Thinking of Getting PR? Japan Might Be Raising the Price

That dream of getting permanent residency in Japan? It might be getting a little more expensive. A lot more, actually. 🫠

So what's the new deal?

The government is reportedly drafting new guidelines for PR, and the big headline is a potential income requirement. Basically, you might need to prove your annual income is higher than the average Japanese household's.

The number being thrown around, based on the latest government survey, is about ¥5.75 million a year. That works out to roughly ¥479,000 a month. You know, just a casual half-mil before taxes.

Of course, because this is Japan, the details are still wonderfully vague. It's not clear if that's your personal income or your whole household's. And the exact amount isn't set in stone. But the direction is pretty clear.

But wait, there's more

On top of the salary, they're also looking at your retirement plan. The new rules could require you to show that your projected future pension is up to a certain standard — specifically, what someone paying into the system for 30 years would get.

If your future pension payments don't look like they'll hit the mark, you'll have to prove you have enough in savings, stocks, or other assets to make up for it. Just flash them the old investment portfolio, no problem.

They're also apparently considering adding things like your Japanese ability, understanding of local rules (hope you've been sorting your trash correctly), and whether your kids are enrolled in school as part of the screening.

Why are they doing this, though?

The official reason is to cut down on the number of permanent residents who end up needing public welfare later in life. They want to make sure that if you get permission to stay here forever, you can actually, you know, afford to stay here forever.

As for when this all kicks in, who knows. One newspaper said the income part could start this October, while another suggested it might apply to anyone who submitted their application after this past April. So, good luck to all of us trying to figure that out. We'll just have to wait and see what the final, *final* version looks like.