Notify when newly arrived in Japan or moved house: Moving-in & Change of address notification

The Japanese terminologies relating to change of address procedures sound particularly similar. There must be many foreign residents who are confused with those words. In Japan, residents are required to submit a moving-in notification to the nearest municipal office of a new address when moved in other municipality, or a change of address notification when moved house within the same municipality. These notifications might sound unfamiliar to many non-Japanese residents as they were not required to submit such documents before. Now all residents reside in Japan are required to submit these notifications, so let’s have a look how the system works.

What is moving-in notification?

Since the Basic Resident Registration system of Japan was amended in 2012, all non-Japanese residents are required to register for the system and notify a municipal office of change of address when arrived in and leaving Japan, or moved house. A “moving-in notification” must be submitted to the nearest municipal office by residents who newly arrived in Japan, or who has been residing in Japan and moved inter-municipality. Residents who moved from other municipality are also required to submit a moving-out notification to the previous municipality before moving in a new municipality. Foreign residents who newly arrived in Japan don’t need to submit a moving-out notification. The form can be obtained at the citizen’s affairs division of any municipal offices. You may send a moving-out notification by mail but a moving-in notification must be submitted in person.

What is change of address notification? Difference from moving-in notification?

A change of address notification is a document to be submitted by residents who moved within the same municipality. Moving from Akasaka Minato-ku Tokyo to Aoyama Minato-ku Tokyo (within the same ward), or moving from Chuo-ku Osaka-shi to Kita-ku Osaka-shi (within the same city) are typical examples of change of address within the same municipality. The procedure is less completed than inter-municipality cases as residents are required to submit only a change of address notification to update their resident registrations. Visit the citizen’s affairs division of your municipal office to obtain the form.

When to submit moving-in/change of address notification?

You must submit a moving-in or change of address notification within 14 days from the date you started living at the new address. The transfer or amendment of your resident record is successfully completed when your moving-in or change of address notification is received by the municipal office in your area. Note that these notifications cannot be submitted until residents actually move to a new place. Also, late submission of moving-in or change of address notification is subject to up to JPY50,000 fine. What is more, foreign residents who failed to submit these notifications by due date may be fined up to JPY200,000, or have their status of residence revoked. If you are moving to the different municipality and wish to submit both moving-in and moving-out notification on the same day, you must submit the moving-out notification first, then the moving-in notification. This is because you are required to attach a moving-out certificate, a document you receive upon submission of the moving out notification, when you hand in the moving-in notification.

What to bring

Non-Japanese residents who newly arrived in Japan

Residence card or special permanent resident certificate
Passport

※Residents who had a “Resident card to be issued” stamped in their passports don’t have a resident card. In such cases, bring your passport.

Residents who moved from other municipality

Moving-out certificate obtained from your previous municipal office
Residence card or special permanent resident certificate
Passport

A moving-out certificate is not required for submission of change of address notification. In both cases, no inkan (a seal) is required if the notification is signed by the resident himself.

Example of moving-in/change of address notification

The form of moving-in or change of address notification slightly vary by each municipality. Generally, the universal form called “notification of move” is used for moving-in, moving-out and change of address in common. Some municipal offices that have a large number of non-Japanese residents in the area provide the form written in English (e.g. Minato-ku and Itabashi-ku of Tokyo) while some others provide the Japanese form with English captions (e.g. Shinjuku-ku Tokyo, Kobe-shi Hyogo). Or, there are municipal offices that provide the Japanese form with an instruction card written in English (e.g. Fukuoka-shi Fukuoka). However, the majority of offices still provide the Japanese form and Japanese instruction card only. The followings are detailed instructions to fill a notification of move using a sample form of Kobe-shi Hyogo.

Date of submission: The date you visited a municipal office and fill the form.
Date of move: The date you started living in a new address. The difference of days between 1 and 2 must not be more than 14 days.
Applicant individual or head of household: The name of applicant himself. If you are applying for family, write the name of the head of household.
Contact Tel number: Landline or mobile phone number.
New address: The address of your new residence.
Head of household・DOB: The name of the head of household and DOB of Christian year.
Old address: The address of your previous residence.
Head of household: The name of head of household
Names of those moving: The name of all family members who moved including applicant. Write hurigana too.
DOB: Each family member’s date of birth.
Gender: Circle each family member’s gender.
Relationship to head of household: E.g. Self, wife, son etc
School and grade before moving: Child(ren)’s school and grade if he/she is a primary or junior high school student(s).
Nationality: Each family member’s nationality.

Other applications you can submit along with moving-in/change of address notification

Along with a moving-in or change of address notification, you may complete other applications relating to social security on the same day to save a trip to the municipal office. Unless you are working or going to work for a company and the company will arrange Employee’s Health Insurance and Employees’ Pension Insurance for you, you may want to register for National Health Insurance and National Pension as well. Inquire the staff which counter you should go. If you are a new resident from overseas, you will need to newly enroll in both National Health Insurance and National Pension. If you moved from other city, newly enroll in National Health Insurance and just update your address in National Pension System. Residents who just moved house within the same city just need to update your address in both the health insurance and the pension system. Submitting all applications at once will save your time as you have only 14 days to submit these applications and notifications. By the way, there is no requirement to update the current address in your passport, so there is no procedures for this.

New home, new beginning

“Ten-nyu”, “ten-kyo” and “ten-shusu”, the Japanese terminologies relating to change of address procedures may be confusing for non-Japanese residents. Even the Japanese sometimes cannot tell the difference between “Ten-nyu (moving-in)” and “Ten-kyo (change of address)”. In fact, there is just a little difference between these two: whether residents moved inter-municipality or within the same municipality. Anyway, if you are not sure which notification you have to submit, just ask the office staff. They are there to help you.