Japan Visa Fee Increase 2026: Permanent Residence Now 200,000 Yen

Last updated: 2 September 2026

If you have budgeted 6,000 yen every time you renew, this is not a small adjustment. In the labour ministry’s survey, people working part time on a student status earn 115,900 yen a month. For a 2-year permission filed online, one renewal now costs more than a third of that month’s pay.

For anyone thinking about permanent residence it is heavier still: 10,000 yen becomes 200,000 yen.

The important part of this article is not the amount, though. It is the deadline. If your application is accepted by 30 September, you pay the old amount even when the permission arrives in November. There is still time.

What the residence permit fee actually is

The residence permit fee is paid to the government when you receive permission for a change of status of residence, a renewal of your period of stay, or permanent residence. You do not pay it when you file. You pay it when the permission is granted, which means you pay nothing if you are refused.

This is the fee people usually call “the 6,000 yen for a visa renewal”. At the counter you pay it with revenue stamps; online you pay it another way. The procedure itself is covered in our visa renewal article. This article is only about the amounts and the deadline.

On 28 August 2026 the Immigration Services Agency published the details. The legal basis is the amended enforcement order of the immigration law, and it takes effect on 1 October 2026.

How much is the Japan visa fee increase in 2026

The biggest change is not the number but how the number is decided. It used to depend only on which procedure you filed. From October, the longer the period of stay you are granted, the more you pay.

For a change of status and a renewal of period of stay:

Period granted	At the counter	Online
(before, flat rate)	6,000 yen	5,500 yen
3 months or less	10,000 yen	10,000 yen
Over 3 up to 6 months	18,000 yen	15,000 yen
Over 6 months, under 1 year	25,000 yen	21,000 yen
1 year	33,000 yen	27,000 yen
Over 1 year, under 3 years	48,000 yen	42,000 yen
3 years up to under 5 years	64,000 yen	56,000 yen
5 years or more	75,000 yen	65,000 yen

Student periods of stay are usually issued as 1 year 3 months or 2 years, and a first work status is normally 1 year or 3 years. So most readers land on the “1 year” or the “over 1 year, under 3 years” row: 27,000 or 42,000 yen online.

Online still costs less than the counter. Note that a separate settlement charge applies: 330 yen up to 42,000 yen, and 550 yen from 56,000 yen. Even so it is cheaper, and you avoid queueing at the immigration bureau.

Permanent residence goes from 10,000 to 200,000 yen

Permanent residence can only be filed at the counter, and its fee moves from 10,000 yen to 200,000 yen. Twenty times.

Put that against real pay. Someone working part time on a student status earns 115,900 yen a month, so the fee is about 1.7 months of income. Even for foreign workers overall, whose average monthly pay is 292,400 yen, it takes close to 70 percent of a month in one payment.

The requirements themselves, including the revision proposed in August 2026, are in our permanent residence article. The point here is narrow. If you already meet the requirements and have simply been putting the application off, 190,000 yen is riding on when you file.

When does the new fee start

The Immigration Services Agency states it plainly in its official Q&A: someone who filed before 1 October and receives permission on or after that date pays the amount under the old rules.

What matters is the date your application was accepted, not the date of the decision. If screening takes two months and the permission arrives in November, an application accepted in September is still 5,500 yen.

Who can actually file in September

Deciding to file today is not the same as being allowed to. The window differs by procedure, and getting it wrong means a wasted trip to the immigration bureau.

Renewal: only if your card expires on or before 30 December 2026

A renewal can be filed on or before the day your period of stay expires, and for anyone holding a period of stay of 6 months or more, from 3 months before that expiry.

So to file on 30 September, your expiry must fall within the following three months. Look at the expiry date on your residence card. If it is 30 December 2026 or earlier, you can file in September.

If it is later, you cannot. The agency does accept applications earlier than 3 months where there is a genuinely unavoidable special reason, but the examples it gives are studying abroad and long overseas business trips. A fee increase is not among them, and we are not going to claim that it counts.

Change of status: you can file today once the reason exists

A change of status has no 3-month rule. You may file from the moment the reason for the change arises until your current period of stay expires.

That means a student who already has a job offer may be able to file in September. Student-to-work changes normally cluster between December and March. Moving that forward to September keeps the 36,500 yen difference in your pocket. Check with your employer and your school first, because the start date matters. The procedure is in our student visa to work visa article.

If you are staying on a student status to continue studying, use the renewal rule above. If you are still deciding where to go after language school, you will need the school decision first.

Permanent residence: any time, if you qualify

Permanent residence can be filed on or before the day your period of stay expires. There is no 3-month rule, so if you meet the requirements you could file today.

One warning. Rushing and being refused means your next attempt costs 200,000 yen. Filing against a deadline when your case is not ready is the most expensive choice on this page. Check the years of residence, income, pension and tax first. The revocation rules also start in April 2027.

Is there a Japan visa fee exemption

A reduction and waiver scheme was created at the same time. Here is the honest version: being short of money is not enough.

The agency’s guideline requires both of two conditions.

• 1. Hardship comparable to a person requiring protection under the Public Assistance Act (four categories, such as receiving protection equivalent to public assistance, or receiving support payments as a refugee applicant)
• 2. A need for humanitarian consideration (twelve categories, such as recognised refugees, victims of human trafficking, foreign nationals in children’s homes, and patients with designated intractable diseases or children with disabilities and their carers)

Meeting one is not enough. And the twelve humanitarian categories do not include an ordinary student or worker who is simply struggling financially.

