[Breaking] Japan to Tighten Permanent Residency Requirements — An Immigration Lawyer Explains the New Income and Pension Standards

In July 2026, press reports revealed that the Japanese government intends to tighten the requirements for permanent residence (PR) substantially.

Two new criteria are to be added: an annual income above the average for Japanese households, and a projected pension entitlement equal to what 30 years of Employees’ Pension Insurance coverage would produce. The second is particularly hard to grasp, and misunderstandings are already spreading.

Drawing on the latest official statistics and our own calculations, we set out what is known at this point — and what is still unknown.

 

What this article covers	What is still unknown
· The substance of the two new criteria for permanent residence · What “income above the Japanese household average” means in yen · What the “30-year Employees’ Pension level” means, and our estimate of it · When it takes effect, and the impact on applications already under review · How financial assets may make up a pension shortfall	· The statistic and household category behind the income standard have not been identified · At what point, and over what scope, pension entitlement will be assessed is unpublished · The amount and types of financial assets needed to cover a shortfall are unpublished · Whether the exemption for spouses will be maintained

Throughout this article, three tags mark how firmly each statement is established.

• [REPORTED]  Confirmed in newspaper reporting
• [UNPUBLISHED]  Not derivable from the reports and not officially announced
• [OUR ESTIMATE]  Figures our firm has calculated on a rough basis

 

What is changing

Under the Immigration Control Act, permanent residence rests on three requirements.

• The applicant is of good conduct
• The applicant has sufficient assets or skills to make an independent living
• The applicant’s permanent residence is deemed to be in the interests of Japan

How these are applied in practice is set out in the Immigration Services Agency’s “Guidelines on Permission for Permanent Residence.” The most recent revision was on 24 February 2026 — and only a few months later, the bar is to be raised again.

[REPORTED]  The two criteria reported to be added are as follows.

Alongside this, the shorter-residence track available to spouses of Japanese nationals and permanent residents is also reported to be tightened (see the section on the spousal exception below).

 

How much is “above the average for Japanese households”?

So what is that average, in concrete terms? The most recent official statistic available is the “2025 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions,” published by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on 15 July 2026.

Item	Latest figure	What it means
Average annual income per household	¥5,752,000	The average across all households, not an individual’s salary
Median	¥4,510,000	The household in the middle when ranked by income
Households below the average	61.5%	More than six in ten households do not reach the average
Change from the previous year	+7.3%	Reflects wage growth; the largest rise on record

Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, “2025 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions,” published 15 July 2026. Income figures cover calendar year 2024.

What matters here is the gap between the average and the median. Against an average of ¥5.75 million, the median is ¥4.51 million — a difference of ¥1.24 million. An average is pulled upward by a small number of high-income households. In fact, 61.5% of households fall below it.

That said, it is not settled that this figure will become the standard

This is a point we want to put carefully. There are three reasons.

First, this statistic measures “income,” not an individual’s gross salary. It covers all households, including those of retirees, and takes in public pensions and business income as well as employment income. [UNPUBLISHED]  Whether the applicant’s own income or the household income including a spouse will be examined is also unknown at this point.

Second, the figure shifts considerably depending on which household category is used. Within the same survey, the spread is as follows.

Household category	Average income per household	Difference vs. all households
All households	¥5,752,000	—
Households other than elderly households	¥7,007,000	+¥1,255,000
Households with children	¥8,573,000	+¥2,821,000
Elderly households	¥3,361,000	−¥2,391,000

Source: as above

Most people applying for permanent residence are of working age. If the average for “households other than elderly households” or for “households with children” were adopted, the standard would sit in the ¥7 million range, or even the ¥8.5 million range. Which category is chosen is an enormous fork in the road.

Third, the figure moves every year. This time the rise was 7.3% year on year, the largest on record. If the standard tracks the statistic, the bar will change annually.

In practice up to now, an annual income somewhere in the ¥3 million range has served as a rough benchmark for a single applicant, with more expected where there are dependents. If the rule becomes over ¥5.75 million — or in some readings over ¥7 million — the bar rises not by one step but by two or three.

One more point. The reports say the income must be “sustained.” Clearing it in a single year would not be enough; the wording implies the level has to be maintained across several years. That is demanding for anyone who has recently changed jobs, or whose income swings from year to year.

 

What does the “30-year Employees’ Pension level” mean?

This is the heart of the matter: “a projected pension entitlement reaching the level produced by 30 years of Employees’ Pension Insurance coverage.” Let us work out what that is in yen.

As a premise, what is being tested is not the number of years of coverage itself, but the amount of pension to be received. The Employees’ Pension amount depends not only on the length of coverage but also on salary during that period. It is easier to think of “30 years” as the period used to build a benchmark pension amount for comparison.

