Confirmed changes with a date in the future. These are the ones worth acting on, because
filing before the date is often the whole difference.
Effective October 1, 2026
Immigration fees rise, and the amount now depends on how long you are granted
A change of status or an extension stops being a flat ¥6,000 and becomes a scale tied to the period of stay you are granted, from ¥10,000 up to ¥75,000 at the counter, or ¥10,000 to ¥65,000 online. Permanent residence goes from ¥10,000 to ¥200,000. Re-entry permits are not part of it. The May 2026 law behind the ¥300,000 headlines only raised the legal ceilings; these are the amounts people pay, and they sit below those ceilings. Reduction and exemption measures exist for serious financial hardship and humanitarian cases.
Who this affects: Anyone filing a change of status, an extension, or a permanent residence application. What you pay is decided by the date you file, so an application received by September 30, 2026 pays the old fee even if the decision comes months later. How you pay changes too: online fees move off revenue stamps to convenience store or bank payment, and counter fees stay on stamps but now need larger ones, which immigration asks you to buy at a post office before you come in.
Effective April 1, 2027
A 3-year residence card stops counting as the longest period of stay for permanent residence
The handling that treated a 3-year period of stay as the longest period of stay for a permanent residence application is abolished. After that the genuine longest period is required, which for a spouse of a Japanese national means 5 years. One transitional measure survives it: hold a 3-year period of stay on March 31, 2027 and your first permanent residence application after that, if it is decided while that period is still running, is judged under the old handling.
Who this affects: Spouses planning a permanent residence application while holding a 3-year residence card. If that is you, the transitional measure is worth planning around well before the date.
Changes that have already taken effect, most recent first. Several are recent enough that
older guides, and answers written from them, still describe the previous rule.
Effective July 1, 2026
The embassy visa fee rose from about ¥3,000 to about ¥15,000
The cabinet order that sets the fees consular officers collect was amended. A single-entry visa went from about ¥3,000 to about ¥15,000, and a multiple-entry visa from about ¥6,000 to about ¥30,000. The amounts are approximate because the fee is paid in the local currency of the country where the mission sits. This is a Foreign Ministry fee, separate from the immigration fees that change on October 1, 2026.
Who this affects: Anyone applying for the visa at a Japanese embassy or consulate once a Certificate of Eligibility has been issued. The price follows the date the mission accepts the application. Fee exemptions by nationality and purpose are unchanged, and nothing is charged if the visa is not issued.
Official source
FeesAfter the COE
Source last read September 14, 2026
Effective June 14, 2026
A combined residence card and My Number card became available
The 特定在留カード launched: one card carrying both your residence card and your My Number card. Applications are taken at regional immigration bureaus. Holding one is optional, and nothing about the spouse visa itself changes if you keep carrying the two cards separately.
Who this affects: Any resident who would rather carry one card than two. There is no advantage to it in a visa application, and no disadvantage in declining it.
Official source
After the COE
Source last read September 14, 2026
Effective January 5, 2026
RASENS replaced the online residence application system
The previous online system was retired and RASENS took over. A spouse, child, or parent living in Japan can file a Certificate of Eligibility application online using a My Number card that carries both electronic certificates. The applicant abroad still cannot file it themselves.
Who this affects: Japanese spouses filing the Certificate of Eligibility from inside Japan. Filing online is also what unlocks the lower online fee once the October 2026 scale starts.
Official source
COE application form
Source last read September 14, 2026
Effective September 1, 2025
US missions stopped notarising the Affidavit of Competency to Marry
US embassies and consulates in Japan no longer notarise the affidavit that American citizens use in place of a certificate of legal capacity to marry. The replacement is the embassy's own downloadable sworn statement, or remote online notarisation through a notary in the United States.
Who this affects: US citizens marrying in Japan. Most US-focused guides still describe booking a notarisation appointment at the embassy, which no longer exists.
Effective April 1, 2025
Immigration fees rose, and online filing became cheaper than the counter
A change of status or an extension went from ¥4,000 to ¥6,000 at the counter, with online filing set lower at ¥5,500. The re-entry permit went from ¥3,000 and ¥6,000 to ¥4,000 and ¥7,000. It is listed here because guides written before 2025 still quote ¥4,000, and because it set the rule the 2026 revisions follow: the fee is decided by the date you file.
Who this affects: Anyone checking a guide written before April 2025 against what the counter charges today.
Official source
Fees
Source last read September 14, 2026 How this page works
Each entry rests on the same fact registry the rest of the site renders from, where every
claim carries a primary source, the date it took effect, the date we last re-read that
source, and a date by which it must be re-checked. An entry is listed only when a rule
change altered what an applicant does, pays, or files. A law that moves a legal ceiling
nobody is charged against is not a change to your application, so it is explained inside the
entry for the change that did bite, rather than given its own.
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