Rules on Applications for the Issuance of Specified Residence Cards
特定在留カードの交付の申請に関する規則
How a mid- to long-term resident applies for a specified residence card (特定在留カード), a residence card to which the functions of an Individual Number Card (個人番号カード) have been added, either at a regional immigration services bureau or through the municipal office.
- Text in force since
- Promulgated
- Articles
- 2
- Amendments on the way
- 0
What this law does
- This Order sets the procedure that Article 19-15-2, paragraphs (1) and (2) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act leave to a joint Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the Ministry of Justice (総務省令・法務省令). Under those paragraphs, a mid- to long-term resident recorded in the Basic Resident Register (住民基本台帳) may ask for their residence card to be issued as a specified residence card.(Enacting Stmt. 1, Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-15-2(1), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-15-2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Read the full overview
- A mid- to long-term resident recorded in the Basic Resident Register (住民基本台帳) may ask for a specified residence card when they file one of these: a notification of a change of name, date of birth, sex or nationality (or region); an application to renew the residence card, or to have it reissued because it is damaged, because they want it exchanged, or because they have been ordered to; an application to change status of residence while remaining a mid- to long-term resident; an application to extend the period of stay; or an application for permanent residence. They must appear in person at a regional immigration services bureau and submit one application on Form 1 (別記第一号様式).(Art. 1(1), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-15-2(1), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-15-2(1)(i), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-15-2(1)(ii), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-10(1), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-4(1)(i), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-11(1), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-13(1), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-13(3), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 20(2), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 21(2), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 22(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
- A mid- to long-term resident whose address notification newly records them in the Basic Resident Register, or records a move within the same municipality, may at the same time ask for a specified residence card to be issued through the mayor of the municipality. They must appear in person at that municipality's office (in a designated city, the ward office) and submit one application on Form 2 (別記第二号様式) with one photograph.(Art. 2(1), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-15-2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
- At the municipal office the applicant must show their passport; one who cannot must submit a written statement of the reason.(Art. 2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
- The photograph must show the applicant alone, without a hat and facing the front, with no background (shadows included), be clear, and have been taken within the six months before the application. No photograph is needed for a child under one year old, unless the Commissioner of the Immigration Services Agency requires one.(Art. 2(1)(i), Art. 2(1)(ii), Art. 2(1)(iii), Art. 2(1)(iv), Art. 2(1)(v), Art. 2(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
- A foreign national issued a specified residence card on an application made with a change notification, a renewal or reissue of the residence card, or an address notification at the municipal office must pay a fee in an amount a Cabinet Order sets, except in cases a Cabinet Order sets.(Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-15-2(12)) (the provisions it rests on)
Specified residence cardApplying at a regional immigration services bureauApplying at the municipal officeApplication photographApplying in someone's place
Amendments
A Japanese law is changed by another law or order that rewrites it — an . e-Gov records no amendment to this law. This law's amendments page lists every amendment e-Gov records and, for those whose changes this site has read, shows them provision by provision, in Japanese and English.
e-Gov's record of amendments also lists the day this law as first made came into force, 14 June 2026. That is not an amendment.
