Residence Status (Zairyu Shikaku) Renewal and Permanent Residency Fees Are Rising — the October 2026 Draft and Why the Filing Date Matters

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 is set to rise further — a draft ordinance for 1 October 2026 scales the fee to the length of stay granted: 33,000 yen for one year, 48,000 for one to three years
• It is not final yet — amounts and the start date are fixed only when the ordinance is promulgated
• 🔴 The rate follows the date your application is received. That was how the 2025 change worked, so if your card expires soon, filing early may keep you on the current fee

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

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

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. Section 3 rests on that.

2. The 1 October 2026 draft (⚠️ not final)

Status: draft ordinance · as of 2026-08-12 · fixed on promulgation

Public comment ran from 3 July to 2 August 2026. The amounts and start date below are confirmed when the ordinance is promulgated and may change before then.

The fee would scale with the period of stay granted.

Five-year permissions are reported at around 70,000 yen, and permanent residence at around 200,000 yen (per the draft and press reporting).

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 receipt 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

⚠️ Whether the 2026 ordinance uses the same receipt-date basis has to be confirmed in the promulgated text. What is established is that the 2025 revision did. The same approach is likely but not certain.

⚠️ 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 (9,000 online), and the draft is reported at around 200,000 yen — twenty times over, so the decision carries different weight from 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. How to check

• The Immigration Services Agency page 「在留手続等に関する手数料の改定」 is the primary source
• Promulgation appears in the official gazette (官報) or on that same page
• 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 2026-08-12 from public sources — Immigration Services Agency publications and reporting on the draft ordinance. The October 2026 amounts are pre-promulgation, not final, and may change. Assessing an individual case or filing on someone's behalf is work reserved to certified professionals such as an administrative scrivener (gyoseishoshi) — consult one about your own circumstances.