Japan Toolbox

Moving & leaving Japan checklist

Choose your move and answer six questions; “Not sure” keeps relevant items in your list.

This is a checklist of general procedures, not legal or tax advice. We do not fill in, draft or submit applications, notifications or tax returns, or act on your behalf. Ask the office listed for each item which procedures and deadlines apply to you.

Information checked: 2026-11-04

Move type

The card for mid- to long-term residents. Choose Not sure if it is lost, awaiting issue, or you are unsure of the certificate type.

The card itself, rather than a notification card or just your number.

Employer health insurance and National Health Insurance societies do not count as Yes here.

People who pay for themselves, including those with exemptions or payment postponement. Choose Not sure if you do not know your category.

No includes paying with payment slips; it does not mean tax-exempt.

Leaving or changing a job; graduation, withdrawal, transfer or further study; or an institution’s name/address change or closure. Ending an old contract and starting a new one are separate events with separate dates.

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Japan Toolbox — Moving / departure checklist (personal memo). This is not an official document and must not be used as a filing form.

No personal checklist generated. Enter valid details and make a checklist before printing.

About this list

For an individual already registered as a resident in Japan. This tool does not determine procedures for short stays, new entry, special permanent resident certificates, temporary trips, no fixed address, special address rules for study or institutions, late-stage elderly healthcare, National Health Insurance societies, or pension recipients’ payment destinations. Ask the municipality or relevant office if these apply or you are unsure.

Moving between Tokyo’s 23 wards counts as a different municipality. For a move between wards of the same designated city, check the procedure with the municipal office; a moving-out certificate is not always required. Mynaportal: moving procedures ↗

Your check marks, move type, move or departure date and answers are saved only in this browser’s localStorage so you can resume the same list. Today’s date is not saved. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or put in a URL. “Clear all” removes this tool’s saved data. Clear it when you finish on a shared device. The page still works if storage is unavailable.

Check office hours and closure exceptions; dates are not adjusted. Past dates do not determine a filing violation.

How to use this checklist

  • Domestic registration and relevant card or municipal insurance address procedures generally use 14 days after actually moving in. Day 1 is the following day; registration on the move-in day is also possible. Calendar dates are not shifted for weekends or holidays.
  • Other procedures may need a different event date. A date not calculated here does not mean there is no deadline. The groups help you plan; they do not set waiting periods. Check My Number continuation at move-in and pension refund conditions before departure if helpful.
  • Resident tax stays in every list. Salary deductions and pension enrolment answers do not determine exemption or refund eligibility. Related tools open without carrying over your answers.
  • Check marks mean you have dealt with an item or confirmed it is not applicable; they do not certify legal completion. You may mark a reminder for a contract you do not have as checked.
  • These are the general rules at the information-check date, even for an earlier move. Ask the office about individual application before a rule change. No names, detailed addresses, card PINs or account information are needed.
How to use this checklist — Ask

Notify the old municipality

Arrange the moving-out notification with your old municipality before leaving the old address. There is no nationwide application-start date calculated here. Confirm that the old office has finished processing before filing at the new address; your move-in date is not automatically the official planned moving-out date.

Ask: Old municipality: resident registration office

Check the overseas moving-out notification

Before departure, ask the old municipality whether you are moving your address overseas and how to notify it. A temporary trip is not automatically a moving-out event; duration alone does not decide it. The domestic online moving-out service does not cover overseas moves.

Ask: Old municipality: resident registration office

Check My Number card or notification-card return

If you hold neither card, you can mark this item not applicable. Japanese nationals must return the notification card. Only Japanese nationals can arrange overseas continued use, with the moving-out notification before departure. People without Japanese nationality must return the My Number card or notification card to the municipality; the card becomes invalid after overseas moving-out. A punched card can be returned to you after the procedure. The individual number notice need not be returned. Card invalidation does not erase the number. Permanent-resident status or re-entry permission does not grant overseas continued use.

Ask: Old municipality: My Number card office

Check withdrawal from the old municipal health insurance

If enrolled in municipal National Health Insurance, ask the old office about the actual loss-of-eligibility date, the 14-day notification deadline, premium settlement and which eligibility documents must be returned. Moving-in, departure and loss-of-eligibility dates are not automatically the same. Check whether the householder must notify. This is not a direction to return the My Number card for insurance withdrawal.

Ask: Old municipality: National Health Insurance office

Check National Pension procedures for overseas residence

Category I membership ends with overseas residence; arrange the procedure with the municipal pension office. Do not substitute the flight date for the eligibility date. The guidance gives no uniform numeric filing period. Voluntary overseas enrolment is a scheme for Japanese nationals subject to age and other conditions; ask the municipality before departure. It is not automatically available to foreign nationals.

Ask: Municipal pension office / pension office (employer for Category III, etc.)

Check your ISA affiliation notification

ISA means Immigration Services Agency. This is the foreign resident’s notification, separate from employer employment reports, payroll tax notices and municipal registration. Activity-institution categories include Professor, Highly Skilled Professional (i)(c)/(ii)(c) activities, Business Manager, Legal/Accounting Services, Medical Services, Instructor, Intra-company Transferee, Technical Intern Training, Student and Trainee. Contract-institution categories include Highly Skilled Professional (i)(a)/(b)/(ii)(a)/(b) activities, Researcher, Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services, Nursing Care, Entertainer (contract-based activities only), Skilled Labor and Specified Skilled Worker. Check institutional name/address changes or closure, departure/transfer, or contract ending/new contract as applicable. Permanent Resident, Spouse or Child of Japanese National and Long-Term Resident are not automatically subject to the same notice. The 14 days run from each actual event, not your move; under the general first-day rule the next day is day 1. Event dates are not collected here. If an event has happened, do not wait for the move. File after the event under official guidance; notification does not itself authorize a new activity.

