TOKYO — Japan sharply raised fees for permanent residency and related immigration procedures as of Oct. 1, with some permanent-residency costs rising about twentyfold, as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government tightens rules amid a record foreign-resident population, the BBC reported.
Applicants now face new income, pension and Japanese-language requirements alongside higher fees. Status-change and stay-extension fees that once stood around 6,000 yen now range from about 10,000 yen for short stays to 75,000 yen for five years or more, with hardship and refugee discounts. Long lines formed at Tokyo’s main immigration bureau this week as people tried to file before the hikes, with waits over seven hours reported.
Japan’s foreign-resident population surpassed 4.12 million at the end of 2025, up 9.5 percent year on year, even as an ageing society leans on foreign labour. Takaichi has made orderly immigration management a priority and, in an X post ahead of the fee changes, acknowledged public “concern or unfairness” while pledging that Japanese citizens and foreign residents can live safely. Visa fees were already raised fivefold in July — the first such hike in 50 years.
Sources: BBC News
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