Can Foreigners Use NISA? The Complete Guide
The short answer: yes, foreigners can open a NISA
NISA has no nationality requirement. Anyone 18 or older (precisely: 18 as of January 1 of the year you open the account) with a registered address in Japan (juminhyo) can open one. What matters is not your passport but the fact that you are a resident of Japan.
The new NISA in a nutshell (2024–)
- Tsumitate (installment) quota: ¥1.2M/year — investment trusts for long-term monthly investing
- Growth quota: ¥2.4M/year — stocks and investment trusts
- Up to ¥3.6M/year combined, lifetime tax-free limit of ¥18M (growth quota max ¥12M of that)
- Tax-free forever — the 20.315% tax on capital gains and dividends becomes zero
Invest ¥30,000/month at 5% for 10 years and you end up with about ¥4.66M — all yours, no tax. 👉 Run the numbers for your situation
What you need to open one
- Residence card — with plenty of validity left (broker-specific requirements: SBI and Monex require 2+ months remaining, Rakuten 3+ months — checked July 2026)
- Resident registration (a Japanese address)
- My Number (notification card or My Number card)
- A Japanese bank account
The flow: pick a broker → apply for an account → tax-office NISA screening → set up your investments. Note that the application route for foreigners differs by broker. At major brokers like SBI and Monex, foreigners cannot apply online and must open the account by mail only (DMM Kabu is an exception with online opening — checked July 2026). When requesting the mail-in forms, don't miss the residence-status/ foreign-national checkbox — otherwise you'll receive the forms for Japanese nationals and have to call and request the correct set. Having copies of your residence card and My Number card (both sides) ready speeds things up.
Screening takes 1–2 business weeks; budget 3+ weeks from application to your first actual investment.
Three things foreigners especially need to know
1. If you might leave Japan
NISA is strictly for residents of Japan. Once you leave and become a non-resident, no new contributions are possible, and account treatment varies by broker (from forced closure to limited holding periods). If your departure is for unavoidable reasons like a job transfer, filing a keizoku tekiyo todokedesho before departure can let you keep holdings for up to 5 years, but only some institutions support it (Rakuten, Nomura, and a few others), and you cannot buy anything new while abroad (checked July 2026). If a return home within 1–2 years is certain, consider more liquid options than NISA. Conversely, if your departure date is genuinely undecided, postponing the tax benefit because you "might leave someday" can be the bigger opportunity cost.
2. If you are a US citizen or green-card holder
The US taxes citizens on worldwide income, and Japanese investment trusts are classified as PFICs under US tax law and taxed punitively. Japan's NISA tax exemption is not recognized by US taxation. If you are a US person, look first at channels that support US tax reporting, such as Interactive Brokers, rather than a regular Japanese broker's NISA.
3. One NISA, one broker
You can hold a NISA account at only one broker per year. Moving later is possible but tedious, so choose carefully from the start. 👉 Broker comparison for foreigners
FAQ
Q. Can I open one without strong Japanese?
Most brokers are Japanese-only. English support is limited (partial at Monex, full at Interactive Brokers), and other languages are effectively unsupported. Keep Japanizen's NISA guide open as you go.
Q. Do I need to be a company employee?
No. There is no income requirement — students (18+), homemakers, and the self-employed can all open one.
Q. I heard there's a system to get taxes back when you return home?
That's not NISA — that's the pension lump-sum withdrawal system. 👉 The complete lump-sum withdrawal guide