Ask: Regional immigration office / Immigration Information Center

If leaving a job, check health insurance and pension changes

If you leave employer health insurance because a job ends, check the next insurance scheme and eligibility dates with the employer and municipality, including a change from Employees’ Pension to National Pension where applicable. This item remains even if you currently answered No to municipal insurance or Category I. A school-only change does not by itself establish an enrolment obligation.

Ask: Employer insurance team / municipal health insurance and pension offices

Check resident tax notices and payment arrangements

Check notices, unpaid amounts and tax not yet notified with the municipality of your January 1 address, including after a domestic move. Nationality or departure alone does not decide exemption or reduce assessed annual tax by months. Before leaving Japan, ask about remaining payments and a resident-tax representative. Shinjuku describes a representative or prepayment before notice, and a representative or full payment after notice; prepayment is not guaranteed nationwide. Representative location, notification, approval and exceptions follow municipal rules. This is separate from an income-tax representative at the tax office. Your departure date is not a universal statutory payment deadline.

Ask: Resident tax office of your January 1 municipality

Check the last resident-tax salary deductions

Ask payroll about actual final deductions, the remaining amount, continued salary collection, lump-sum collection or switching to direct payment. An employer’s notification deadline is not your own payment deadline. Use the resident-tax tool for its separate calculations.

Ask: Employer payroll team / assessing municipality’s resident tax office

Ask the tax office about income-tax departure procedures

Before departure, consult NTA 12004 and 12021 and your tax office. If losing your tax address/residence on departure and still needing tax procedures, check appointment of a tax representative. A person required to file who has not notified a representative before departure may need to file and pay before departure. NTA distinguishes residents and non-residents and income categories, including certain non-withheld domestic salary. Not every departing person must file, and appointing a representative does not universally postpone all filing until after departure. This tool does not determine tax residence, filing obligation, income, deductions or refunds.

Ask: Tax office responsible for your tax address

Check re-entry and residence card return

If planning to re-enter, ask ISA before returning your card: ordinary re-entry permission requires an application before departure; special re-entry permission has passport/card, eligibility, validity and exception conditions. If departing without re-entry permission (including special re-entry permission), the card becomes invalid on departure confirmation and must be returned immediately at the departure port. A municipal overseas notification alone does not require returning this card to the municipality. Return after later invalidation has separate rules; no departure-plus-14 date is calculated.

Ask: Immigration officer at departure port; regional immigration office before departure

Register at the new municipality after moving in

File after actually starting to live at the new address, once the old municipality has completed its moving-out processing. You cannot file before moving in. Day 1 is the next day; filing on the move-in day is also possible.

Ask: New municipality: resident registration office

Notify the address change after moving in

After moving within the same municipality, file an address-change notification. Do not treat this as separate moving-out and moving-in notifications. Day 1 is the next day; filing on the move-in day is also possible.

Ask: Current municipality: resident registration office

Update the My Number card address

After moving in, bring your card with the resident notification and ask about the address change and invalidation/reissue of the signature electronic certificate. For a different municipality, missing the 14-day moving-in limit can invalidate the card; ask the office if it has passed. Do not enter your PIN here.

Ask: New municipality: My Number card office

Present the residence card at address registration

For mid- to long-term residents after moving in: presenting the residence card with a moving-in or address-change notification at the municipality counts as the ISA address notification. If the municipal notification was accepted without the card, a separate address procedure is needed. You do not always need to visit both the municipality and immigration.

Ask: New municipality: resident registration office

Check municipal health insurance enrolment after moving in

If joining the new municipality’s National Health Insurance, check enrolment within 14 days after moving in. Other health insurance, including employer coverage, can change whether this applies. Confirm your eligibility and the notification with the municipal office.

Ask: New municipality: National Health Insurance office

Update municipal health insurance address after moving in

If enrolled in municipal National Health Insurance, update your address within 14 days after moving within the municipality. This is an address change, not separate withdrawal and re-enrolment.

Ask: Current municipality: National Health Insurance office

Confirm My Number card continuation at move-in

To preserve card continuation, file the moving-in notification within both 14 days of actually moving in and 30 days of the declared planned moving-out date. The separate card-continuation procedure must be completed within 90 days of filing that notification. Ask the municipality about closure-day rules. Nakano and Saitama are municipal examples. The planned moving-out and filing dates are not collected here, so these dates are not calculated. Check certificate reissue at the moving-in visit.

Ask: New municipality: My Number card office

Check whether a pension address notification is needed

In principle, no address notification is needed if My Number is recorded in your pension record. Having a My Number card does not establish this. If it is not recorded or you are unsure, ask the pension office; Category I procedures are at the municipal pension counter. The cited guidance does not specify a numeric deadline.

Ask: New municipality’s pension office / pension office

Check lump-sum withdrawal conditions and claim period

You can check conditions before departure. Eligibility includes not having Japanese nationality, no longer being insured in a public pension scheme, having no address in Japan and contribution-period conditions. Past National Pension or Employees’ Pension history may matter even if you answered No to current Category I. The overview says within two years after no longer having an address in Japan; detailed conditions use the last loss of public-pension eligibility, or the first subsequent loss of a Japanese address if you still had one when eligibility ended. Departure alone cannot fix that starting date. Check eligibility, totalisation and pension-right effects with Japan Pension Service and use the related tool; no amount or absolute claim deadline is calculated here.

Ask: Japan Pension Service / pension office

Official sources

This is a checklist of general procedures, not legal or tax advice. We do not fill in, draft or submit applications, notifications or tax returns, or act on your behalf. Ask the office listed for each item which procedures and deadlines apply to you.