Japanese Version

　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.

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.

  1. Compliance with management of residential status (CoE, Change, Extension, Re-Entry permission, Permission of Extra activities, etc.)
  2. Compliance with management of residential card (carry, present, Renew (for Permanent Resident and Highly Skilled Professional II), etc.)
  3. 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:

  1. Period of stay is for 3 months or shorter
  2. Status is “Temporary Visitor”
  3. Status is either “Diplomat” or “Official”
  4. Those designated in Ministry of Justice (MOJ) Order as equivalent as 1 through 3 above (Note 1)
  5. Special Permanent Resident
  6. 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.

  1. Notifications by Mid-Long Term Resident individuals
  2. Notifications by Contracting Organizations of Mid-Long Term Residents

　Secondly, these categories are further classified into the following:

  1. Notifications by Mid-Long Term Resident individuals
    1. Change of Address
    2. Change of Contracting Organization, Spouse’s Status or Information on Residential Card
  2. Notifications by Contracting Organizations of Mid-Long Term Residents
    1. Employment: Notification under Labor Laws
    2. Other types of contract: Notification under Immigration Law

　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
  • 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.)

　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.

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:

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.
　

End