At time of initial entry, a world talent goes through review by Immigration Office and is given his or her status of resident. S/he does so again when s/he extends the status. When a world talent changes home address or employer during period of the status due to relocation or job switch, s/he is mandated to notify Immigration Office of the change. Should s/he fails to do so, it can be penalized and/or her/his future applications to Immigration Office would be negatively impacted.
This web page summarizes notifications mandated on changes over residency of a mid-long term resident in Japan. Such notifications are to be submitted by the mid-long term resident him/herself, as well as by a contracting organization of the resident, e.g. an employer or an organization accepting the resident.
Contents of this page is as follows. You can read from top to bottom or click a header below to jump to a specific topic.
- Overview of duties and notifications under Immigration Law
- Notification duty on Mid-Long Term Resident
Note: Mid-Long Term Resident vs. Long Term Resident
These similar terms represent different notions in Immigration Law as follows:
- Mid-Long Term Resident (English translation of its Japanese original, 中長期在留者) is a term representing a group of residential statuses allowing a foreign national to stay in Japan for longer than 3 months. Please see more precise definition in this section of this page. This term is used extensively in this page because the same set of notifications are mandated to all of the statues within this group.
- Long Term Resident (English translation of its Japanese original, 定住者) is a term representing a single residential status, which in fact is included in the “Mid-Long Term Resident” group. This term is not used in this page but is mentioned here in order to remind readers of the difference between the two.
Overview of duties and notifications under Immigration Law
Let us review first duties in general under Immigration Law, before getting into the main topic of notification on changes.
Overview of duties under Immigration Law
Duties imposed under Immigration Law include the following. An extensive list of procedures and duties defined in Immigration Law can be found at this web site of Immigration Office.
- Compliance with management of residential status (CoE, Change, Extension, Re-Entry permission, Permission of Extra activities, etc.)
- Compliance with management of residential card (carry, present, Renew (for Permanent Resident and Highly Skilled Professional II), etc.)
- Notification on changes in residential status (home address, contracting organization, spouse, other information on a residential card)
Among these three, #1 and #2 are hardly forgotten by mid-long term residents. #3 is however often not well understood and left undone. In the latter part of this page, a focus is set to notifications of #3 and describes their overview.
Notification target: Mid-Long Term Resident
A mid-long term resident, who has to notify Immigration Office as in #3 above, is a all kinds of foreign nationals in Japan except those applicable to any of the following criteria:
- Period of stay is for 3 months or shorter
- Status is “Temporary Visitor”
- Status is either “Diplomat” or “Official”
- Those designated in Ministry of Justice (MOJ) Order as equivalent as 1 through 3 above (Note 1)
- Special Permanent Resident
- No status of residence is permitted
(Note 1) Officials and their family members of Taiwan or Palestina representative offices in Japan, who are permitted status of “Designated Activities”.
In other words, those applicable to any of the criteria above are not imposed the notification duties described in this page.
#3: Notification duties on Mid-Long Term Resident
First, the notification duties are classified into the following two categories, depending on who is supposed to notify.
- Notifications by Mid-Long Term Resident individuals
- Notifications by Contracting Organizations of Mid-Long Term Residents
Secondly, these categories are further classified into the following:
- Notifications by Mid-Long Term Resident individuals
- Notifications by Contracting Organizations of Mid-Long Term Residents
Penalties are defined in law in case notification duty is not fulfilled. In practice, it appears that such a penalty would not be always imposed. Not observing the notification duties does however negatively impact Immigration Office’s review of application for extension or permanent resident. It is therefore highly recommended to file notifications applicable, even retrospectively on changes in the past. So that the negative impact should be recovered to some extent.
Notification by Mid-Long Term Resident him/herself
Mid-Long Term Resident him!herself has to notify a government office on the following changes.
- Change of address
- Change of contracting organization
- Change in spouse’s status
- Change of information on residential card
These changes are grouped into two as follows, depending on which government office should be notified:
Change of |
Government office to be notified |
Address | Local government office |
Contracting Organization | Regional Immigration Office |
Spouse status (divorce, death) | |
Information on Residential Card |
Notification of Change of Address
To complete notification of address change, two notices have to be made: 1) moving-out notice has to be submitted to a local government office of old address and 2) moving-in notice has to be submitted to a local government office of new address. They are summarized as follows.
