Permanent Residency Denied in Japan? How to Reapply Successfully and Improve Your Chances【2025 Edition】

2. What to Do Immediately After Your Permanent Residency Is Denied

Right after receiving a denial notice, the most important thing is to avoid reacting emotionally and to focus on accurate situation assessment and deadline management. Many people make the mistake of reapplying without knowing the real reason for the denial and face rejection again. The first two weeks after receiving the notice are a critical period to determine your next course of action.

1. Keep and Review the Denial Notice

The denial notice briefly states the result of the screening. Although it is not submitted again during reapplication, make sure to record the issuance date, receipt number, and regional Immigration Bureau. This information is useful for future inquiries or formal information disclosure requests.

2. Check Your Residence Status Expiration Date

Even while applying for permanent residency, your existing residence status continues to expire as usual. If, after receiving the denial notice, your current visa is set to expire within one month, you must immediately renew your current status. Failure to renew may cause a gap in your residence status and negatively affect your reapplication.

3. Identify the Reason for Denial

In most cases, the denial notice does not specify detailed reasons. To understand the true cause, you need to request an oral explanation at the Immigration Bureau or a formal information disclosure.

• Oral Explanation: By appointment. The applicant or representative visits the Immigration Bureau directly for an explanation.
• Information Disclosure Request: A written procedure to obtain a summary of the examiner’s notes.

At ACROSEED Immigration Lawyer’s Office, we help clients organize the reasons and prioritize improvement points at this stage. Identifying whether the low evaluation was due to income, taxation, pension, conduct, or residence history is the key step toward a successful reapplication.

3. When Can You Reapply for Permanent Residency?

Many applicants ask, “When can I reapply?” Legally, there is no fixed waiting period. However, in practice, it’s best to reapply after you can demonstrate improvement with new supporting documents.

1. General Timeline for Reapplication

The appropriate timing for reapplication depends on the specific reasons for denial. Below are general benchmarks based on actual cases:

• Income: When one full year of improved salary is available.
• Taxation: After the new fiscal year’s tax certificate is issued (typically May–June).
• Pension: After completing back payments or showing at least three months of consistent payments.
• Conduct: After maintaining six months to one year without minor violations.

In short, the optimal timing is not a simple “waiting period,” but the point when sufficient evidence of improvement can be presented.

2. Key Points During the Improvement Period

During the improvement period, it is essential to keep paying your taxes and pension contributions on time. If you change jobs or your income fluctuates, keep documents that prove stability (employment contract, pay slips, health insurance card) for future submission.

ACROSEED Immigration Lawyer’s Office prepares a customized “Reapplication Schedule” for each client to help plan and manage the steps toward a successful reapplication.

4. Case-by-Case Strategies: From Permanent Residency Denial to Approval Through Reapplication

Reasons for permanent residency denial differ depending on your current status of residence and living situation. Below, we divide the discussion into four common patterns and summarize practical strategies for reapplication and proof in each case.

1. Work-Related Status (Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services, etc.)

For work-related visas, the most frequent reason for permanent residency denial is unstable income.

• The timing of a job change overlapped with the screening period
• The previous job was left after a short period
• Your position or salary has decreased

In such cases, it is crucial to demonstrate stable salary for the most recent 12 months. Reapplying after renewing your employment contract makes it easier to prove continuity of employment and recovery of income in your reapplication.

2. Spouse of Japanese National or Permanent Resident

When applying for permanent residency from a spouse visa, the examination focuses heavily on the household’s overall financial capacity.

• Low income of the spouse
• Household budget in deficit
• Short duration of marriage

In this situation, it is important to present savings balances and evidence of improved household finances, emphasizing that your family has a realistic and sustainable living base. Supporting documents can include household budget records, jointly held assets, and explanations of who supports whom in the family.

3. Households with Children

For families with children, the authorities also evaluate whether there is a stable environment for continuous education and daily life.

