Japan · visa route
Emigrating to Japan
Japan has no points threshold, no occupation list and no lottery: your employer applies for your Certificate of Eligibility, and after that the visa in The Hague is a week's work. This page shows where the selection does sit — finding the job, and being honest about the language — and what the treaty from 2009 arranges for your AOW and pension.
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- Kind of journey
- Sponsored work visa — the job first, then the application
- Lead time
- About 6 months; the application itself takes weeks
- Note
- No route without an employer — and life is in Japanese
Last updated: August 2026
The journey
Five phases, from the route choice to the municipal round
The selection sits before the application here: finding an employer willing to sponsor. After that the journey is a chain of predictable clocks — three months for your COE, fourteen days for the municipality, and 180 days for the dog.
- 1
Orientation
No lottery — but no route without an employer either
Japan has no points threshold: the standard route is a job with a Japanese employer, who applies for your Certificate of Eligibility. The points system does exist — as a bonus that brings permanent residence from ten years down to three or even one. In this phase you choose the route, calculate the journey and have two honest conversations: about the language (no visa requirement, but the factor that decides whether life works there) and about the partner's career, because on a family visa a work limit of 28 hours applies.
- 2
Job and visa
The selection is the job application; the application is a chain
Applying from the Netherlands works best where English is the working language: the international IT and tech sector, finance, and the JET programme. Once the contract is signed, your employer applies for the COE (free, one to three months), you get the visa in The Hague (a week, and the fees were quintupled in July 2026 — don't calculate with old amounts), and you travel within three months. Whoever has a pet also starts the longest clock of the journey here: 180 days after the titre test.
- 3
Closing the Netherlands
The mildest non-EU route — thanks to one treaty
The social security treaty from 2009 does what breaks with Dubai and the United States: your AOW comes along in full — the single rate of 70% too — and your Dutch and Japanese pension years add up. What you arrange yourself: healthcare (there's no CAK route; the Japanese system covers 70%), the protective assessment that asks for security outside the EU, the benefits that stop — and the remittance clause in the tax treaty, which decides whether the Netherlands keeps taxing your pension. That one you take to a tax specialist.
- 4
The move
Generous with your things, strict on the calendar
Your household contents pass tax-free with one form in duplicate — hand it in at your own landing, and the freight has to arrive within six months after you. Medicines up to a month's supply may come freely; above that you apply in advance for the free importation confirmation, and amphetamine-containing ADHD medication is banned, even with a prescription. The car you sell at home: left-hand traffic, an inspection of hundreds of thousands of yen every two years, and no BPM refund outside the EEA. And you land at one of the seven airports that issue the residence card directly.
- 5
Arrival in Japan
Fourteen days, one order — and the clocks of your status
You get the card at the airport; after that every registration is the key to the next. Within fourteen days to the municipal office — population register, health insurance and the child allowance that only starts from the month after your application. Then phone, then the bank (for the first six months restrictions apply to international transfers), then the rental contract with its four to six months up front — or the UR route around it. The driving licence exchanges without a test, well within your first year. And paying your premiums on time is file-building here too: the road to permanent residence counts it.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Japan journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 3.2 of your plan
AOW and pension: the treaty does the heavy lifting
- Lead time
- an afternoon of finding out; decide on voluntary insurance
- Costs
- voluntary AOW insurance: 17.9% of income (min ± € 569/year)
Here Japan differs fundamentally from Dubai or America: since 2009 there's been a social security treaty, and it does three things. Your AOW (the Dutch state pension) comes along in full — including the single person's rate of 70%, which drops to 50% outside treaty countries. Your pension years add up: Dutch and Japanese insurance time is aggregated, so your compulsory Japanese premiums aren't money thrown away. And secondment stays Dutch: whoever is posted for at most five years stays under the Dutch system. What you decide yourself: the voluntary AOW insurance against the accrual gap of 2% a year — apply within a year of departure, at most ten years.