Notification | To who | By when |
Moving out notice | Local government office of old address | Within 14 days prior to or after address change |
Moving in notice | Local government office of new address | Within 14 days after address change |
Moving-out npand moving-in notices are further classified into the following two types (Regular, Special) depending on whether or not My Number card is used for notification. This is explained at high level below. Please contact local government office of your residence for details.
- Regular: in case My Number card is not used as ID
- Moving-out notice: to be submitted to a local government office of old address, either over counter or by post
- Leaving Certificate: is issued in return by the local office, which is required in the next step
- Moving-in notice: to be submitted to a local government office of new address
- Leaving Certificate: issued by the originating office should be attached to the moving-in notice
- Moving-out notice: to be submitted to a local government office of old address, either over counter or by post
- Special: in case My Number card is used as ID
- (Special) Moving-out notice: to be sent by post to a local government office of old address
- (This step can be done online for some local offices. Please contact your local office to find out if online notification is supported.)
- (Note that the leaving certificate is not required nor issued for this special type.)
- Moving-in notice: to be submitted to a local government office of new address
- (My Number card has to be presented to the office.)
- (Special) Moving-out notice: to be sent by post to a local government office of old address
These notifications are regulated under Residential Basic Book Act. There are similar notifications defined under Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (Immigration Law). After law revisions in 2009 when mid-long term residents have become to be in scope of Residential Basic Book, the procedures of moving-in and out have become identical to the ones for Japanese nationals. Since then, once the procedures are taken, the notification under Immigration Law is regarded also as completed so that it can be omitted.
Change of Contracting Organization, Spouse’s Status or Information on Residential Card
These changes have to be reported within 14 days to a regional Immigration Office for your residential area.
There are three ways on how this notification is made: Reported 1) Over counter at an Immigration office, 2) Via post, or 3) Online through web site. Further details can be found at the following sites.
- Immigration Office Notification on change of any information (except address) on residential card
- Immigration Office. Notification on contracting organization or spouse status
- This web site Overview of Immigration Office Electric Notification System (in Japanese. English translation under preparation.)
Notification by Contracting Organization
Not just mid-long residents themselves, but also a contracting organization is obliged by laws to notify government offices when it starts and ends a contract with a mid-long resident. This is classified into two categories as follows, depending on type of the contract, either employment contract or other types of contract than employment.
Though these are recommendation and are not legally mandated, they are better to be fulfilled because Immigration Office says in their web site that without these notification their review of extension application, for example, takes longer time due to additional background checks.
Type of Contract | Applicable Law |
Employment |
Notification under Labor Laws |
Others |
Notification under Immigration Law |
Employment: Notification under Labor Laws
An organization is obliged to report when a foreign national is employed or s/he leaves the organization. Types of the reporting differ depending on whether or not the foreign national is an insured person of government run Employment Insurance, as follows.
For an insured person of Employment Insurance
Event | Notice to be submitted | By when |
Employed | Notice of new insured person in Employment Insurance | By 10th of next month |
Has left | Notice of removal of insured in Employment Insurance | Within 10 days from the following day |
For those who are not an insured of Employment Insurance
Event | Notice to be submitted | By when |
Employed | Notice of Foreign Workers – Employment | By end of the next month |
Has left | Notice of Foreign Workers – Leaving |
These notices can be made online. Further details can be found at the following sites:
- MHLW Online Applications (How to submit applications and notices online) (in Japanese)
- Hello-Work How to submit notices of Employment Insurance (in Japanese)
Other types of contract: Notification under Immigration Law
An organization, which accepts a foreign national in a contract other than employment, is highly recommended to submit a notice when the contract starts and ends. In case the foreign national is “Student” as his/her residential status, the organization is highly recommended to submit a periodical report once every six months.
Residential Status | Timing | Notice to be submitted | By when |
Any of mid-long resident | At start and at end | Notice on acceptance of mid-long resident | Within 14 days after event |
Student | Every 6 months | Notice on acceptance of foreign students | Within 14 days after 1st day of May and November |
There are three ways on how this notification is made: Reported 1) Over counter at an Immigration office, 2) Via post, or 3) Online through web site. Further details can be found at the following sites.
- Immigration Services Agency: Notification by the accepting organization
- Page within this web site: Immigration Office – Overview of Online Notification (in Japanese. English translation under preparation.)
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