On 14 June 2026 Japan began operating the Specified Residence Card, a single card that carries both residence card functions and My Number Card functions. According to the Immigration Services Agency, it is open to mid- to long-term residents and special permanent residents recorded in the Basic Resident Register, and obtaining one is entirely optional. On the same day, ordinary residence cards and special permanent resident certificates also switched to a redesigned format. This article is assembled from published government material rather than from counter-level observation.

What the Specified Residence Card actually is

The Immigration Services Agency defines a Specified Residence Card as a residence card to which My Number Card functionality has been added, and a Specified Special Permanent Resident Certificate as the same treatment applied to a special permanent resident certificate. Together they are referred to as Specified Residence Cards etc. The legal basis is Article 19-15-2 of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act for the Specified Residence Card, and Article 16-2 of the Special Act on Immigration Control for the Specified Special Permanent Resident Certificate; either card is deemed to be a My Number Card for the purposes of the My Number Act and related rules.

Until now, a resident holding both cards had to complete residence procedures at a regional immigration bureau and then make a separate trip to a municipal office to update the details held on the My Number Card. The agency states that once a Specified Residence Card is issued, the My Number Card function already carries the current information, so that second trip is no longer needed.

The card is still a residence card, so the obligation to carry it at all times is unchanged. It can also be used as a My Number health insurance card and as a My Number driver's licence, with one catch: if you already hold a My Number driver's licence, the licence data is not carried over, and it would have to be recorded again at a driver's licence centre for a recording fee.

The redesigned residence card that arrived on the same day

The 14 June change is not only for people who want the merged card. From the same date, ordinary residence cards and special permanent resident certificates that are not merged also moved to a redesigned format with revised printed fields. Older-format cards remain valid after the switch and do not have to be exchanged.

The printed surface changed noticeably. Period of stay, type of permission, date of permission and date of issuance are no longer printed and are now recorded only in the IC chip. What remains on the surface is name, date of birth, sex, nationality or region, address, status of residence, expiry date of the period of stay, residence card number, expiry date of validity, and whether work is restricted. The My Number itself is printed on the back of a Specified Residence Card, and is not printed on the redesigned ordinary residence card.

Photographs changed too. On cards issued up to 13 June 2026, no photograph was shown for holders under 16. On cards issued from 14 June 2026, a photograph is shown for holders aged 1 and above. Validity for permanent residents and Highly Skilled Professional (ii) holders moved from seven years after issuance to the tenth birthday after issuance, or the fifth birthday for holders under 18. For residents with a fixed period of stay, validity still runs to the end of that period.

The fields that left the printed surface can be read from the IC chip using the agency's own residence card reader application. The date of issuance is not displayed, and as of 7 August 2026 neither are period of stay, type of permission or date of permission. The agency says a revised version of the app showing those three is planned for release around September 2026; until then it asks people to confirm period of stay from the certificate of residence and to work out the date of permission with the calculator on its 'What is a Residence Card?' page (only where a change of status of residence was granted). A Specified Residence Card also carries My Number Card functionality, so the Digital Agency's face-to-face verification app, iOS only as of the same date, can read period of stay and related fields.

Who can apply, and why optional matters

Applications are open to mid- to long-term residents and special permanent residents who are recorded in the Basic Resident Register. Anyone without a resident registration falls outside the scheme, and short-stay visitors are not covered.

The agency states plainly that, just as obtaining a My Number Card is optional, obtaining a Specified Residence Card is optional, and that continuing to carry two cards remains possible.

What you gain depends on whether you already hold a My Number Card. If you do, the benefit is losing that second trip. If you do not, receiving a Specified Residence Card is how you would acquire My Number Card functionality for the first time. In that case PINs have to be set at the time of application, and the signing certificate is in principle not issued to applicants under 15.

Where you apply: no standalone filing, no online filing

An application for a Specified Residence Card cannot be filed on its own. It has to accompany an existing application or notification, and which counter handles it depends on which procedure you are filing alongside it. The counters below are those for the Specified Residence Card, that is, for mid- to long-term residents.

Online filing is not available either. The agency says that, for the time being, a Specified Residence Card application cannot be accepted through the online residence application system, so anyone who wants the merged card has to file the underlying residence application in person.

Airports do not issue it. What you receive at the airport on new landing is a residence card. The agency lists New Chitose, Sendai, Narita, Haneda, Chubu, Kansai, Kobe, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Naha as the airports that issue residence cards.

For a child born in Japan, the application cannot be filed together with the birth notification. Filing alongside an application for acquisition of status of residence is not permitted, so a residence card is issued; but if you file for reissuance by request for exchange together with a Specified Residence Card application on the same day that card is issued, no fee applies.

  • At the regional immigration office with jurisdiction over your address, you can apply alongside: notification of a change to residence card items other than address; renewal of the validity period; reissuance due to damage or by request for exchange; extension of the period of stay; change of status of residence; and application for permanent residence.
  • At the responsible counter of your municipality, you can apply alongside: notification of address after new landing; notification of address following a change of status of residence; and notification of a change of address.
  • For special permanent residents, the Specified Special Permanent Resident Certificate is filed at the municipal counter in every ordinary case: change of recorded items, renewal of the validity period, any reissuance application, and address notifications. A regional immigration office handles it only where the application for special permanent residence permission is filed by someone holding a status of residence in Appended Table II of the Immigration Control Act.
  • If your only goal is to convert the card you already hold, file an application for reissuance by request for exchange at a regional immigration bureau and attach the Specified Residence Card application to it.
  • Regional immigration bureaux began accepting these applications on Monday 15 June 2026, the first working day after the scheme opened.

