Japan introduces limited fee relief for visa applicants facing hardship
Japan's immigration authority will lower visa fees for foreign residents who qualify under new financial and humanitarian rules when fees rise in October.
The Immigration Services Agency announced that, effective Oct. 1, visa fees for foreign nationals in Japan will rise sharply, with a one-year visa climbing to 33,000 yen and long-term visas to 75,000 yen, while permanent residency will jump to 200,000 yen. To mitigate the impact, the agency set out twelve humanitarian and financial-hardship categories that allow reduced fees of 10,000 yen for renewals or status changes and 20,000 yen for permanent residency.
Full fee waivers are reserved for holders of diplomatic or official residency status only. Refugee advocacy groups argue the relief is overly restrictive, noting that most asylum seekers must already be on government assistance to be eligible. In 2025, 11,298 asylum applications were filed, with just 518 recipients of public aid, a low figure partly because many applicants are permitted to work while their cases are pending.
Why it matters
The policy determines how affordable residency and citizenship processes will be for vulnerable foreign residents in Japan.
In this story