How much is the benchmark amount?

The calculation uses the “earnings-related portion” of the old-age Employees’ Pension.

Roughly speaking, it is calculated as follows.

Average standard remuneration  ×  5.481 / 1000  ×  months of coverage

[OUR ESTIMATE] Taking the average household income of ¥5,752,000 as the remuneration basis gives the following.

Coverage period	Per year	Per month	% of benchmark
30 years (= the benchmark level)	approx. ¥950,000	approx. ¥79,000	100%
10 years (= when a PR application becomes possible)	approx. ¥320,000	approx. ¥26,000	about one third

A rough estimate by our firm. The government’s calculation method has not been published.

The basic premise of a PR application is ten years of residence as a rule. Even if you spent those ten years as a company employee earning at the level of Japan’s average household income, the pension calculated on that decade reaches only a third of the benchmark.

If you raise your income, can you reach it in ten years?

“Then simply earn more,” you might think. Even so, you do not get there.

The reason is that the pension formula caps the salary that counts. The upper limit for standard monthly remuneration is currently ¥650,000 a month. However high your actual pay, the pension calculation stops there.

With 10 years of coverage	Per year	Against approx. ¥950,000
Annual income of ¥5.75 million	approx. ¥320,000	Falls short
Paid up to the cap (¥650,000 a month)	approx. ¥430,000	Falls short
At the cap, with bonuses also at the cap	in the ¥600,000s	Falls short

A rough estimate by our firm.

What is still unclear

To be straightforward, here are the unsettled points.

• [UNPUBLISHED]  The remuneration assumption used to build the benchmark (the all-household average, or another category) has not been indicated
• [UNPUBLISHED]  Whether entitlement accrued as of the application date is what counts, or some other measure applies, has not been indicated
• [UNPUBLISHED]  Whether foreign public pensions can be counted, or a spouse’s pension combined, is also unknown

For that reason, no one can state at this stage that “you need at least X per month in pension.”

 

The Asahi and the Yomiuri word it differently

On this pension criterion, the two newspapers differ in how they put it.

Outlet	How the pension requirement is worded	What can be inferred
Yomiuri Shimbun	Reaching the level of 30 years of Employees’ Pension coverage	Sets the income standard and the pension standard side by side. The salary level used in the calculation is unclear
Asahi Shimbun	Reaching the amount receivable after 30 years of coverage at that income level	Specifies the remuneration level assumed in the calculation

Read in context, the Asahi’s “that income level” most naturally refers to the “income above the average for Japanese households” mentioned immediately before it.

At present, however, this remains at the reporting stage. Whether the Asahi’s wording matches the final calculation method will have to be confirmed against the official documents.

 

When does it take effect?

On timing, too, the two papers leave room between them.

Item	Yomiuri Shimbun	Asahi Shimbun
Date of the revised guidelines	Not stated	Dated 1 October 2026
Income standard	Applies from October 2026	Also applies to applications filed from April 2026
Other requirements	Applies from April 2027	Applies to applications from April 2027

The articles say “1 October,” “this April” and “next April.” We have converted these to calendar years on the basis of the reporting dates (24–25 July 2026).

The Asahi’s wording deserves particular attention. On the income standard, it reports that the rule will also apply to applications filed from April 2026 onward.

The Yomiuri carries no mention of this retroactive reach. [UNPUBLISHED]  Whether the Yomiuri’s “income requirement from October” refers to the same thing as the Asahi’s “revised as of 1 October” is also unclear at present.

Either way, those with an application already in the queue cannot assume this has nothing to do with them. The official announcement bears close watching.

 

A shortfall can be covered by “financial assets”

Must those with too little pension entitlement give up on permanent residence, then? This is where another line in the reporting matters.

Holding financial assets able to make up any shortfall

Put simply, the idea is that even an applicant with a small pension can be approved if they have savings commensurate with the shortfall.

So how much would that be? Let us take it step by step.

The benchmark pension is roughly ¥950,000 a year. The pension calculated on ten years of coverage was roughly ¥320,000 a year. The gap is about ¥630,000 a year. That ¥630,000 is the amount falling short each year.

Next, how many years of retirement does that shortfall have to cover? This has not been published, so let us assume 25 years, from 65 to 90. That gives ¥630,000 × 25 years — a figure in the region of ¥16 million.

	What is measured	Calculation	Amount
①	Pension required (benchmark level)	30 years of coverage at ¥5.75m income	approx. ¥950,000 / yr
②	Actual pension	10 years of coverage at the same income	approx. ¥320,000 / yr
③	Annual shortfall	① − ②	approx. ¥630,000 / yr
④	If 25 years, from 65 to 90, must be covered	③ × 25 years	approx. ¥16 million

The 25-year span is an assumption our firm has made. How many years the government will use has not been published. A rough estimate by our firm.

