Japan PR Income Requirement: ¥3M Single, ¥4M+ With Family

Japan publishes no official income minimum for PR — but the unwritten floor is roughly ¥3 million per year for a single applicant, with about +¥700,000 per dependent. A married applicant with one child needs around ¥4.4 million. The threshold needs to be sustained for at least 3 consecutive years.

Bottom line: Japan publishes no official income minimum for PR — but the ISA's unwritten floor is roughly ¥3 million per year for a single applicant, with about +¥700,000 per dependent. A married applicant with one child needs around ¥4.4 million, with two children around ¥5.1 million. The threshold needs to be sustained for at least 3 consecutive years in your tax records. For spouse-route applicants, the floor is lower because household assets and the Japanese spouse's income are weighed in.

Information current as of April 2026 based on the ISA's revised PR Guideline (Feb 24, 2026) and 2025–2026 analyses from Touch Visa Center, Visa SOS Yokohama, and Office Ohno. For the underlying rules, see our PR complete guide.

What the law says — and what it leaves unsaid

The PR Guideline requires "independent livelihood" (独立の生計を営むに足りる資産又は技能を有すること) — Article 22 of the Immigration Control Act. The wording mentions either assets or skills, not a numeric income figure. ISA does not publish a salary minimum.

In practice, ISA's adjudicators apply unwritten thresholds derived from years of decisions. Administrative scriveners with high case volumes have triangulated those thresholds from rejection patterns. The numbers below reflect that practical reality, not a regulation.

The income floor by family size

The starting point is ¥3 million per year for a single applicant, then add about ¥700,000 per dependent (spouse, child, or other person legally dependent on you). "Per dependent" is not exactly ¥700,000 — published analyses cluster around ¥600,000–¥800,000 — but ¥700,000 is a safe planning figure.

Family size	Practical income floor (annual)	What this looks like in monthly take-home
Single, no dependents	¥3.0M	~¥200,000/month after tax/social
Married, no children	¥3.7M	~¥245,000/month
Married, 1 child	¥4.4M	~¥290,000/month
Married, 2 children	¥5.1M	~¥335,000/month
Married, 3 children	¥5.8M	~¥380,000/month

Note: "dependents" in this context means people declared on your 給与所得者の扶養控除等申告書 (year-end tax declaration) — not just family living with you. If your wife works full-time and earns above ¥1.03M, she's not your tax dependent and isn't counted.

Why ¥3M? The reasoning

¥3M is roughly the lower-bound of what Tokyo treats as "a basic life" for a single person. Below ¥3M, ISA argues you depend on social safety nets — which conflicts with the "independent livelihood" requirement. Above ¥3M, you can pay rent, food, taxes, and pension without help.

For married couples, the reasoning shifts: even if your individual income is ¥3M, you also need to cover your spouse and any children. The cumulative threshold grows with household size.

How many years of high income do you need?

The ISA reviews 3 consecutive years of tax certificates (課税証明書 + 納税証明書) for the standard route, and 5 years in some cases. The threshold must be met for each of those years — practitioners commonly report that a single year below the floor significantly weakens the file and is one of the most cited rejection triggers.

What counts:

Salary income (給与所得)
Self-employment income (事業所得)
Real estate rental income (不動産所得)
Investment dividends (配当所得)

What does NOT count:

One-time gains (capital gains, severance pay)
Family remittances from your home country
Lump-sum inheritances

If your total taxable income for any year was below the floor, many practitioners advise waiting and rebuilding before filing. Filing with one bad year costs ¥10,000 (rising to ¥100,000–¥200,000 expected, with a ¥300,000 statutory cap; final figure to be set by Cabinet Order in fiscal year 2026) plus a long wait — practitioner reports cite 8–18 months depending on bureau, with the ISA's official examination-period statistics showing a national average of approximately 294.5 days / ~10 months for 永住者 (令和8年1月許可分).

Spouse-route applicants: a different calculation

If you're applying via the spouse route (married to Japanese, PR, or Special PR holder), the household income matters more than your individual income. The unwritten rule:

Combined household income should clear the family-size floor above
Your spouse can be the primary earner
Significant household assets (savings, real estate) can offset weak income

Many spouse-route applicants successfully apply with personal incomes below ¥3M when the Japanese spouse earns enough to cover the household.

What if my Japanese spouse is on parental leave?

Pre-leave income still counts toward the household calculation. Childcare leave allowance (育児休業給付金) is treated similarly to wages. If both spouses are on leave at the same time, file after one returns to work.

HSP applicants: salary thresholds embedded in points

The HSP route uses points instead of a separate income floor — but salary contributes heavily. To reach 80 points without strong salary, you need very high education, age advantages, and Japanese ability. Realistic 80-point profiles typically have ¥7M–¥10M+ annual salary. For details on points calculation, see our HSP points guide.

Self-employed and freelance applicants: the harder case

Freelancers face two additional hurdles:

Volatility penalty: Even if your 3-year average is ¥4.5M, a year that dipped to ¥2M reads as instability.
Documentation burden: You need 確定申告書 copies, 納税証明書, and bank statements for every year. Salaried applicants only need 源泉徴収票.

Recommended for freelancers: smooth your income before filing. If you can declare ¥4M, ¥4M, ¥4M instead of ¥6M, ¥3M, ¥5M, the steadier picture is preferred. For more on freelancer tax positioning, see our freelance tax article.

If you're not sure how your income years stack up against these thresholds — especially with freelance volatility or recent job changes — post your tax certificates on LO-PAL for free. A local helper can read the 課税証明書 numbers and tell you whether your file is ready.

Assets as a substitute for income

Article 22 mentions assets or skills. In practice, ISA accepts asset-based applications only when the applicant has very large savings (¥30M+) or owns real estate generating substantial rental income. A typical applicant cannot rely solely on a ¥5M savings cushion to overcome low salary.

That said, savings of ¥5M+ in your primary bank — visible on a 残高証明書 (bank balance certificate) — is a positive supplementary factor when income is borderline.

The 2026 guideline impact on income evaluation

The February 2026 revision did not change the income floors, but it tightened evaluation of income stability. Adjudicators are now more likely to:

Penalize year-on-year drops (especially if drop-year fell below the floor)
Question short employment tenures (1–2 years per employer)
Look harder at whether income is sustainable for the next 5+ years

Counter phrases for tax certificates

過去3年分の課税証明書をください (Kako san-nenbun no kazei shoumeisho o kudasai) — Please give me 3 years of tax assessment certificates.
納税証明書も発行してください (Nouzei shoumeisho mo hakkou shite kudasai) — Please also issue a tax payment certificate.
所得金額の合計を確認したいです (Shotoku kingaku no goukei o kakunin shitai desu) — I'd like to confirm the total income amount.

Get Your Tax Certificates Read by a Local

The 課税証明書 is the single document that decides PR for income reasons — and the numbers on it can be hard to interpret in Japanese tax vocabulary. Post a task on LO-PAL for free: a local helper can read your tax certificates, compare them against the threshold for your family size, and tell you whether to file now or wait. You only pay when the task is done.

Disclaimer: This article is general information, not legal advice. Japanese immigration rules change frequently and individual outcomes depend on adjudicator discretion. Before filing any application, consult a licensed administrative scrivener (行政書士) or immigration attorney (弁護士). The Immigration Services Agency website (moj.go.jp/isa) is the authoritative source for current rules and forms.