This is step 3.2 of 36. The other 35 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
What it costs
A rough indication for your situation
A few short questions, and you get a range instead of an amount. That's deliberate: an exact figure would suggest a precision nobody has.
Count on a total of
€ 4.300 – € 13.000
Where does that difference come from?
- De eerste maanden€ 4.000 – € 12.000
Open the breakdown below: there you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 90 – € 200
- De verhuizing
- € 300 – € 800
- De eerste maanden
- € 4.000 – € 12.000
View the itemsPer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- Visumleges€ 90 – € 90
- Akten en vertalingen(estimate)€ 0 – € 100
De verhuizing
- Reis(estimate)€ 300 – € 800
Een enkele vlucht Amsterdam-Tokio of Amsterdam-Osaka per persoon, plus ruimbagage. KLM vliegt als enige rechtstreeks (± 13 uur); met een overstap is het vaak honderden euro's goedkoper.
De eerste maanden
- De eerste maanden(estimate)€ 4.000 – € 12.000
De grootste post van deze corridor: een Japans huurcontract vraagt vier tot zes maanden huur vooraf (sleutelgeld, borg, courtage en het garantiebedrijf) — of zo'n drie maanden via de semi-publieke verhuurder UR. Daarbij: inrichting (huurwoningen zijn er vaak leger dan Nederlandse, tot de lampen aan toe), het rijbewijs omwisselen (± € 70), en leven tot het eerste salaris. De publieke school is gratis; wie voor een internationale school kiest, telt daar zelf de eerste termijn bij op — die loopt in de duizenden euro's per kind.
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 6 to 8% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 15.000 to € 20.000.
Japan legt buitenlanders niets in de weg — je hebt geen visum en zelfs geen verblijf nodig om te kopen. De onroerendezaakverwervingsbelasting is 3% voor woningen (verlaagd tarief tot 31 maart 2027) en de registratie 1,5 tot 2%, beide over de fiscale waarde, en die ligt doorgaans op 50 tot 70% van de marktwaarde. Daar komen makelaar en een shiho-shoshi (juridisch schrijver) bij. Samen 6 tot 8%. Sinds 1 april 2026 moet je bij de inschrijving je nationaliteit opgeven en binnen twintig dagen melden dat je er zelf gaat wonen — administratie, geen beperking.
An order of magnitude based on averages, not a quote. The real amounts depend on your occupation, your route, the season and dozens of choices you still have to make.
Rates checked on 21 August 2026.
Your complete, personal cost picture — with your route, your documents and your deadlines — you get in Vertrekklaar.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Who may tax your pension once you live in Japan, is there a favourable regime, and how do you become insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you see which rules apply to you — with the source.
See the financial conditionsThe departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Japan: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that only a short update when something in Japan really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Read on
The knowledge base on Japan
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
Arrival in Japan
- 2 min
Buying a house in Japan: anyone may — but the tax bill arrives once you've forgotten it
Japan has no permit system for foreign home buyers: no visa requirement, no approval as in Australia or Switzerland. The purchase runs via a licensed estate agent and a registration lawyer. The pitfall lies in the taxes: the one-off acquisition tax of 3% is assessed by the prefecture months after the purchase, and after that come the annual fixed asset tax of 1.4% and the city planning tax of 0.3% — for whoever is the owner on 1 January.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
Renting in Japan: reikin, deposit, the guarantor — and the route around it
A Japanese tenancy agreement asks for four to six months' rent up front: key money you never see again, deposit, commission and a compulsory guarantee company. There is one semi-public landlord that scraps all of that — and it's precisely for newcomers without a Japanese guarantor that it's interesting.
Updated 21 August 2026
- 2 min
Your first weeks in Japan: the card, the fourteen days and the six-month rule
You get the residence card at the airport already, and after that everything hooks together: within fourteen days to the municipal office, then My Number, then the bank — where you're on the books as a "non-resident" for the first six months. Whoever knows the order is sorted in two weeks.
