legal specialist, i.e., gyosei-shoshi in Japanese, is a qualification licensed by the country of Japan. We have a duty by law to protect secrets learned during our work. Please, therefore, do not hesitate to consult us if you have problems. We promise to listen to your situation with utmost care.

Privacy Policy

Our office has a privacy policy to protect clients’ personal information and privacy during our work. 

You can read the full privacy policy (in Japanese and English) on the page of Privacy Policy.

Office Information

Name	Tada Gyosei-shoshi Office
Address	3-13-2 Kami-soshigaya, Setagaya, Tokyo 157-0065 Japan
Representative	Tada Masakazu
Mobile	+81-(0)80-4926-9980
Email	info@tada-gyosei.com
Business Hours	Weekdays 9:00 – 18:00
Consultation	Phone call or video meeting can be scheduled outside the above-specified regular business hours, including weekends and holidays.

Representative’s Profile

Name	Tada Masakazu
Qualification	Certified administrative procedures legal specialist, qualified for application agency services (Registration No. 24081082)
Career	After graduating from Keio University (Faculty of Law) in 1988, I worked mainly for a chemical company engaging in international business, including import/export operations and security export control, then established this office in 2024. I lived abroad for 14 years (in the UK and Thailand). A member of NGO ‘Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan’ (SMJ)

Please Feel Free to Contact Us

Our office always tries to work carefully according to each individual case.  If consulting our office helps you find a new possibility, improve your situation, or solve your problems, we would be very happy.

We tried to write this website using everyday words as much as possible.  However, for people who are not familiar with laws or government regulations, some parts may still be difficult to understand.

If so, please do not hesitate to ask questions through Inquiry form.  Or you may call us directly.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Special Feature: Recent Situation Surrounding Foreign Residents in Japan (October 2026)

♦ Drastic Increase in Fees for Residence Procedures

On October 1st, 2026, the Immigration Services Agency carried out an extraordinarily drastic increase in the fees for residence procedures.

♦ Stricter Requirements for Permanent Residence

After the election of the House of Councilors in July 2025, exclusion movements lacking factual basis against foreign residents became active. 

Sadly, in response to this atmosphere, the government and ruling party have been promoting stricter requirements for status of residence and kika (naturalization).

Until now, once a foreign national obtained permanent residence, even if they lost their job or became economically unstable due to divorce or the death of a spouse, they could continue living in Japan without much worry to be expelled from this country. 

However, under the revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, which will take effect on April 1st, 2027, permanent residence may be cancelled if taxes or social insurance premiums are not paid.

From now on, a foreign national who works hard to obtain permanent residence must worry about what will happen if they cannot pay taxes or social insurance due to reasons beyond their control, such as company bankruptcy or long‑term hospitalization.

Moreover, in August 2026, the Immigration Services Agency suddenly announced a revision of the Guidelines on Permanent Residency Permits. Without considering public comments, the revision was enforced on October 1st, 2026. 

The main points are:

(1) The applicant must continuously earn annual income higher than the average income of Japanese households. 

(2) The expected future pension amount must be equal to the level of someone who paid into the Employees’ Pension Insurance (i.e., Kosei-nenkin) for 30 years at the income level mentioned in the above (1). 

(3) The applicant must have Japanese language ability equivalent to CEFR B1 (independent user), equal to JLPT N3–N2 level. 

(4) Except for the first application by foreign nationals who are granted a 3‑year period of stay on or before March 31st, 2027, applicants must have been granted a 5‑year period of stay to become able to apply for permanent residence. 

(5) Children of the applicant who are the ages of compulsory education must attend schools.

Among these, item (1) is effective retroactively from six months prior and applies to applications submitted on or after April 1st, 2026, provided that they were still under examination as of October 1st, 2026.  Items (2) to (5) will apply from April 1st, 2027.

Because of this revision, many foreign nationals who have lived honestly and worked hard in Japan for many years have lost the option of obtaining permanent residence and living peacefully in Japan for the rest of their lives.

For more details, please see the page of Application for Permanent Residence.

♦ Stricter Requirements for Statuses of Residence

In October 2025, the requirements for the status of residence “Management and Administration” were made extremely strict. This caused great impact on foreign nationals who were preparing to start a business in Japan, and on foreign business owners already running small or medium‑sized companies.

The most shocking change was the capital requirement for establishing a company, which was raised from 5 million yen to 30 million yen at once.

For the status of residence “Technical, Humanities, and International Services” (often called “Gijinkoku”), when a foreign national takes a job that requires language skills, they are now required to certify their ability of the language that is going to be used in their job.

Also, for “Gijinkoku”, “Skilled Labor” and similar statuses of residence, when a foreign national is employed by a small or medium‑sized company, and if the company’s representative is also a foreign national, the representative must submit their residence card number.

It seems likely that new conditions will continue to be added to various statuses of residence and make them more and more difficult.

For more details, please see the page of Applications for Status of Residence.

♦ Requirements for Kika (Naturalization) also become stricter

There are some requirements for kika (naturalization) that are easier than those for permanent residence. 

For example, under the Nationality Act, the required period of stay to apply for kika (naturalization) as a general condition, as of October 2026, is “having an address in Japan for five continuous years”. 

However, from April 2026, due to a sudden change in legal interpretation by the Ministry of Justice, the requirement became ten years that is the same as permanent residence.

Normally, legal interpretation may relax a requirement, but should not make it stricter. 

Therefore, this change may possibly be an unlawful interpretation.

Also, in the past, tax payment certificates and social‑insurance payment certificates only for the previous one year were required. Since April 2026, however, tax payment certificates for the past five years and social‑insurance payment certificates for the past two years have been required. The extension of these required periods was made in accordance with the requirements for permanent residence.

Kika (naturalization) and permanent residence are fundamentally different systems.  It seems inappropriate to compare them and say requirements of which should be easier or stricter.

For more details, please see the page of Application for Kika (Naturalization).