The new system based on Immigration Act, Special Act on Immigration,Control, Resident Basic Book Act, which were revised in July 2009, is scheduled for implement on July 9, 2012. JAPAN

About the Revised Immigration Act

1. The Immigration Control Act will be modified

① The New Immigration Control Act that was promulgated on July 15th of 2009, will go into effect on July 9th of 2012.
② Accordingly, the Basic Resident Registration Act will also apply to foreign residents

2. In other words,

① This law has been modified with the purpose of conferring the Japanese government complete control over all information related to foreign residents living in Japan.
② Until now, local government offices were in charge of the alien registration process. From now on, all data related to national foreigners will be managed by the Ministry of Justice.

3. Main contents of the revision

① The “alien registration card” issued to all foreign residents by local governments will be eliminated and the new “residence card” will be issued by the Immigration Office.
② Special permanent residents will be issued a “Special permanent resident card” by local government offices.
③ Once the Foreign National Registration System starts, all foreign residents will have their residency registered in the local government office.
Japanese nationals are asked to present a “Certificate of Residence” at banks or when looking for a job. From now on foreign residents will also be required to present the document that can be acquired at local government offices.
④ The “residence card” will be issued at the Immigration office when you go to renew your status of residence. The “special permanent resident card” will be issued by local government offices at the time of renewal, every 7 years. Once you receive your “residence card” you should go to your local government office and have your address registered on it.
⑤ Those who possess permanent residence status should change their present alien registration cards in the term of 3 years after the 9th of July of 2012. The expiration date of the present cards will be the 8th of July of 2015.
⑥ The current “alien registration card” will be considered valid as “residence card” until you obtain the new card.
⑦ Until now, permanent and special permanent residents received notifications prior to the renewal of their cards. From now on, there will be no such notification.

4. Until the enforcement of the Act on July 9th,

① The Ministry of Justice has send information on all foreign residents to local governments by January.
② Local government offices are preparing certificates of residence registers for all foreign residents with the information provided by the Ministry of Justice. When the preparations are over, they will send a “temporary certificate of residence” to all foreign residents.
③ If the person to whom the “temporary certificate of residence” was sent is not living in that address anymore, it will return to the local government office of origin.
④ The foreign resident will be considered as not living in that jurisdiction and this information will be passed to the Ministry of Justice.
⑤ The Act will be enforced on July 9th.

5. After enforcement of the law, foreign residents should obey the following regulations

① All changes of address should be notified within 14 days. Notify your present local government office that you will change your address. Once you moved into another place, notify the new local government office of your place of residence.
② If your status of residence changes, you should notify the change to the Regional Immigration Office within 14 days. Changes in status of residence refer to marriage, divorce, death of spouse, affiliation organization, workplace, school, specialty, etc. Whenever the data on your residence card changes you should notify it.

6. Penalties

① Failure to notify changes in place of residence within 14 days will be punished with a fine of not exceeding 200,000 yen. More exactly, the present Basic Registration Act punishes failure to notify a change of address with a fine of up to 50,000 yen. Under the new Immigration Act a fine of 200,000 yen will be imposed.
② Failure to notify changes in your place of residence for more than 90 days will lead to revocation of your status of residence.
③ Foreign residents who do not have residence records in the citizens registers should register in the term of 90 days following the 9th of July. Failure to do so may lead to revocation of the status of residence since they will not be able to apply for status of residence. The immigration office will register them as disobeying the law and their status of residence may be revoked.

7. What we would like you to do

① Make sure that the address on your alien registration card is the same as the address of the place you live in now. If they are different, please notify your current address to the local municipal office until the 8th of July.
② If your status of residence changes, please notify it to the Immigration Office.
③ Do please inform your friends about these changes and ask them to spread the news. You may find the Q&A pamphlet useful when informing others.