Foreigners’ Residence Status Fees: Is a Significant Increase Reasonable?

Editorial

15:00 JST, May 14, 2026

When foreign nationals living in Japan wish to extend their period of stay, they must renew their status of residence or change the status itself. The government intends to significantly raise the cap on fees for these procedures.

The government states that the aim is to allocate these funds to initiatives such as enhancing Japanese language education, with the goal of achieving a society of harmonious coexistence with foreigners. If implemented, this would be the first increase in 45 years. Given the rising cost of living and other factors, a review of these fees is understandable.

However, the increase proposed by the government is so steep that it must be described as abrupt. It is necessary to closely examine the proposed hike to ensure it does not place an excessive burden on foreigners.

The government has submitted a bill to the Diet to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law, with the central pillar being an increase in fees for residence status screening, and the bill is currently under deliberation.

The bill proposes raising the cap on fees for renewing or changing residence status from the current ¥10,000 to ¥100,000. In addition, the maximum fee for applying for permanent residence would be revised from ¥10,000 to ¥300,000.

The actual fee for renewing or changing residence status is currently set at ¥6,000. The government plans to establish the specific amounts via government ordinance based on the length of stay after the revision bill is passed.

For example, if a foreign certified care worker applies for a one-year extension of their period of stay to continue the same job, a fee of about ¥30,000 is expected to be charged.

If a foreign student who has secured employment with a company applies for a five-year residence permit by requesting a change of status to that of engineer or other professional, the fee would be about ¥70,000.

Some Japanese companies view foreigners as “cheap labor” and hire them at low wages. For foreigners with low incomes, an increase in the cost of these essential procedures for working in Japan will be a significant blow.

While it is the government’s responsibility to create a comfortable living environment for foreigners — who are valuable contributors to society — there are also notable cases of the current system being abused.

Last year, the government raised the required capital for obtaining a “business manager visa” to “¥30 million or more,” a six-fold increase from the previous amount. This was done because a spate of cases was confirmed in which individuals had come to Japan on this visa, yet the companies they established had no actual operations.

As a result of tightening the requirements to obtain the visa, the number of applications dropped by an average of 96% per month. This is believed to have been effective in preventing fraudulent applications.

It is quite natural to deal strictly with foreigners who do not follow the rules. However, the government must not fall into xenophobia that unnecessarily views foreigners as hostile.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, May 14, 2026)