[Blog]Residence = Permission, Permanent Residence = Recognition, Nationality = Membership in the State — Understanding the Relationship Between Foreign Residents and the State in Three Stages —

2026-09-01

1. The Relationship Between Foreign Residents and the State Is Not Uniform

When a foreign national lives in another country, the relationship between that person and the state does not take a single form. A short-term visitor, a person working for a specific purpose, a student, a person living with family, a long-settled permanent resident, and a person who has acquired nationality each have different legal and social relationships with the state.

Yet debates about immigration policy often treat all of these people together. When tourists, workers, students, permanent residents, refugees, and even naturalized former foreign nationals are discussed under the single category of “foreigners,” the purposes of institutions, the responsibilities expected of individuals, and the degree of stability that should be guaranteed become difficult to distinguish.

The Balanced Coexistence Model therefore proposes a basic framework for understanding the relationship between foreign residents and the state: “Residence = Permission, Permanent Residence = Recognition, Nationality = Membership in the State.” This framework is not intended as a legal definition capable of explaining every status or system. Rather, it provides a way to understand how the relationship between the state and an individual can deepen over time and through participation in society.

2. Residence Is “Permission” Granted by the State

A residence status is a legal framework through which the state permits a foreign national to remain in the country under specified conditions. Employment, study, family relationships, business management, professional skills, and humanitarian circumstances are among the purposes for which residence may be permitted, with the scope of permitted activities and the period of stay determined accordingly.

In this sense, residence can be understood as “permission” by the state. Permission here does not mean reluctantly tolerating the presence of a foreign national. It means that the state, based on its immigration policy, makes a legal determination that “this person may live and engage in activities within the country for this purpose and under these conditions.”

Residence status therefore carries conditions. A work-based status requires consistency between the authorized status and the person's actual activities. A student status requires a genuine relationship with study. A period of stay is generally specified, and upon renewal the authorities may examine whether the relevant conditions continue to be satisfied.

At the residence stage, the relationship between the foreign national and the state therefore remains conditional. The individual participates in society, while the state periodically reviews whether the basis for residence continues to exist. Residence can thus be understood as a relationship in which the state says, “Under these conditions, your presence and activities within this society are permitted.”

3. Permission Requires Explainability

Even if the state has authority to determine whether entry and residence should be permitted, this does not mean that such decisions should be entirely unconstrained or incomprehensible. If foreign residents cannot understand what activities are permitted, what conditions must be satisfied for renewal, or what conduct may create problems, they cannot plan their lives with reasonable stability.

For permission to contribute to trust, its conditions must be explained, decisions must be reasonably consistent, and future outcomes must be sufficiently predictable. Precisely because residence is conditional, individuals need to understand what they must do in order to maintain it.

If standards change suddenly, similar circumstances produce substantially different decisions, or renewal becomes entirely unpredictable, residence status ceases to function as a stable foundation for life and instead becomes a continuing source of anxiety.

This is why the Balanced Coexistence Model emphasizes transparency, consistency, predictability, and explainability. Permission by the state functions as a legitimate institution only when its boundaries can be understood.

4. Permanent Residence Is “Recognition”

Permanent residence is more than a system that eliminates the need to renew a period of stay. It can be understood as institutional recognition by the state that a foreign national has established a lasting relationship with society through years of lawful residence, employment, tax payments, participation in social insurance, family life, and community ties.

In this sense, permanent residence represents “recognition.” At the residence stage, the state permits the foreign national to engage in activities for a particular purpose and under particular conditions. With permanent residence, a more enduring relationship is formed: “You are a person whose future life is expected to continue within this society.”

Recognition does not mean unconditional acceptance of every form of conduct. Permanent residents remain subject to laws and social responsibilities. The essential significance of permanent residence lies instead in substantially removing the temporal uncertainty associated with limited periods of stay and recognizing the individual's ability to build a long-term relationship with society.

5. Permanent Residence Changes the Time Horizon

The difference between a time-limited residence status and permanent residence is not merely a matter of what appears on a residence card. It changes the time horizon through which individuals can plan their lives.

For a person who cannot be certain whether they will still be able to live in Japan several years later, buying a home, developing a long-term career, investing in a business, planning children's education, or participating deeply in the local community all involve uncertainty. Greater stability through permanent residence allows individuals to make plans over a much longer period.

This also affects society. Employers can invest in long-term human-resource development. Financial institutions can more readily establish long-term relationships such as housing finance. Local communities can begin to see the person not as someone who may soon leave, but as a resident who is likely to remain part of the community in the future.

Recognition through permanent residence therefore provides stability not only to the individual. It also creates institutional conditions for longer and deeper relationships between that individual and society.

6. Recognition Comes with Mutual Obligations

Recognition by society does not mean that rights expand while responsibilities disappear. As an individual's relationship with society becomes more enduring, responsibilities toward that society also become clearer.

Permanent residents may reasonably be expected to comply with laws, fulfill applicable tax and social insurance obligations, and live within the rules of society. At the same time, the state should provide permanent residents with a stable legal position and, when significant institutional changes are introduced, adequately explain their reasons and consequences.

