Residence Status (Zairyu Shikaku) Renewal and Permanent Residency Fees Are Rising — In Force 1 October 2026, and Why Your Filing Date Decides the Amount

The short version

• It has already risen — renewal of period of stay has been 6,000 yen (5,500 online) since April 2025, not the old 4,000
• It rises again on 1 October 2026 (promulgated, confirmed) — the fee scales to the length of stay granted: 33,000 yen for one year, 75,000 for five years or more. Permanent residence is 200,000 yen, twenty times the current fee
• There is a reduction and exemption scheme — for applicants in financial hardship or other special circumstances (section 5 below)
• How you pay online changes on 1 October too — revenue stamps are no longer accepted; convenience store or bank payment instead, with a transaction fee on top
• 🔴 The fee follows the date you file. Apply by 30 September 2026 and you pay the current fee even if permission is granted later, so if your card expires soon, filing early is worth considering

1. What already changed (in force since 1 April 2025)

This is when the 500-yen discount for online filing first appeared.

Note that permanent residence cannot be filed online — it is not among the procedures the Immigration Services Agency lists as available online. The online column applies to the procedures that can be filed that way. 👉 See registering for the online system.

The Immigration Services Agency stated the basis plainly: the revised fee applies to applications received on or after 1 April 2025, and anything received by 31 March stayed on the old fee even if permission was granted later. The trigger is the receipt date, not the decision date. The 2026 revision works the same way, and that is not inferred from this precedent — the promulgated text says so (section 3).

2. The new fees in force from 1 October 2026 (ordinance promulgated)

Status: confirmed · verified 2026-08-28

Amounts from the Immigration Services Agency's notice on the 1 October 2026 fee revision and its official leaflet. The draft consulted on in July was promulgated unchanged.

The fee would scale with the period of stay granted.

Permanent residence is 200,000 yen — twenty times the current 10,000. It cannot be applied for online, so only the counter fee applies.

⚠️ Online applications carry a separate transaction fee. From 1 October the online fee cannot be paid by revenue stamp; it is convenience store or bank payment (internet banking works). Counter applications still use revenue stamps.

For scale, the immigration bill approved by cabinet on 10 March 2026 raises the statutory ceiling from 10,000 to 100,000 yen for changes and renewals, and from 10,000 to 300,000 yen for permanent residence. A ceiling is not the fee, but the direction is unambiguous.

⚠️ You cannot know which band applies when you file. The fee depends on the period actually granted, and whether that is one year or three is the outcome of the review.

3. 🔴 The filing date is where the money is decided

Renewal applications are accepted from roughly three months before your expiry date (for those holding a period of stay of six months or more; earlier is possible with special circumstances such as hospitalisation or a long business trip).

Put the two together.

If your period of stay expires by the end of December 2026, you can file in September, and once the application is received the current 6,000 yen applies. File on or after 1 October and it is 33,000 yen for a one-year permission — a 27,000-yen difference from timing alone.

If your expiry is January 2027 or later, the three-month rule means you cannot file in September. You fall under the new fees.

• Expiring October 2026 → you can already file
• Expiring November–December 2026 → filing in September is possible; get the documents ready in advance
• Expiring January 2027 or later → nothing to bring forward

👉 Enter your expiry date to see the earliest date you can file and which fee band applies — period-of-stay renewal calculator

✅ Confirmed in the promulgated text. The agency states that for applications made by 30 September 2026, the pre-revision fee applies even if permission is granted on or after 1 October. What counts is the date you file, not the date you are approved.

⚠️ An incomplete file is not accepted. Moving the date forward achieves nothing if the application cannot be received.

4. Permanent residence is a separate calculation

Permanent residence is currently 10,000 yen, and from 1 October 2026 it is 200,000 yen — twenty times over, so the decision carries different weight than a renewal.

But unlike renewal there is no "three months before expiry" window; instead, the application only makes sense once you meet the requirements (ten years of residence as a rule, shortened by points under the highly skilled professional system). Filing before you qualify, to beat a fee, means a refusal and no refund.

If you already qualify and had been putting the application off, then yes — there is now a reason to move.

📌 Special permanent residents are outside all of this. They have no period of stay to renew, and hold a special permanent resident certificate rather than a residence card.

👉 Whether points under the highly skilled professional system shorten the residency requirement can be checked with the HSP points calculator.

5. Reduction and exemption of the fee

Under Article 67(3) of the amended Immigration Control Act, applicants facing financial hardship or other special circumstances may have the fee for a change of status, an extension of stay, or permanent residence reduced or waived. Who qualifies is set out in Article 25(2) of the amended enforcement order, and the agency publishes guidelines on the cases likely to fall within it.

⚠️ Whether you qualify depends on your own circumstances. This article goes no further than saying the scheme exists — check the agency's dedicated page (section 6 below) and, if needed, a certified specialist.

6. How to check

• The Immigration Services Agency page 「令和８年１０月１日付け在留許可手数料の額の改定等について」 is the primary source (Japanese and English posters, leaflets and a Q&A can be downloaded from it)
• For reductions and exemptions, see the agency's 「在留許可手数料の減額措置又は免除措置について」
• Your own expiry date is printed on the front of your residence card
• Online filing is cheaper than the counter but needs prior user registration — factor that time in if you intend to file soon

Checklist

1. Have you checked the expiry date on your residence card?
2. Is it on or before the end of December 2026? (If so, consider filing in September)
3. Are you within three months of expiry? (If not, the application cannot be received yet)
4. Are your documents ready? (Without acceptance, filing early achieves nothing)
5. If filing online, have you completed user registration?

This is general information compiled on 2026-08-28 from the Immigration Services Agency's notice on the 1 October 2026 fee revision and its official leaflet. The amounts are confirmed by the promulgated ordinance. Judging individual cases — including whether a reduction applies — and filing on someone's behalf is work reserved to certified specialists such as gyoseishoshi — please consult a professional about your own circumstances.