Changes to the Basic Resident Registration Law

1 Eligible registrants for Basic Resident Registration

The following foreign nationals legally residing in Japan for more than 3 months will be listed on the Basic Resident Registration. The person, however, must have established and maintain a residence in the municipality where the registration takes place.

(1) Medium to long term resident (with Residence ("Zairyu" ) Card)	Foreign nationals granted a status of residence, excluding the persons granted permission to stay for not more than 3 months or persons granted such status of residence as temporary, diplomat and official. Residence ("Zairyu") Card shall be issued to those foreign nationals at the time they are permitted to land or reside in Japan in accordance with the amendment to the Immigration Control Act.
(2) Special Permanent Resident	Persons recognized as Special Permanent Resident stipulated by the Special Act on the Immigration Control. Special Permanent Resident Certificate shall be issued in accordance with the revised Special Act on the Immigration Control.
(3) Person granted landing permission for temporary refuge or person granted permission for provisional stay	Foreign nationals embarked on a vessel, etc. who fall under the provisions of Refugee Recognition Act regarding status of refugee and are granted landing permission for temporary refuge, or undocumented foreign residents who are granted permission for provisional stay upon application of refugee status. When such permissions are granted, a certificate of permission for temporary refuge or a certificate of permission for provisional stay will be issued respectively.
(4) Person who is to stay in Japan through birth or who has renounced Japanese nationality	Foreign nationals who are to stay in Japan through birth or who has renounced Japanese nationality. Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act stipulates that such persons may continue to stay in Japan without acquiring a status of residence for a period not exceeding 60 days

2 Registered Items

Registered items of the basic resident registration include full name, date of birth, sex and address as well as insurance information such as national health insurance and national pension plan.

However, for foreign residents, following additional items as well as their nationality or region will also be listed on their records:

(1) Medium to long term resident	The words "Mid to long term resident" Type of status of residence, period of stay, expiration date and registration number noted on the Residence ("Zairyu") Card
(2) Special Permanent Resident	The words "Special permanent resident" Number noted on the Special Permanent Resident Certificate
(3) Person granted landing permission for temporary refuge or person granted permission for provisional stay	The words "Person granted landing permission for temporary refuge or Person granted permission for provisional stay" Period of stay noted on the certificate of permission for temporary refuge or provisional stay
(4) Person who is to stay in Japan through birth or who has renounced Japanese nationality	The words "Person who is to stay in Japan through birth or Person who has renounced Japanese nationality"

Address or place of residence in home country, place of birth, occupation and passport number, which are originally regarded as registered items by the Alien Registration Act shall not be registered for the basic resident registration.

Comparison between Description of a Resident Card and Items of the Alien Registration Card

3 Move in/out notices

Under the Alien Registration Act, foreign residents who have moved to another municipality are required to notice their change of address to that municipality but not to the municipality from where they move out.

However, with the enforcement of the amendment, they will be required to notice to the municipality from where they move out and obtain a "move-out certificate" before noticing to the municipality they move into. This is the same procedure Japanese residents go through when they changed their address.

Those who are going to move in from overseas will be required to present their Residence ("Zairyu") Card or Special Permanent Resident Certificate showing their personal information (name, nationality or region, status of residence and period of stay) in order to ensure the accuracy of the items registered on the Basic Resident Registration.

4 Other notices

Besides the change of address, the Alien Registration Act also requires foreign residents to notice any other changes in personal information (name, resident status, period of stay) to the municipality where they reside. Since those changes are made at the Regional Immigration Bureau, foreign residents are required to go to the Regional Immigration Bureau first and then to the municipality for the notice.

However, after the amendment becomes effective, when a foreign resident makes such changes at the Regional Immigration Bureau, those changes will be reflected on the Basic Residence Registration. Foreign residents will no longer have to bring themselves to the municipality. Instead, Ministry of Justice will notice such changes to the municipality and the municipality will update their records. This new system will prevent the overlapped notices of the concerned foreign residents and at the same time keep the registered information accurate.

As for the change of address, the municipality will notice the new residential information obtained through the move in/out notices that are made by foreign residents to the Ministry of Justice.

5 Others

In addition to the above 1-4, following provisions of the Basic Resident Law will be applied to foreign residents as well as Japanese; public access to the Basic Resident Registration, issuance of certified copies of the Basic Resident Registration, correction of registered items authorized by the head of municipality,the Network for Basic Residents’ Register and Basic Resident Registration Card.

6 Transition period (provisional residence records "Juminhyo")

In order to facilitate a smooth transition to the new system upon enforcing the amendments to the Basic Residence Registration Law, following measures shall be implemented:

(1) Provisional residence records (provisional "Juminhyo") will be made on a fixed date before the amendment comes in effect (hereafter referred to as "fixed date") for foreign nationals who are (a) listed on the alien registration kept by municipalities and (b) expected to reside in those municipalities with the residence status described in 1 (1)-(4) on and after the date of enforcement of the amendment (hereafter referred to as "enforcement date"). Eligible foreign residents will be informed on the items appearing on their provisional records and asked to make correction by the enforcement date if necessary. Provisional records will then be changed over to proper ones and filed in the Basic Resident Registration on the enforcement date.

(2) Same procedures will also apply to those who meet the qualifications of (a) and (b) from the day after the fixed date until the day before the enforcement date.

(3) Undocumented foreign residents will not be captured by these provisional recording procedures and therefore will not be filed for the basic resident registration on the enforcement date. Any foreign national who holds an eligible status but fails to file for the alien registration must notice to the municipality where they reside and complete the registration within 14 days after the enforcement date.

Through these procedures, municipalities can keep their residential record accurate without asking for an additional notice from those foreign residents who have properly completed the alien registration, and thus facilitate a smooth transition to the new system.