• Stability of monthly payments such as tuition and rent
• Ongoing communication and relationship with nursery schools or schools

To show family stability in your reapplication after denial, documents such as bank account withdrawal records for regular expenses and materials that demonstrate community ties (e.g., communication notebooks from nursery school) are effective supplementary evidence.

4. Business Manager Visa (Company Owners/Managers)

For Business Manager visa holders, permanent residency denial is often related to insufficient business stability.

• Unstable company sales
• Low director’s remuneration
• Delays in tax payment

In such cases, the key to a successful reapplication is revising the business plan and improving recent financial results and tax payment records. By documenting improved sales in recent quarters and preparing materials that show future profit forecasts, you can strengthen your position in the reapplication after a denial.

5. Successful Cases: From Permanent Residency Denial to Approval Through Reapplication

ACROSEED Immigration Lawyer’s Office has supported many clients with reapplications after permanent residency denial. Below are representative cases where targeted improvements plus reapplication led to approval. Personal information has been anonymized by using statistical ranges to avoid identifying individuals.

Case 1: Unstable Income After Job Change → Proving Employment Stability

• Occupation (anonymized): Software development (back-end)
• Age Range: Early 30s
• Family Structure: Single
• Years in Japan: 5–7 years
• Annual Income Range at Reapplication: 4–5 million yen
• Previous Period of Stay: 3-year Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services status

In the reapplication, we carefully proved stable salary trends and enrollment in social insurance. As a result, permanent residency was approved seven months later.

Case 2: Unpaid Pension Contributions → Back Payments and Continuous Payment Proven

• Occupation (anonymized): Clerical work (manufacturer)
• Age Range: Late 20s
• Family Structure: Living with Japanese spouse, no children
• Years in Japan: 4–6 years
• Annual Income Range at Reapplication: 3–3.8 million yen
• Previous Period of Stay: 3-year Spouse of Japanese National status

We submitted a written explanation that organized the improvement process in chronological order. As a result, approval was granted in the reapplication about one year later.

Case 3: Unstable Household Finances After Family Reunification → Presenting Improved Household Budget

• Occupation (anonymized): Service planning (retail) + spouse: accounting
• Age Range: Late 30s
• Family Structure: Couple with one preschool child
• Years in Japan: 7–10 years
• Household Income Range at Reapplication: 5.5–6.5 million yen
• Previous Period of Stay: 3-year Spouse of Permanent Resident status

By logically demonstrating a long-term, household-based living foundation, the client obtained permanent residency through reapplication six months later.

Key Common Points: Across all cases, we focused on:

1. Identifying the reason for denial (oral explanation, information disclosure)
2. Quantifying improvements (income, pension, tax, household budget)
3. Preparing comparable documents (before vs. after reapplication)

Because permanent residency is assessed comprehensively, the accumulation of small improvements directly impacts the result. It is crucial to choose the improvement indicators that can be shown most quickly, depending on each applicant’s background.

* These case studies have been partially abstracted and expressed in ranges to prevent identification of individuals. In actual support, we design document sets tailored to each client’s situation, with their consent.

6. Q&A on Reapplying After Permanent Residency Denial

Legally, there is no clear “waiting period” for reapplication. In practice, you should reapply only after you have improved the reasons for denial and gathered new records and evidence that prove those improvements.

For example, if the denial was related to income or taxation, a common benchmark is to wait until new tax certificates for the latest fiscal year are issued (usually May–June). If the issue was unpaid pension contributions, aim to reapply after completing back payments and showing several months of continuous payments.

The denial notice itself does not state the detailed reasons. To know the exact cause of the permanent residency denial, you need to request either an oral explanation at the Immigration Bureau or a formal information disclosure.

At ACROSEED Immigration Lawyer’s Office, we classify the reason for denial as either a “formal or procedural defect” or a “substantive insufficiency,” and then organize the key points that must be improved for a successful reapplication.

