New regulations under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi raise application fees 20-fold and require foreign applicants to show above-average income and conversational Japanese; changes come amid rising anti-immigration sentiment and demographic pressures.
Applicants must demonstrate annual income above the national average and the ability to hold casual conversations in Japanese.
Measures are part of a broader push by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to tighten immigration amid public concern over social fairness.
Business manager visas were already tightened earlier, and the rule changes aim to regulate long-term settlement rather than immediate deportation.
# What changed
# Why the government moved now Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi framed the changes as necessary to address public anxiety and perceived unfairness as the number of foreign residents grows. The government cites a goal of "orderly coexistence" between Japanese citizens and foreign nationals.
At the same time, Japan faces a low birth rate and a rapidly aging population, which create labor shortages in many sectors. That demographic reality has pushed some policymakers and business leaders to call for more foreign workers and more support for long-term settlement. The new rules are a response to opposing pressures: demographic need for labor versus growing public resistance to immigration.
# How people reacted on the ground At one Tokyo immigration office, hundreds of people queued to file paperwork before the fee increase. An American-born university student, Yujie Chono, said he waited five hours to submit documents and spoke fluent Japanese. He expressed a mixed view: Japan must accept foreigners because of demographic pressures, but he also said excessive acceptance could dilute Japanese culture.
Public debate on social media has included false claims about foreigners receiving a large share of welfare payments and making neighborhoods less safe. Those narratives have fed political momentum for tougher rules.
# Political context Opposition to immigration helped the Sanseito party grow in the previous year's upper house election, with the party using rhetoric that framed immigration as an intrusion. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party previously tightened rules for business manager visas, effectively forcing some entrepreneurs to leave if they did not meet new conditions. The permanent residency changes continue that trend of restricting long-term stays.
Business voices and some media outlets push the opposite view. The Nikkei editorial board argued that Japan should encourage long-term settlement, expand Japanese-language education, and improve treatment of foreign workers to address labor shortages.
# Practical effects for applicants
# What remains open The rules are being rolled out in stages, and previous guidelines did not specify clear thresholds for income, pensions, or language skills. How strictly offices apply the new thresholds and how courts or advocacy groups might respond remains to be seen. Business groups and some commentators continue to argue Japan needs more settled foreign workers to sustain the economy.
# Bottom line The new rules tighten the path to permanent residency by adding clear income and language thresholds and sharply raising fees. They respond to rising domestic anxiety over immigration even as demographic trends push Japan toward greater reliance on foreign labor. The changes will reduce the number of new permanent residents in the near term and shift the conversation toward what long-term integration and labor policy should look like.
Tokyo is raising the bar for permanent residency amid a broader rightward shift in the Asian nation's politics.
Thailand is changing its visa rules for millions of visitors.
This factory employs around 250,000 people, making it the world's largest manufacturing site by headcount.
Loading more related stories...
Open the app view to save this story, compare related coverage, and continue from the same source.