Updated 21 August 2026
Leaving the Netherlands — for every destination
- 2 min
Keeping a bank account and DigiD: the two lines you never cut
After your deregistration you still need the Netherlands for years — for the M return, refunds and your pension. Within the EU your bank account is a right, towards Australia a favour from the bank. And your DigiD you arrange before departure, not after.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
The protective assessment: the bill that travels with you, and that never expires for one item
On emigration the Netherlands imposes an assessment on your pension, your annuity and your substantial shareholding that you don't have to pay — as long as you do nothing that makes it collectable. For pension and annuity it usually lapses after ten years. For a substantial shareholding it doesn't: that one remains valid indefinitely.
Updated 27 August 2026
- 2 min
Emigrating with children after a divorce: the consent that comes before everything
With joint custody you can't just go abroad with the children — you need the consent of the other parent, or substitute consent from the court. What the court weighs, and why leaving without consent is legally child abduction.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Emigrating on early retirement: the CAK route is expected to close as of 1 November 2026
Whoever moves to the EU or Switzerland with a Dutch pension arranges their healthcare via the CAK. That door is closing to a crack: as expected, from 1 November only new applicants with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong will be admitted. Early retirement and RVU fall outside it — whoever is already a customer keeps their rights.
Updated 16 August 2026
- 2 min
The M form: the tax return for the year in which you emigrated
For the year of your departure you lived partly inside and partly outside the Netherlands, and a separate return goes with that. Nowadays it can be done online — but you have to think of it yourself, because an invitation rarely comes by itself.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 2 min
Your AOW accrual stops on departure — and you have one year to repair that
Every year outside the Netherlands costs you 2% AOW (the Dutch state pension), for life. The SVB has a voluntary continuation that closes that gap — but signing up is only possible in the first year after departure, and almost everyone misses that deadline.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Your Dutch pension abroad: what comes along, and who levies
The AOW (the Dutch state pension) travels fully to the EU and to Australia — the latter thanks to a treaty from 2001. Your company pension too, but *where* you pay on it depends on the tax treaty, and the exemption you arrange yourself.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Cancelling your health insurance without a gap
Your Dutch basic insurance is tied to living or working in the Netherlands and stops being a given on emigration. The art is to have the end date match your new cover — and to know which route belongs to your situation.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
Taking medicines across the border: certificates, supply and the 90-day ceiling
For medicines under the Opium Act you need a certificate — and the Dutch system only carries you for three months. What you arrange with the CAK, what Australia wants to see at the border, and why finding a local doctor simply belongs to your first weeks.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 9 min
Partner comes along without a job of their own: deregistering, healthcare, AOW and the house
Your partner has a job, a visa or a right of residence there; you come along without a job of your own. Administratively you're then no passenger: the deregistration, the end of your health insurance and your AOW accrual apply to you separately. What you get back if you arrange it well, what it costs if you let it slide — and why "just staying registered" isn't an option.
Updated 7 September 2026
- 2 min
Stopping allowances on emigration: do it yourself, and in time
Housing allowance, healthcare allowance, childcare allowance and child budget don't stop by themselves on the day you leave. Whoever lets them run gets a reclaim months later — this is what you arrange per allowance.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 3 min
Deregistering with the municipality: when exactly, and what stops then
Deregistering from the BRP is only possible from five days before departure, and is compulsory as soon as you're away for more than eight months a year. What stops at that moment, what stays, and which piece of paper you have to ask for right away.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 6 min
When does your pension stay taxed in the Netherlands? The three pots and the three conditions
"Your pension is taxed in your new country of residence" is right by approximation and not in the details. Your AOW, your company pension and your government pension each follow a rule of their own, and with the company pension the Netherlands can still levy if three conditions apply at once. This article explains which three, and which four questions you have to answer for your own situation.
Updated 27 August 2026
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