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Flag of Japan

Japan

Digital Nomad Visa (Designated Activities)

PR: NoUTC+9

The requirements

Programme status
Open, accepting applications
Minimum monthly income
$5,583 a month
Required savings
None
Annual total
$66,996
Initial duration
6 months, non-renewable
Family allowed
Yes
Apply online
No, in person or by post

¥10,000,000/year (~¥833,333/month).

How this figure is set: A fixed amount set in law or on the official page. The wording on the source is: 10000000. Formula: annual income JPY 10,000,000 or more.

Income confidence: high · checked 2026-09-07
Legal basis: Ministry of Justice Public Notice on Designated Activities (item 53), 2024; MOFA visa page.

Does this lead to permanent residence?

No pathway. Digital Nomad status excludes residence card; not mid/long-term resident, no PR route.

The Immigration Services Agency of Japan's own page (moj.go.jp/isa, 'Designated Activities' status for digital nomads) states the status is valid 6 months, non-renewable, and that holders are explicitly excluded from receiving a residence card, meaning they are not classified as mid-to-long-term residents. Japan's ordinary PR route (Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act; ISA Guidelines for Permission for Permanent Residence) requires 10 years' continuous residence (5 of which on a qualifying work/residence status), or an accelerated 1-3 years for Highly Skilled Professional status holders - a distinct status the digital nomad category is not. That the digital nomad status contributes zero PR-qualifying time is a direct inference from its stated non-resident classification, since the ISA page does not need an explicit 'excluded from PR' clause for a status that was never a residence status.

Pathway confidence: high · checked 2026-09-07

Where it is

Tokyo sits at 35.68° N, 139.69° E.

Japan picked out on a world map

Open in Google Maps ↗A map of Tokyo. This is the only link here that leaves the site.

Your position is worked out on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Time zone

  • UTC+9 Tokyo (Asia/Tokyo)

The country

Region
Asia · East Asia
Capital
Tokyo
Currency
JPY

Nearest

Japan has no land border. These are the nearest countries covered here, by the distance between capitals.

What it costs to live there

$1,502 per person, per month. That is what one resident of Japan spends in an average month with housing included — not what a newcomer renting at market rates will spend, which is higher, and furthest above it in the cheapest countries.

Tokyo
$1,829 / month incl. rent
of which rent $875
Fukuoka
$1,291 / month incl. rent
of which rent $382

City figures are crowdsourced from livingcost.net, not official: one person's monthly spending plus the rent of a one-bedroom flat outside the centre. They are here because a national average cannot show the spread between a capital and the places people actually move to. Checked 2026-09-20.

Cost of living confidence: high · checked 2026-09-20
World Bank national accounts, reference year 2024: households and NPISHs final consumption expenditure (NE.CON.PRVT.CD, current US$) divided by population (SP.POP.TOTL) and by twelve. This is what one resident spends in an average month with housing included, since national accounts count the imputed rent of owner-occupiers. It is an average over the whole population, not a visitor's budget, so a newly arrived remote worker renting at market rates will spend more - see the city figures for what that looks like.

Languages

  • Japanese official

Shares of the population from Unicode CLDR: official, then anything spoken by a quarter of the country, an eighth, or a fiftieth. It answers "will I be understood", not "how good is their English".

How to apply

  1. Check you clear the requirements above — $5,583 a month is the figure this row records.
  2. Gather what the official page asks for. Expect proof of income, a passport, health insurance and a criminal-record check as the common core.
  3. Apply in person or by post — this programme has no online route.
  4. Sort out where you will stay for the first stretch. Airlines check this at the desk and will not board you without it, whatever your visa says —what counts as proof of accommodation.
  5. Verify every figure on the official page before you spend money. Thresholds are set in local currency and move every year.

MOFA visa page ↗

~50 visa-exempt nationalities with tax treaty; ¥10M private insurance; embassy.

A starting point, not advice. Figures are converted to US dollars at open-market rates; official thresholds are set in local currency. Sources: official source ↗. Data checked . Compiled by .