iDeCo for Foreigners in Japan: Locked Until 60, and the Exit

Last updated: 30 August 2026

Once you start a job and join the company insurance scheme, a colleague may ask whether you are doing iDeCo. For a Japanese employee it is usually a good deal.

For someone who might go home one day, the terms are different. This guide covers only that difference.

What iDeCo is, and whether foreign nationals can join

iDeCo (individual-type defined contribution pension) is a private pension where you pay the contributions, you choose the investments, and you collect the result in old age. It sits alongside the public pension, and joining is voluntary.

The official site puts it this way:

Broadly, people aged 20 to under 65 who are insured under the public pension may join… contributions can be made until age 65… and as a rule, assets cannot be withdrawn until you turn 60.

iDeCo official site (National Pension Fund Association) – translated from the Japanese original

The condition is being insured under the public pension. Nationality is not mentioned. If you work in Japan and are enrolled in Employees’ Pension Insurance, you can join.

Contributions are fully deductible from income, and investment gains are untaxed. As a scheme it is well built. That is not where the problem is.

Locked until 60 – and that collides with going home

This is the part that matters.

Say you start iDeCo at 28 and move home at 33. That money stays in a Japanese account, untouchable as a rule, until you are 60. Twenty-seven years.

Not when you buy a house back home. Not when something happens to your family. “Locked until retirement” and “locked on the other side of the world for 27 years” are not the same sentence.

The exit: seven conditions for the lump-sum withdrawal

Leaving Japan does not freeze the money forever. There is a lump-sum withdrawal payment. But you must satisfy all seven conditions.

As published by iDeCo (the legal basis is Article 3(1) of the Supplementary Provisions of the Defined Contribution Pension Act):

1. Under 60
2. Not a member of a corporate defined contribution plan
3. Being a person who cannot join iDeCo (such as those exempt from National Pension contributions, or foreign nationals living abroad)
4. Not a Japanese national living abroad (aged 20 to under 60)
5. Not entitled to disability benefits
6. A total contribution period of 5 years or less, OR assets of 250,000 yen or less
7. Within 2 years of the date you last lost membership

Conditions 3 and 4 favour foreign nationals

This is a genuinely unusual piece of design. Here, foreign nationals have the advantage.

Eligibility for iDeCo requires being insured under the public pension, and leaving Japan normally ends that. But the National Pension Act allows voluntary enrolment, and it is written like this:

Persons of Japanese nationality and others specified by Cabinet Order, aged 20 to under 65, who do not have an address in Japan

National Pension Act, Supplementary Provisions Article 5(1)(iii) – who may enrol voluntarily. Translated from the Japanese original

Voluntary enrolment is, as a rule, for Japanese nationals. Which produces this split:

• A Japanese national living abroad: can still enrol voluntarily, so remains “a person who can join” – fails conditions 3 and 4 – cannot claim the lump sum
• A foreign national who has gone home: outside voluntary enrolment, so meets 3 and 4 automatically – can claim the lump sum

The claim form (K-016) carries a category reading “other (persons without Japanese nationality residing overseas, etc.)” along with fields for an overseas address and country name. The scheme was built expecting foreign residents to use this route.

The real gate is conditions 6 and 7

Meeting 3 and 4 automatically still leaves two hard ones.

The minimum contribution is 5,000 yen a month. Even at the minimum, five years exceeds 300,000 yen. “It is only a small amount” does not hold.

This is not the same as the pension lump-sum withdrawal

Two different schemes share almost the same name. Keeping them apart matters.

	Public pension lump sum	iDeCo lump sum
Covers	National / Employees’ Pension contributions	Assets you built in iDeCo
Claim from	Japan Pension Service	Record-keeping institution
Deadline	2 years from departure	2 years from loss of membership
Cap	Capped number of contribution months	5 years or less, or 250,000 yen or less

If both apply to you, claim both separately. Doing one does not cover the other. The public pension side is covered in our guide to the lump-sum withdrawal payment.

So how should you decide?

We will not tell you to join or not to join. Here are the materials.

If you know you are going home. Start from whether it makes sense to park money in Japan that you cannot touch until 60. NISA is also a residents-only scheme, but NISA can be sold for cash at any time. That difference is large.

If you intend to stay long term. With permanent residence or naturalisation in view, the age-60 lock weighs the same on you as on anyone else, and the income deduction works the same way.

If you do not know yet. That is most people. “Not starting while it is unclear” is a real decision, not indecision. iDeCo can be started later – after your income rises with a job and life settles down.

What to do today

1. If iDeCo has been suggested at work and you might leave Japan, put it on hold. Declining is not rude
2. If you are already enrolled, check your contribution period and your asset total. While either stays under 5 years or 250,000 yen, the exit is open
3. Once your departure is decided, arrange the claim before you fly. The window is 2 years

Frequently asked questions

Q. Can foreigners join iDeCo in Japan?
Yes. The condition is being aged 20 to under 65 and insured under the public pension. Nationality is not a condition, so working in Japan with Employees’ Pension Insurance qualifies you.

Q. What happens to my iDeCo if I leave Japan?
As a rule you cannot withdraw before 60, but meeting all seven conditions allows a lump-sum withdrawal payment. Two of them – being someone who cannot join iDeCo, and not being a Japanese national abroad – are met automatically by foreign nationals who have gone home.

Q. Why can Japanese citizens not claim the iDeCo lump sum?
Because voluntary enrolment in the National Pension (Supplementary Provisions Article 5(1)(iii)) is written for persons of Japanese nationality. Still being able to enrol means still being “a person who can join,” which fails the conditions.

Q. Is the iDeCo lump sum the same as the pension lump-sum withdrawal?
No. They are separate schemes with different claim routes – the Japan Pension Service for the public pension, the record-keeping institution for iDeCo. If both apply, claim each one.

Q. I have contributed for more than 5 years. Can I still withdraw?
Condition 6 is 5 years or less OR assets of 250,000 yen or less, so meeting either one works. If you are past both, you wait until 60 as a rule.

Q. iDeCo or NISA if I might go home?
As schemes: NISA can be sold and converted to cash at any time, while iDeCo is locked until 60 as a rule. Which suits you depends on your circumstances, and NISA is also limited to people resident in Japan.

Summary

• iDeCo has no nationality condition. The requirement is public pension enrolment
• Locked until 60 as a rule. If you might leave Japan, do not sign up without thinking it through
• The exit is the lump-sum withdrawal. Of the seven conditions, 3 and 4 are met automatically by foreign nationals (Japanese citizens can enrol voluntarily, so they cannot use this)
• The gate is condition 6 (5 years or 250,000 yen) and condition 7 (2 years). Contributing longer closes the exit
• Separate from the public pension lump sum. If both apply, claim both

Official sources: iDeCo official site (National Pension Fund Association), eligibility and contributions / benefits and the lump-sum withdrawal conditions / e-Gov, Defined Contribution Pension Act, Supplementary Provisions Article 3 / National Pension Act, Supplementary Provisions Article 5

Rules and conditions were checked on 30 August 2026. This guide explains the scheme; it is not a recommendation to enrol or a recommendation of any product. For calculations and your own situation, ask your financial institution or record-keeping institution, and the tax office for tax questions.