If your
long-term life plan was to learn the language with Duolingo, get an
exploitative job in Tokyo, and eventually become a full-fledged Japanese
citizen, we've got some bad news for you. Just when we thought the country was
desperate for fresh labor, Japan's Ministry of Justice just
slammed the door in the face of foreigners by announcing much stricter rules
for obtaining citizenship.
Twice as
long, twice as taxed
Until a few
days ago, the deal was relatively affordable: you needed to live there for five
years, pay taxes for one year and contribute to social security for another
year. But since the government decided that integrating into society is
expensive, the new requirements are a real kick to the liver. As of
April 1, 2026, applicants will have to survive ten years in the
country, pay five uninterrupted years of taxes and two years of social
security.
And if the
courage wasn't enough, the authorities announced this on March 27, giving
people a ridiculous margin of four days before the law goes into effect.
Fortunately, those who already had their procedure in process were saved from
this new bureaucratic nightmare and will be evaluated with the old rules.
There is
a lack of hands, but there are plenty of obstacles
The
corporate and governmental irony of this affair is monumental. Japan is going
through a brutal demographic crisis; Its population is aging, no one wants to
have children and they are begging for people willing to get the job.
Many naïve people believed that the government was going to loosen laws to
retain foreign talent in the long term, but they opted for the opposite route,
matching the requirements of citizenship with those of Permanent Residency.
The only
good news in this sea of bureaucracy is that, for now, normal work and study
visas remain intact. In addition, the government failed to implement the
dreaded advanced language tests or "lifestyle classes" that were
rumored late last year.
Knowing
that you are now required to pay an entire decade paying taxes to be considered
"one of their own", are you still clinging to the dream of moving to
Japan or have you already accepted that the promised land of anime is not as
friendly to foreigners as it seems?