The agency explains why. In its view, someone who cannot afford the fee is generally judged unable to continue the activity their status is for, and so would normally not receive permission at all. It is a hard position, but it is the official one.

Where a reduction does apply, the amounts are fixed: down to 10,000 yen for a renewal or change, and down to 20,000 yen for permanent residence. The permanent residence reduction is limited to spouses and children of Japanese nationals, permanent residents and special permanent residents.

Building the money itself is a separate job: cutting your living costs, and claiming everything that shrinks when you apply, such as the health insurance reduction.

What happens to revenue stamps

If you file at the counter, you still pay with revenue stamps. Because more denominations are now needed, the agency asks people to buy them in advance at a larger post office rather than at the shops inside the bureau, which hold limited stock. Revenue stamps can only be bought with cash.

Online applications go the other way: revenue stamps can no longer be used. Payment moves to convenience store or bank settlement, and internet banking lets you pay without handling cash at all.

One caution. The agency states that payment instructions for online applications come only from its designated payment agent’s address, and warns that any other message asking you to pay is a scam. The higher the amount, the more of these appear. Do not follow links in such messages; check on the agency’s own site.

Is this the same as the tourist visa fee

No, and the two are easy to confuse.

The fee charged by Japanese embassies and consulates abroad for a short-stay visa is a separate system. News and social media posts about “Japan raising visa fees” mix the two together. This article is about the fee that people already living in Japan pay to the immigration bureau in Japan.

What to do this week

1. Take out your residence card and read the expiry date. If it is 30 December 2026 or earlier, you can file a renewal in September
2. If you can make it, gather the documents and file during September. Online needs a My Number card; without one you go to the counter
3. If you have a job offer, ask your employer and school whether you can file the status change in September
4. If you are aiming at permanent residence, confirm you meet the requirements first. If you do not, do not rush the application
5. If you cannot make the deadline, start setting aside 27,000 or 42,000 yen for your next renewal

Step 1 takes five minutes today. Whether you read that date decides 36,500 yen.

FAQ

Q. When does the Japan visa fee increase start?
On 1 October 2026. Applications accepted by 30 September 2026 pay the old amount even if the permission is granted on or after 1 October. The Immigration Services Agency states this in its official Q&A.

Q. Why are the fees going up?
The agency says it needs residents to bear a corresponding share of the cost of strengthening and expanding immigration administration. It says the ceiling amounts were set by weighing the actual cost of screening, the cost of immigration control, comparable fees in other countries, and the ability to respond flexibly to future price rises.

Q. Is the permanent residence fee really 200,000 yen?
Yes. At the counter it goes from 10,000 yen to 200,000 yen, and permanent residence cannot be filed online. If your application is accepted by 30 September 2026 it stays at 10,000 yen.

Q. Why does the same renewal cost different amounts for different people?
Because the amount is now set by the period of stay granted. The agency says it designed the scale so that people granted longer periods carry a lower cost per year. A 2-year permission falls in the “over 1 year, under 3 years” row, which is 42,000 yen online.

Q. Does filing in September make it cheaper for everyone?
No. A renewal can only be filed from 3 months before your period of stay expires, so if your residence card expires after 30 December 2026 you cannot file in September. A change of status and permanent residence have no 3-month rule, so you can file once the reason or the requirements are in place.

Q. Is there an exemption from the fee?
There is a reduction and waiver scheme, but it requires both hardship comparable to a person requiring protection under the Public Assistance Act and a need for humanitarian consideration. The second is a list of twelve categories such as recognised refugees and victims of human trafficking, and it does not cover students or workers who are simply struggling financially. Where it applies, the fee drops to 10,000 yen for a renewal or change and 20,000 yen for permanent residence.

Q. Do I get the fee back if I am refused?
You never pay it in the first place, because the fee is due when permission is granted. But if you rush an application and are refused, your next filing will be on or after 1 October and will cost the new amount.

Q. How do I know which revenue stamps to buy?
For counter applications, the amount is written on the postcard sent to you after screening. For online applications, it is in the payment email that follows the completion notice. You do not have to work it out in advance.

Summary

• The residence permit fee is paid when a renewal, change of status or permanent residence is granted, and it changes on 1 October 2026
• The flat rate is replaced by amounts based on the period of stay granted
• Renewals and changes: a 2-year permission goes from 5,500 to 42,000 yen online, a 1-year one to 27,000 yen
• Permanent residence goes from 10,000 to 200,000 yen at the counter, twenty times higher
• Applications accepted by 30 September 2026 keep the old amount even if permission comes later
• Only people whose residence card expires on or before 30 December 2026 can file a renewal in September
• Changes of status and permanent residence have no 3-month rule, so a job offer lets you move earlier
• Reductions need both financial hardship and humanitarian grounds, so being short of money is not enough
• Revenue stamps can no longer be used for online applications, and scam payment emails are a real risk

Sources: Immigration Services Agency, “Revision of residence permit fees from 1 October 2026” / the same agency, official Q&A / the same agency, reduction and waiver of residence permit fees / the same agency, application for extension of period of stay / Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Survey on Employment of Foreign Workers 2025