Job docs · Residence & ID

Application materials

Residence (card & status)

The residence card and status are high-privacy material — this page covers information and pitfalls only, collecting nothing and generating no original by default. On the right is a public, CC-licensed official residence-card specimen (carrying its own 見本/SAMPLE watermark) so you can recognise a real card; click a field annotation on the left and the matching field highlights with its caution. It is not a real card and cannot be submitted — for procedures, rely on immigration's official pages.

Pick a material

Residence is high-privacy material — information and pitfalls first; other materials link to their own pages.

Next step

Handle status changes, post-offer steps, and onboarding in the dedicated tool. You can also copy the checklist or print this page.

Open offer / residence / onboarding tool

Sample field annotations

Click a field to highlight it on the official specimen image and see the sensitive caution.

Click a field annotation on the left and its sensitive caution appears here.

Field-label font size

SAMPLE · public official specimen, not a real card, not submittable

Residence card official specimen (not a real person) from Wikimedia Commons, carrying its own 見本/SAMPLE watermark — Wikimedia · File:Japanese Residence Card Sample.jpgIwate Prefecture / Government Standard Terms of Use Ver2.0 / CC BY 4.0

The image on the right is a public, CC-licensed official residence-card specimen (carrying the government's own 見本/SAMPLE watermark), shown only to help you recognise which fields a residence card carries and their cautions. It is not a real card, cannot be submitted, and does not represent your own status. The site collects no card number, passport number, or expiry, and generates nothing usable as a real document.

Pitfall quick-ref

Timing of extension/change, keeping the number private, work permission — cross-field points gathered as a read-only reference; procedures per immigration's official pages.

Extension / change timing: Both extending your period and changing "student→work" status take review time — don't leave it to the expiry day. After an offer, confirm the change documents early (offer letter, employment contract, expected graduation) and back-count from immigration's queue.
Keep the number private: Never place the card or passport number in an ES, email, chat, generic input box, or an uploaded screenshot. Company verification via immigration's validity check suffices. This site does not ask for or collect these numbers.
Work-permission stamp: Part-time work or paid internships on student status usually need the back-side work permission (typically within 28 hours/week during term; up to 8 hours/day during the school's long vacation periods (guideline) — per immigration's official rules [要確認]; summer internships often bump into this, so don't apply the term-time cap to long vacations). Having an offer ≠ being able to work; formal employment runs on a work status — don't take a full-time role on student status.
Address notification: Within 14 days of moving, notify the municipal office; the card's back is updated. Most easily missed after relocating for job-hunting; a mismatched address slows later residence and onboarding steps.
Submit only when needed: Residence information is usually needed at late-stage selection, after an offer, or at onboarding — not at application. Don't upload high-privacy material to a tool that doesn't need it; when a company asks, submit only the necessary scope.

Official primary sources (ISA)

For all procedures, deadlines, and permissions, rely on the Immigration Services Agency's official pages.