But the essentials are all still to come

• [UNPUBLISHED]  How many years of retirement are assessed (20 years? 30 years?)
• [UNPUBLISHED]  Whether bank savings alone suffice, or securities and real estate also count
• [UNPUBLISHED]  Whether a spouse’s assets can be combined

None of this has been published. We therefore cannot tell you at this stage how much you need in savings.

 

Who may be affected

What this pension criterion signals is that PR screening is moving to examine not only stability today, but financial self-sufficiency in old age.

Someone earning well now may still face an unstable retirement if the pension they will receive is small. The apparent intention is to judge, from current income and projected pension together, whether a person can live over the long term without becoming a burden on the public purse.

Depending on how the calculation is set up, the following people in particular may be affected.

• Those with a short period of Employees’ Pension coverage in Japan
• Sole proprietors who have contributed mainly to the National Pension
• Company owners who set their director’s remuneration low
• Those who started working in Japan later in life

 

The overlooked tightening of the spousal exception

Attention has gone to the pension rules, but in practice this change matters just as much.

Item	Current	After revision
Length of marriage	3 years or more	5 years or more
Length of residence	1 year or more	3 years or more

Applies to spouses of Japanese nationals, permanent residents and special permanent residents. Current rules per the Immigration Services Agency, “Guidelines on Permission for Permanent Residence” (revised 24 February 2026).

Two more years on the marriage, two more years on residence. For a couple who had been thinking “it’s about time we applied,” the plan slips by two years.

 

Summary

• Income and projected pension entitlement are to be added to the requirements for permanent residence
• On income: “sustained at a level above the average for Japanese households.” The latest statistic is ¥5,752,000, but depending on the household category it could be in the ¥7 million or ¥8.5 million range
• On pension: “the level of 30 years of Employees’ Pension coverage.” We estimate roughly ¥950,000 a year — and as long as the calculation rests on ten years of coverage, raising your income will not close the gap
• If the Asahi’s report is accurate, the benchmark is the pension of someone who sustained the equivalent of ¥5.75 million in household income for 30 years
• The income requirement applies from October 2026. Per the Asahi it also reaches applications filed from April 2026, which may include cases under review
• A shortfall can be covered by financial assets, but how many years are counted and what qualifies as an asset are unpublished
• The spousal exception tightens to five years of marriage and three years of residence

 

We will publish a follow-up as soon as the official guidelines are released.

 

Frequently asked questions

 Does this mean permanent residence is out of reach without 30 years of Employees’ Pension coverage?

 That is not how it reads. What the reports describe is not the number of years of coverage but the amount of pension to be received. It is natural to treat “30 years” as the period used to build a benchmark for comparison. That said, on our estimate, a calculation based on ten years of coverage does not reach that benchmark.

 What annual income do I need for permanent residence to be granted?

 No one can say definitively at this stage. The reports say “above the average for Japanese households,” but the government has not published which statistic, or which category within it, will be used. In the latest Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions, the all-household average is ¥5,752,000, households other than elderly households ¥7,007,000, and households with children ¥8,573,000 — a wide spread depending on the category.

 My permanent residence application is already filed and under review. Will this affect me?

 It may. The Asahi Shimbun reports that the income standard will also apply to applications filed from April 2026 onward. If that is correct, the new income standard would reach cases under review. The Yomiuri carries no such statement, and this is not confirmed information. Please watch for the official announcement.

 How much in savings would cover a pension shortfall?

 We cannot answer at this stage. The reports say applicants must “hold financial assets able to make up any shortfall,” but how many years of retirement will be assessed, what besides bank deposits counts as an asset, and whether a spouse’s assets can be combined have all gone unpublished.

 I am the spouse of a Japanese national. Do the income and pension requirements apply to me?

 Under the current guidelines, spouses of Japanese nationals are exempt from the good-conduct and independent-livelihood requirements. Whether that exemption survives this revision cannot be read from the reports. If it were removed, the income and pension requirements would apply, which is why we are watching this point closely.

 

Sources

• Yomiuri Shimbun (reported 25 July 2026)
• Asahi Shimbun (reported 24 July 2026)
• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, “2025 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions,” published 15 July 2026
• Immigration Services Agency, “Guidelines on Permission for Permanent Residence” (revised 24 February 2026)
• Japan Pension Service (cap on standard monthly remuneration; formula for the old-age Employees’ Pension)

Please note

This article is a commentary based on press reports as of 25 July 2026. The Immigration Services Agency has not published the text of the revised guidelines, and these are not finalized criteria. The pension figures and required-asset figures in this article are rough estimates made by our firm using published formulas; they do not represent the government’s calculation method. For your individual case, please consult a qualified professional.