Japan Immigration News

(Japan Today)Is permanent residency in Japan still worth it? Pros and cons

Release Date: 2026-08-28
Media: Japan Today
Summary: The article questions whether permanent residency (PR) in Japan remains as attractive as it once was. Traditionally, PR has offered major advantages, including freedom to change jobs or start a business, easier access to mortgages, exemption from repeated visa renewals, and the ability to retain one’s original nationality.

However, recent reforms are changing the calculation. Japan plans to raise the PR approval fee from ¥10,000 to ¥200,000 and introduce broader grounds for revocation, particularly for intentional and repeated non-payment of taxes or social security contributions, serious crimes, and residency fraud. PR is therefore an administrative permission rather than an unconditional or irrevocable right.

The article also argues that obtaining PR is becoming more demanding and costly. Applicants may face stricter expectations concerning tax and social insurance records, income, Japanese-language ability, pension contributions and financial stability. Maintaining eligibility can also influence career choices and create significant opportunity costs.

PR may have less obvious disadvantages as well. Acquiring status-based residence such as PR can expose certain overseas assets to Japanese inheritance tax. In addition, immigration authorities may move toward requiring a five-year period of stay for PR applications, creating uncertainty for people repeatedly granted only one- or three-year periods.

Finally, the article compares PR with naturalization. Since naturalization generally requires five years of residence while standard PR normally requires ten, foreigners planning to remain permanently in Japan may increasingly need to consider whether retaining their original nationality through PR outweighs the stronger legal security associated with Japanese citizenship.
Tags: Permanent Resident

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