Residence card, jūminhyō and My Number: the Japanese papers and their clocks

Whoever comes to live in Japan gets three administrative anchors: a residence card from the immigration agency, an entry in the resident register (the jūminhyō) at the municipality, and a My Number, the Japanese equivalent of the BSN. Most of it is done in one visit to the municipality. The deadline is short: within fourteen days of having a home address, you are at the municipality. The pitfall comes later: your My Number card expires on the end date of your permission to stay, and is not automatically extended when that is renewed.

Which papers do you get, and where?

What	Where	Deadline
Residence card	at the airport, or by post after your municipal notification	on entry
Address notification and jūminhyō	the municipal office where you live	within 14 days of moving into your home
My Number (12 digits)	the municipality notifies you after registration	follows registration
My Number card (first application free)	apply at the municipality, online or by post	collect after about a month
Change of address	the municipal office	within 14 days of moving
Loss of the residence card	the regional immigration office	within 14 days of discovery

What is the residence card, and when do you get it?

The residence card is your identity document as a foreign resident. It shows your details, your status of residence and the end date of your stay. Everyone aged sixteen and over must carry it at all times. You get it if you stay in Japan longer than three months.

If you land at Narita, Haneda, Chūbu, Kansai, New Chitose, Hiroshima or Fukuoka, you receive the card right at border control. If you land elsewhere, you first register at the municipality with your passport and the card follows by post. For children: since 14 June 2026 a photo is required from the age of one; before that it was only from sixteen.

If you lose the card, you apply for a new one within fourteen days at the immigration office, with your passport, a photo and proof of the loss, such as a police report. If you leave for good, you hand it in at border control.

What do you arrange at the municipality?

Within fourteen days of moving into your home you make the address notification at the municipal office, with your residence card (or your passport if the card is still to come). The municipality puts your address on the card and creates your entry in the resident register. You can get extracts of that entry for a fee, and you need them, for example when exchanging your driving licence.

Bring your family certificates, with a Japanese translation. If you live in Japan with your family, the municipality asks for an official document proving the family relationship, such as a marriage or birth certificate, and it must be accompanied by a Japanese translation. Make sure it is ready before you go to the municipal office, or you will not register partner and children in one go.

If you later move within the same municipality, you report the change within fourteen days. If you move to another municipality, you deregister at the old one and register within fourteen days at the new one. If you leave Japan, you deregister before you leave.

What do you need your My Number for?

After registration the municipality gives you your Individual Number: twelve digits for social security, tax and disaster response. You need it for your pension, child allowance, medical care, opening a bank account and transfers to and from abroad, among other things.

The My Number card is a separate plastic card you apply for, with a chip, a photo and your number on the back. It is an identity document, a digital key for your tax return and a health insurance card at the same time, and in many municipalities you can use it to get extracts from the machine in a convenience store. You can apply when you make your address notification; otherwise with the form you receive later, via your phone, a computer, the post or a photo booth. After about a month you receive a postcard with which you collect it at the municipality.

Which clock do newcomers forget?

The validity of your My Number card ends on the end date of your period of stay. If you extend your stay with the immigration agency, you then also have to have the card's validity extended at the municipality. That does not happen automatically, and having an expired card reissued costs money. If your extension application is still pending when the card is about to expire, you can have its validity extended temporarily by two months. The extension of your stay itself you apply for before the end date: whoever stays even one day too long can be deported.

And the hanko?

For important contracts, such as buying a house, you may be asked for a seal registered with the municipality. For a bank account some banks accept a signature, see banking and payments in Japan. How all of this fits together in the first weeks is in your first weeks in Japan.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.2: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Japan or go straight to step 5.2 in the open plan.