Japan raises visa fees and tightens residency rules for foreign workers

At the end of May, the Japanese government approved a law that increases the maximum fee for changing or renewing a foreign resident’s status from 10,000 yen to 100,000 yen and raises the cap for permanent‑residence permits to 300,000 yen. The package also requires a minimum of ten consecutive years of residence and proficiency in Japanese for naturalisation.

The reforms come as Japan’s citizen population fell by about 941,000 to 119.7 million in April 2025, while the foreign resident count rose to roughly 4.1 million, an increase of over 356,000 from the previous year. Experts warn that the labour shortage cannot be solved without foreign workers, with Toshihiro Menju stating, “Foreign workers are indispensable. Without them society would not function.” Some workers, such as Nepalese factory employee Srijana Sunar, say the new costs are prohibitive: “I was shocked. It’s too expensive to pay 100,000 yen to extend a visa every three years.”