When the problem is a clear document error or a minor formal issue, withdrawing the application can be effective. You can correct the documents in a short period and resubmit, allowing the screening to proceed smoothly.

On the other hand, if improvement will take time—for example, issues with income, pension, or taxation—it is often more appropriate to leave the denial as it is and reapply after making substantial improvements. The decision should be made by balancing the remaining period of stay with the time needed for improvement.

The record of a denial itself is not necessarily a disadvantage. However, if you reapply with exactly the same situation and documents, the evaluation will not change, and there is a high possibility that you will be denied again.

In your reapplication, it is crucial to clearly describe in a written explanation what you have improved and how you improved it in response to the previous points of concern.

The required additional documents depend on the reason for denial, but generally you will add materials such as the following:

• Income-related: Payslips, employment contracts, certificate of income and withholding tax (showing comparison with the previous year)
• Taxation: Latest tax certificate(s) plus tax payment certificate(s)
• Pension: Proof of back payments, records from the Nenkin Net (online pension record)
• Household stability: Household budget sheet, bank balance certificates, rent payment records

The key to a successful reapplication is to organize these documents systematically as evidence of improvement and to structure your written explanation so that the examiner can easily understand the relationship between the denial reasons and the new proof.

7. Summary: Reapplying After Permanent Residency Denial

After your permanent residency has been denied, the biggest mistake is to reapply with almost the same content without identifying the reasons for denial. In the screening process, immigration looks more at substantive improvement than at the mere formality of the application. In other words, if you apply again under exactly the same conditions, the result is unlikely to change. The starting point is to clarify the cause of the denial.

The first step toward success is to accurately understand the reasons for denial. Through an oral explanation or an information disclosure request, you must identify which items—income, pension, taxation, conduct, or residence history—were evaluated negatively. Once the cause is clear, you can finally build a concrete strategy for reapplication.

The next important point is to present your improvements in numbers. Instead of vague statements such as “my income increased” or “I finished paying arrears,” you should provide specific, quantitative proof such as “annual income increased by 500,000 yen compared to the previous year” or “all unpaid pension was repaid and payments have continued for three months.” In permanent residency screening, this kind of numerical evidence greatly increases credibility.

Finally, it is essential to organize your supporting documents systematically. Rather than simply attaching each document that shows improvement (payslips, tax certificates, pension records, etc.), you should prepare an explanation sheet that clearly states which document responds to which reason for denial. This makes your reapplication package much easier for the examiner to understand.

ACROSEED Immigration Lawyer’s Office provides integrated support throughout this entire process. From analyzing the reasons for permanent residency denial, planning the improvement schedule, to organizing documents for reapplication, our specialists work alongside you to design concrete strategies that bring you closer to approval in the shortest possible time.

8. Popular Pages Related to Permanent Residency Applications

Japan Permanent Residency Application Guide

A comprehensive overview of permanent residency applications in Japan: key requirements (income, years of stay, taxes / pension compliance), typical patterns by status of residence, and how to respond to refusals.

Permanent Residency Guide from a Work Visa

An up-to-date guide for those who aim to obtain permanent residency in Japan from a work visa. Includes a self-check tool for work-visa holders on PR requirements.

Obtaining a PR Visa via Highly Skilled Professional Points

A service for those who wish to obtain a Highly Skilled Professional visa or permanent residency in Japan using the Highly Skilled Professional points system.

Permanent Residency Guide for Spouses of Japanese Nationals

For applicants moving from a spouse visa to permanent residency, this guide explains requirements, documents, and common refusal cases, with a PR self-check tool for spouse visa holders.

Permanent Residency Requirements Self-Check Tool

A 30-second self-diagnosis tool to check whether you meet Japan’s permanent residency requirements: Highly Skilled 70/80 points, work visa, spouse visa, and Long-Term Resident.

Reapplication Guide After Permanent Residency Refusal

What to do if your PR application is refused and how to prepare for reapplication.

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