Alien Registration for Foreigners through July 8, 2012
Important information for those arriving in Japan and applying for residency between now and July 8th, 2012
For individuals newly arriving to Japan and seeking residency, a number of changes have taken place to the Immigration Bureau's residency management system. As these changes will apply to some members of the ACCJ, we highlight some of the significant aspects of the new system below.
- Alien Registration (AR) still needs to be carried out at one's local authority (ward, city or town office) through July 8th, but the AR card will not be issued to individuals 16 years of age or older.
- For individuals under 16, the AR card will be issued as it was in the past by the resident's local authority (ward, city, or town office).*
- Individuals aged 16 years or older will be issued a “Resident Card” between July 30th and August 10th. These cards must be picked up from the Immigration Bureau between these dates (there is no current system for having the Resident Card sent to an applicant's residence).
- Some family members can act as proxies to obtain the card (i.e. a spouse may be issued the card on behalf of his or her husband/wife). Legal scriveners (gyosei-shoshi) may also retrieve the cards, but individuals with no demonstrable familial relationship to the card recipient cannot serve as a proxy for the purposes of retrieving the Resident Card.
* Minors under 16 who receive the AR card must transfer from the AR card to the Resident Card within 3 years of receipt, upon turning 16, or before their visa expires - whichever comes first. Alternatively, the minor's parents can apply for their child's Resident Card when they retrieve their own Resident Cards from the Immigration Bureau.
An ACCJ member intimate with the new system is offering free counseling services. To avail yourself of these services, please contact the ACCJ at
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