Foreign nationals who newly became mid- and long-term residence and obtained RESIDENCE CARD must register residence address in Japan at the city/ward office within 14 days after deciding a residence address in Japan. This procedure is called as RESIDENCE REGISTRATION / 住民登録 or NOTIFICATION of MOVING-IN / 転入手続き.
After you complete the RESIDENCE REGISTRATION, your residence address in Japan is recorded in the registry called RESIDENCE REGISTRY together with your personal information such as full name, sex, household, date of birth, nationality and visa status etc. You will need to report your residence address by the notification of move-in or move-out every time you move your residence address in Japan.
CERTIFICATE of RESIDENCE / 住民票の写し (or simply called as 住民票) is a certificate used as an identification in Japan, which is usually required to provide the original when you make a rent contract or register your cellphone etc. to certify your personal information as a resident in Japan.
RESIDENCE REGISTRY
Basically, foreign nationals who live in Japan and obtain RESIDENCE CARD are required to register a residence address at the city/ward office in the area. Your residence address will be recorded in the registry called RESIDENCE REGISTRY (住民票).
Information recorded in the RESIDENCE REGISTRY is as follows;
- Full name
- Date of Birth
- Sex
- Name of householder
- Member of household
- Date of enter into the registry
- Date of move-in and move-out
- Nationality
- Matters related to visa status (type of visa status, period of stay, date of expiry and so on)
- MyNumber (マイナンバー・個人番号) etc.
FIRST RESIDENCE REGISTRATION
Once you obtain RESIDENCE CARD, you are subject to the residence registration system in Japan. You are required to register your residence address at the city/ward office in your area within 14 days after you decide a residence in Japan.
To process the registration, you should bring;
- Passport
- Residence Card
- In case you would like register your family member, you will require each family member’s 1 and 2 above along with certificate(s) issued in your country to prove the relationship.
e.g. Marriage Certificate, Birth Certificate and so on with the Japanese translation.
You should ask the city/ward office for the details to process the registration.
NOTIFICATION of MOVING-IN and MOVING-OUT
You have to report the change of your address to the city/ward office every time you move your residence address to other place. Procedures are different depending on whether you move within the same city or move to other city. Also, you need to submit notification at the office in case you stay outside Japan more than a year continuously or in case you quit to live in Japan and go back to your country.
- In case of moving within the same city: submit NOTIFICATION of CHANGE of ADDRESS (転居届) to the city/ward office you move in.
- In case of moving to other city: submit NOTIFICATION of MOVING-OUT (転出届) and receive CERTIFICATE of MOVING-OUT at the city/ward office you leave. After you move in to the new city, submit NOTIFIATION of MOVING-IN (転入届) and receive CERTIFICATE of MOVING-IN at the city/ward office you move in.
- In case of staying outside Japan more than a year continuously or quit to live in Japan: submit NOTIFICATION of MOVING-OUT (転出届).
Generally, you may submit NOTIFICATION of MOVING-OUT by mail. You should ask the city/ward office in your area for further details.
CERTIFICATE of RESIDENCE
CERITIFICATE of RESIDENCE (住民票の写し / 住民票) is generally used as an identification to make a rent contract or buy a cellphone etc.
In this certificate, you see information recorded in the residence registry. You can choose/omit particular information depending on your needs when you request it.
The format is different depending on the city/ward. Issuance fee per certificate also depends on the city/ward – generally, it is around 250 – 350 yen. You can receive it by mail. In some area, you can receive it via a copier installed at the convenience store by using MyNumber Card (マイナンバーカード).
You should ask the city/ward office in your area for further details.
Generally, if you would like to receive it to use for your visa application, you should request the one all the items is listed except for information related to MyNumber (マイナンバー・個人番号)