Already a permanent resident

ISA’s current PR guideline says that taxes and premiums paid by the time you apply still count against you, as a rule, if they weren’t paid within the original period. The October 2026 guideline keeps that approach: past non-payment can count even if nothing is unpaid on the day you apply.

The self-check sheet you hand in with a PR application asks about on-time payment over the years your route looks back on, and one No makes refusal more likely. Asked how far back it looks at arrears, ISA said it checks as far as payment records can be confirmed, and that it can’t give a single rule because it looks at each applicant’s circumstances.

Due dates depend on the bill:

• Resident tax on slips comes in four instalments a year. Your notice shows the dates. In Shinjuku, for example, they fall at the end of June, August, October and January.
• National Pension is due on the last day of the month after the month it covers.
• National Health Insurance follows a schedule your city sets.

Renewals are less strict for now. ISA’s renewal guideline counts large or long-running arrears in serious cases, but the government plans to give ISA electronic access to health insurance and pension records.

ISA says the target is a small number of serious cases. A single forgotten duty isn’t enough, and it expects most cases to end in a change to another status, usually Long-Term Resident, rather than removal. The tracker explains what counts as deliberate.

If your employer deducts resident tax, health insurance and pension from your salary, there’s nothing to set up. Your payslip shows it: look for 住民税, 健康保険 and 厚生年金.

If any of them reaches you as a paper slip, ask to move it to direct debit. Your city office handles resident tax and National Health Insurance, and your pension office handles National Pension.

A debit that fails is a missed payment, so keep the money in the account on the debit date. Keep your bank statements too, since they show the date each payment went out. After a move, ask your new city office how to set the debits up again.

If you work for a company, check your payslip for 健康保険 and 厚生年金. If they aren’t there and you think they should be, ask your employer.

If you’re not covered through work, register for National Health Insurance at your city office within 14 days of becoming eligible. If you’re 20 to 59, join National Pension there too. A spouse supported by someone on the Employees’ Pension may be covered as a Category 3 member instead, through that person’s employer.

ISA asks for payment records from every pension and health scheme you were in over the period it checks, so a gap in enrolment will show there too.

Not carrying it can bring a fine of up to ¥200,000. Refusing to show it can bring up to 1 year in prison or the same fine.

If you lose it, apply for a new one at a regional immigration office within 14 days of finding out. If you lose it abroad, the 14 days start on the day you return to Japan.

Check the date on your own card, because the rule has changed. Under the current rule, a new card runs to your 10th birthday after it’s issued, or your 5th if you’re under 18.

If you’ll be abroad for the whole 3 months, you can ask to apply earlier. Parents apply for children under 16.

Missing the deadline can bring up to 1 year in prison or a fine of up to ¥200,000. ISA says it doesn’t expect to revoke PR because someone forgot once, but renew as soon as you notice.

The National Tax Agency says employees generally have to file if any of these apply, unless filing would only bring a refund:

• salary over ¥20 million in the year
• one employer, and over ¥200,000 of other income
• two or more employers, and over ¥200,000 in total of other income plus pay that wasn’t year-end adjusted

Anyone self-employed should expect to file too.

ISA’s revocation guideline treats not filing a return you clearly had to file as a form of not paying. PR applicants also have to show that no national tax is unpaid.

Filing your move-in notice at the new city office, with your residence card, also counts as telling ISA.

A move also changes who bills you:

• Resident tax is charged by the city where you lived on 1 January, so keep paying the slips you already have.
• Set up National Health Insurance and any direct debits again at the new city.
• Tax certificates for past years still come from the city you lived in on 1 January of that year.

If you aren’t going straight to a new employer:

• Join National Pension at your city office within 14 days of leaving.
• Join National Health Insurance within 14 days.
• Watch the post for resident tax. What’s left for the year usually moves to a tax notice your city sends you, and those dates are yours to meet. There are exceptions: if you start a new job straight away, you can ask to keep it deducted from your salary, and if you leave between January and April it can usually be taken from your final pay.

You’ll need proof for these months later. ISA asks for payment records for any period resident tax wasn’t deducted from your salary, and for every pension and health scheme you were in.

Tell the officer when you leave that you’re using special re-entry (みなし再入国). It lasts 1 year from departure, or until your period of stay ends if that’s sooner, and you can’t extend it from abroad.

If you might be away longer, get a regular re-entry permit before you go. It can last up to 5 years, within your period of stay. Leave without either and your status and period of stay end.

Bills keep coming while you’re away. Set up direct debit before you go, or arrange for someone to pay them.

If you’re working toward PR or naturalisation, check the limits on time abroad first.

A payment plan doesn’t erase a late payment, but ISA’s PR revocation guideline treats a plan or deferral as a sign that non-payment isn’t deliberate, as long as you keep to the agreed dates. It also doesn’t treat non-payment as deliberate when there’s an unavoidable reason such as illness, a disaster or losing your job.

For National Pension, you can apply for an exemption or deferral up to 2 years and 1 month back. Apply early: the Japan Pension Service warns that a late application can leave you without disability or survivors’ cover.

ISA’s Q&A for Specified Skilled Workers gives a similar order: go to the pension office, tax office or city office first, and if there’s a real reason you can’t pay before an application, talk to ISA before you apply.

Apply at your regional immigration office. If both parents are foreign nationals, being born in Japan doesn’t make the child Japanese, so report the birth to your home country as well.