Who it applies to
It applies to
- Mid- to long-term residents recorded in the Basic Resident Register who apply for a specified residence card, and the people who submit such an application in their place.(Art. 1(1), Art. 1(2), Art. 2(1), Art. 2(4), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-15-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Special rules and exceptions (4)
- At a regional immigration services bureau, where the application goes with a change notification or a renewal or reissue of the residence card, the resident need not appear in person if a relative aged 16 or over who lives with them applies in their place: at their request, or because they are under 16 (or it is a renewal filed on their 16th birthday), or because illness or another cause keeps them from applying.(Art. 1(2), Art. 1(2)(i), Art. 1(2)(ii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- For that same kind of application, the people listed in Article 59-4, paragraph (2), item (i), (a) to (c) of the Regulation for Enforcement of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act may submit it in the resident's place where the director of the regional immigration services bureau finds it appropriate: attorneys and administrative scriveners who have notified the director through their association, and the staff that item lists, only at the request of the resident or, in the cases above, of a relative living with them; the resident's legal representative, other than when acting as that relative. If the resident is under 16 or cannot apply through illness or another cause, a relative not living with them, a person living with them who is not a relative (neither under 16), or a similar person the director finds suitable may submit it.(Art. 1(2)(iii), Art. 1(2)(iv), Regulation for Enforcement of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 59-4(2)(i)) (the provisions it rests on)
- Where the application goes with an application to change status of residence, extend the period of stay or obtain permanent residence, the resident need not appear in person if their legal representative applies for them. Attorneys, administrative scriveners and some organisations' staff may also submit it at the request of the resident in Japan or their legal representative where the director of the regional immigration services bureau finds it appropriate; and if the resident is under 16 or cannot apply through illness or another cause, a relative, a person living with them, or a similar person the director finds suitable may submit it.(Art. 1(3), Art. 1(3)(i), Art. 1(3)(ii), Art. 1(3)(iii), Regulation for Enforcement of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 59-4(2)(i), Regulation for Enforcement of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 59-4(4)(ii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- At the municipal office, the resident need not appear in person if they are under 16, or illness, disability or another unavoidable reason makes appearing difficult, and a relative aged 16 or over, their legal representative, or a person aged 16 or over asked by any of them submits the application and shows the passport in their place. This does not apply where the resident also asks for the card to be sent to them by post under Article 19-15-2, paragraph (3) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act.(Art. 2(4), Art. 2(4)(i), Art. 2(4)(ii), Art. 2(4)(iii), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-15-2(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
How it is enforced (6)
- This Order sets no penalties: it says at which office, on which form and with what an application is made.(Art. 1(1), Art. 2(1), Art. 2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
- Where this Order lets someone other than the resident submit an application at a regional immigration services bureau, several of the cases depend on the director of the regional immigration services bureau finding it appropriate, or finding the person suitable.(Art. 1(2)(iii), Art. 1(2)(iv), Art. 1(3)(ii), Art. 1(3)(iii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- When the application goes with an application to renew the residence card, the residence card shown is marked to say that a renewal application has been made, and the mark is erased if the application for a specified residence card is withdrawn.(Art. 1(4), Art. 1(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
- A person who submits an application at the municipal office in the resident's place must show the mayor of the municipality materials, or explain, that this is a case in which the resident need not appear in person.(Art. 2(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
- The Commissioner of the Immigration Services Agency may decline to issue the specified residence card if, after the application, the resident's name, date of birth, sex or nationality changes, or the Commissioner otherwise finds issuing it inappropriate.(Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-15-2(8)) (the provisions it rests on)
- A card applied for through the municipal office is handed over through the mayor at the office of the municipality where the resident is recorded, unless they also asked for it to be sent by post; the resident collects it there in person (or through someone Article 61-8-3(2) or (3) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act lets act for them) and hands back the old residence card at once.(Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-15-2(6), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-15-2(7), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-15-2(9), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 19-15-2(10)) (the provisions it rests on)
How it connects to other laws
Cites this lawLawThis law cites it
It also names 2 laws not yet held here.
Where the translation comes from
- 31
The Ministry of Justice's translation is shown only where the Japanese it translates matches the law in force today. Everywhere else the English is a machine translation, marked on the paragraph itself.
Only the Japanese is the law, and no lawyer has reviewed the machine translation.
Sources
Everything this page rests on
- e-Gov (Digital Agency)特定在留カードの交付の申請に関する規則 — the text in force from 2026-06-14Original
- e-Gov (Digital Agency)特定在留カードの交付の申請に関する規則 — revision historyOriginal
- Machine translation, not official
- Machine translation, corrected on review, not official
- Written for this site with AIDescriptions of each law, written for this site
- Written for this site with AIEnglish title of a law in this collection, written for this site
- Worked out by this site from e-Gov's text