Permanent Residence and Dependents / Family Dependents

Permanent Residence and Dependents

During the Permanent Residence review, the foreign national applicant’s annual income is subject to assessment. The number of recent years examined in the review differs depending on the Status of Residence currently held (for example, the most recent 3 years for “Spouse or Child of Japanese National,” and the most recent 5 years for “Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services (work visa)”). However, it is not simply a matter of having a sufficient income figure.

This is because the living expenses required differ between someone living alone in Japan and someone supporting a family.

What Is a Dependent?

Typically, a spouse or child living with you (and not earning a certain level of income on their own) can be claimed as your dependent. Claiming someone as a dependent allows you to receive a deduction. If they need to be supported, family members not living with you (including those residing overseas) — blood relatives within the 6th degree of kinship and relatives by marriage within the 3rd degree — can also be claimed as family dependents.

Previously, family members could be claimed as dependents without proof of family relationship or evidence of remittances or other actual support, and it appears that this rule was widely exploited as a way to reduce taxes. However, due to legal revisions, in order to claim family members residing overseas as dependents, documents proving the kinship and documents proving the fact of remittance are now required.

Appropriate Number of Dependents and Annual Income for Permanent Residence

If family members overseas actually need to be supported and remittances are being made, this is not a problem. However, in a Permanent Residence application, in relation to annual income, how many dependents is it possible to support? For someone living alone, an annual income of approximately 3 million yen is the guideline. To this, an additional annual income of approximately 600,000 to 800,000 yen per dependent is required.

So, for example, if the applicant supports a spouse and one child in Japan, plus one parent overseas, an annual income of approximately 4.8 million yen is the guideline.

How to Correct Family Dependents for Permanent Residence Purposes

If you have mistakenly reported family dependents, or if you initially sent remittances to family overseas but those remittances are no longer needed and you have left things as they are, corrections can be made. Amended filings are made at the office of the municipality (city, ward, town, or village) where you reside. Please check with the office in advance regarding the required documents. If you are employed by a company, notification to the company is also required.

As shown above, there are cases where, even though the applicant has sufficient annual income and has properly paid taxes, the application is denied because, in reality, the applicant has many family dependents, which affects the review. To avoid this, please report the number of dependents correctly, and handle corrections promptly when needed.