Documents you need

The list below is as published by the Immigration Services Agency on 7 August 2026. Whatever the accompanying procedure requires has to be prepared separately, on top of these.

On collection, a postal option exists but only for municipal filings: applicants meeting a limited set of conditions may request direct delivery, meaning the card is mailed to the registered address. Direct delivery is not available for filings made at a regional immigration office.

  • Specified Residence Card application form. There are separate versions for immigration bureau filings and for municipal filings, and they cannot be used interchangeably.
  • PIN setting request form. For immigration bureau filings you enter your PINs on the agency's web page, which generates a barcode; you print that sheet and submit it. The agency asks that the page be opened in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Municipal offices hand the form out at the counter.
  • One photograph: subject only, no headwear, facing forward, no background or shadow, sharp, taken within six months before the filing date. No photograph is required if the holder is expected to be under 1 year old at issuance.
  • Your passport must be presented, or a written statement of reasons if you cannot, together with your residence card.

Fees, and how long issuance takes

No fee is charged in principle when you receive a Specified Residence Card at your first procedure on or after 14 June 2026. Where a fee does apply there are two of them: 1,900 yen to the Immigration Services Agency for the residence card side, or 2,600 yen if the card is posted to your address; and 600 yen to the Japan Agency for Local Authority Information Systems (J-LIS) for the My Number Card side, or 800 yen where digital certificates are issued. All amounts are as published on 7 August 2026.

These rules are moving. The agency's page now carries a note that, from 7 August 2026, the J-LIS fee is waived as well where the application accompanies an application for permanent residence and the applicant still holds a residence card issued on or before 13 June 2026.

The agency says a Specified Residence Card takes at least around two weeks from filing to issuance, roughly ten days longer than an ordinary residence card. Same-day issuance does not exist here.

There is also a certificate gap. The agency states that the digital certificates on a My Number Card or Specified Residence Card you already hold expire about one week before the new card is issued, and that this may affect use of the My Number health insurance card and similar services. Filing at a time with no medical appointments booked is the safer choice.

What continues after you get it, and what to do if you lose it

Filing does not guarantee that you receive the merged card. The agency lists the main situations in which an ordinary residence card is issued instead: your name changed after filing; you moved house before collection when you filed at a municipal office; or, where the application accompanied a change of status or an extension of stay, fewer than one month remained until the end of the grace period when screening finished.

Holding the card once does not keep it renewing itself. The agency states that unless a fresh application is filed at the time of the procedure that follows expiry of the validity period, an ordinary residence card is what you receive. Separately, the expiry date of the My Number Card function runs only to the original expiry date of your period of stay: if screening is still under way and you enter the grace period, a change to the validity of the My Number Card function has to be completed at your municipal office before that original date, or the user certificate lapses and the card may stop working as a My Number health insurance card.

Losing the card means two sets of procedures, precisely because it is one card. The My Number Card portal states that the My Number general toll-free line (0120-95-0178, voice guidance option 2) accepts suspension requests for lost or stolen cards 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For the residence card side, report the loss to the nearest police station first, then apply for reissuance due to loss at the regional immigration bureau with jurisdiction over your address. What is issued at that point is an ordinary residence card. Special permanent residents instead apply at the municipal counter for reissuance of the special permanent resident certificate due to loss, and can file the Specified Special Permanent Resident Certificate application at the same time.

How to think about your own case, and where to check

These checks are drawn from the agency's own published material and do not guarantee any individual outcome.

Fee liability in particular is set out case by case in a table that was amended again on 7 August 2026. Before treating any of this as settled for your own situation, open the Immigration Services Agency page on Specified Residence Card applications, or on Specified Special Permanent Resident Certificate applications, and find the row that matches you.

For residence procedures in general, the Immigration Services Agency's general information centre for foreign residents can be reached on 0570-013904, or 03-5796-7112 from IP phones and from overseas, weekdays 8:30 to 17:15, in Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Nepali, Thai, Burmese and Sinhala. For the My Number Card side, suspension of a lost or stolen card is taken on the My Number general toll-free line (0120-95-0178, voice guidance option 2) 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Portuguese. Other multilingual enquiries go to separate lines: 0120-0178-27 for cards and suspensions, 0120-0178-26 for the My Number system and Mynaportal, each with its own languages and hours as published on 7 August 2026. Anything that turns on your specific address or status of residence should go to the regional immigration bureau for your area, or to your municipal office.

  • Is there an immigration counter visit already on your calendar, such as an extension of stay, a change of status or permanent residence? Attaching the application to that visit wastes the least time.
  • Do you want to file residence applications online? For now, online filing and the merged card are mutually exclusive.
  • Do you rely on the My Number health insurance card? Certificates lapse about a week before issuance, so avoid periods with medical appointments.
  • Have you recorded licence data on a My Number driver's licence? It is not carried over, and re-recording at a licence centre involves a fee.
  • How much time is left on your period of stay? Fewer than one month to the end of the grace period when screening closes can mean an ordinary card instead.

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