This symmetry lies at the heart of the principle of mutual obligations emphasized by the Balanced Coexistence Model. Integration cannot mean demanding only that foreign residents adapt to society. Once the state has recognized a person as permanently settled, the state also assumes responsibility for providing a reasonably consistent and predictable institutional environment.

Permanent residence therefore does not mean only that foreign residents trust the state, nor only that the state trusts foreign residents. It is a stage at which reciprocal trust and responsibility are institutionalized.

7. Nationality Is “Membership in the State”

Permanent residence and nationality must be clearly distinguished. Permanent residents may become enduring members of society, but their legal position is not identical to that of nationals.

Nationality is not merely a mechanism for stabilizing a person's right to live within the country. It is the legal status through which the individual becomes a member of the state itself. Participation in political decision-making as a citizen and a complete legal relationship of belonging to the state place nationality on a different level from permanent residence.

It is therefore inaccurate to argue either that “someone who has lived here for a long time is completely equivalent to a national” or that “someone who retains foreign nationality must always remain a temporary presence.” A permanent resident may become an enduring member of the society in which they live without acquiring nationality. Membership in the political and legal body of the state, however, remains distinguished through nationality.

Clarifying this distinction prevents permanent residence from being treated as a substitute for nationality while also preventing permanent residents from being treated as though they were merely temporary residents.

8. Residence, Permanent Residence, and Nationality Are Connected but Not Identical

Residence, permanent residence, and nationality are distinct legal statuses. Yet when viewed as stages in the development of the relationship between an individual and the state, they also display a degree of continuity.

At the residence stage, the state conditionally permits the person's presence and activities. At the permanent residence stage, the state recognizes an enduring social relationship based on the person's record of settlement. Through nationality, the state accepts the individual as a member of the state itself.

From permission to recognition, and from recognition to membership in the state. This progression does not occur automatically merely through the passage of time. The relationship may be shaped by lawful residence, social participation, compliance with laws, family relationships, and broader ties with society.

At the same time, the responsibilities of the state also change. As the relationship deepens, the state has greater reason to respect the life that the individual has built in reliance on existing institutions and to provide a higher degree of legal stability.

9. Moving Beyond the Single Category of “Foreigners”

This three-stage framework is important because it exposes the limitations of discussing policy through the single category of “foreigners.”

A short-term visitor who entered yesterday and a permanent resident who has lived in Japan for thirty years, raised a family, worked, and paid taxes have fundamentally different legal and social relationships with the state. Treating both simply as “foreigners” obscures the differences in policy that their respective circumstances require.

A newly arrived resident may need assistance understanding institutions and everyday rules. Long-term residents may need policies that support stability and participation in society. Permanent residents require institutional design that reflects their enduring position within society. A person who has acquired Japanese nationality is no longer an object of immigration policy but a member of the Japanese state.

Precise immigration policy therefore requires attention not only to whether someone possesses foreign nationality, but also to the depth and nature of that person's relationship with society.

10. Recognition Once Granted Should Not Be Treated Lightly

This framework leads to an important principle concerning permanent residence. Once the state has moved its relationship with an individual to the stage of “recognition,” it should exercise caution before destabilizing that status as though it were equivalent to an ordinary time-limited residence status.

Permanent residents are not exempt from legal responsibility for serious unlawful conduct. Nevertheless, once the state has evaluated years of residence and recognized an individual's permanent settlement, a degree of protection for legitimate reliance should accompany that status.

Permanent residents organize their housing, employment, family life, children's education, and community relationships on the assumption that this recognition provides long-term stability. If institutional changes substantially alter that stability, the state should clearly explain why the change is necessary, what conduct may affect the status, and how existing permanent residents will be treated.

Recognition by the state therefore also creates a degree of self-restraint for the state itself. This is essential to preserving trust in institutions.

11. The Three Stages Can Also Be Understood as a Deepening of Trust

The three stages of residence, permanent residence, and nationality can also be understood as stages through which trust between the individual and the state deepens.

At the residence stage, the state permits activities under specified conditions, while the foreign resident builds a record by complying with those conditions. At the permanent residence stage, the state responds to that accumulated record by providing greater stability for the future, while the permanent resident continues to fulfill responsibilities as an enduring member of society. Through nationality, a legal and political relationship of membership in the state itself is established.

The important point is that trust is not one-directional. Foreign residents should not be the only ones required to demonstrate that they deserve trust. The state must also accumulate trust by administering institutions consistently, preserving the stability it has promised, and explaining its decisions.

Within the Balanced Coexistence Model, the framework “Residence = Permission, Permanent Residence = Recognition, Nationality = Membership in the State” is not intended to rank people. Its purpose is to clarify how the relationship between the individual and the state differs at each stage, what rights and responsibilities arise, and what degree of stability should accompany each relationship.

Permission requires understandable conditions. Recognition requires long-term stability and mutual obligations. Membership in the state entails full political and legal belonging. Distinguishing these relationships while designing institutions appropriate to their depth provides a foundation for immigration, permanent residence, and nationality policies built on trust.