Eligibility requirements
- Dependant (家族滞在): the spouse or child of a person holding one of the listed statuses, including Professor, Highly Skilled Professional, Business Manager, Researcher, Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services, Intra-company Transferee, Skilled Labour, Specified Skilled Worker (ii), Cultural Activities and Student, who is supported by that person. Parents and siblings are not covered. Specified Skilled Worker (i) is not a qualifying sponsor.
- The sponsor must show the occupation and income that will support the family; the period of stay is set individually within a five-year ceiling and generally tracks the principal's period.
- Work for Dependant holders requires permission to engage in activities outside the status. The comprehensive permission allows paid activity within 28 hours a week; work in adult-entertainment businesses is excluded. Exceeding 28 hours is an immigration breach and a negative factor for the whole household's later applications.
- Highly Skilled Professional spouse: under Designated Activities the spouse may engage in activities corresponding to Instructor, Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services and similar categories without meeting the usual degree or experience requirements, provided they live with the principal and receive remuneration at least equal to a Japanese national in the same work.
- Highly Skilled Professional parent: a parent of the principal or of the spouse may reside where the household is raising a child under seven, or where the spouse or principal is pregnant and needs support; household income must be JPY8 million or more, the parent must live with the household, and only one side's parents may be admitted.
- Highly Skilled Professional domestic worker: one worker where household income is JPY10 million or more, with pay of at least JPY200,000 a month and, under the family-circumstances variant, a child under 13 or a spouse unable to manage housework; a second worker is possible only at a much higher income under the financial-talent variant.
- Spouse or Child of Japanese National, and Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident: a genuine marriage or parent-child relationship is the test; the status carries no activity restriction and has its own shorter residence rules for permanent residence.
Legal framework
Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, Appended Table I(4) — Dependant ↗
Lists the sponsoring statuses and the daily-life activities permitted to a supported spouse or child, with the documents required for each procedure.
ISA — Highly Skilled Professional preferential treatment ↗
Sets the conditions for spouse work, accompanying parents and domestic workers, including the household-income thresholds.
Immigration Control Act, Article 19(2) — permission for activities outside the status ↗
The comprehensive permission for paid activity within 28 hours a week and the categories of individual permission.
Build the evidence
Prepare records that substantiate the relevant criteria. The final checklist depends on the applicant, route and filing authority.
- Marriage certificate, birth certificates or family register extracts proving each relationship, with Japanese translations.
- The principal's residence card or passport copy, employment certificate and tax or income certificates, or bank evidence where the principal's income is not from employment.
- For HSP concessions: the principal's points evidence, household-income evidence for the principal and spouse, proof of cohabitation, and for a parent the child's age or medical evidence of pregnancy.
- For a domestic worker: the employment contract showing pay of at least JPY200,000 a month, the worker's experience and, where relevant, evidence of the child's age or the spouse's condition.
- For spouse-of-Japanese-national applications: the questionnaire, photographs and evidence of a genuine shared life, together with the Japanese spouse's family register and income evidence.
How to apply
- 01
Map each family member to a status
WG begins with what each person intends to do: study, work part-time, work professionally, care for a child. That intention, together with the principal's status and household income, determines whether Dependant, a Designated Activities concession or a spouse status is appropriate.
- 02
Apply together or in sequence
Family applications are usually filed with the principal's Certificate of Eligibility application so that visas can be issued together. Where the principal is already in Japan, each family member applies for their own Certificate of Eligibility.
- 03
Obtain work permissions before any work starts
A Dependant who will work part-time applies for the comprehensive permission, ideally on landing at the airport or immediately afterwards. An HSP spouse who will work professionally applies for the Designated Activities permission before accepting the role.
- 04
Register locally
Each family member records their address at the municipality within 14 days of settling, receives a My Number notification and is enrolled in health insurance and, where applicable, pension. Children are enrolled at school through the municipal board of education or an international school.
- 05
Keep the household calendar
Each residence card has its own expiry; each person's notifications are separate. A change of the principal's employer or a divorce has consequences for every dependant's status that must be handled within the statutory periods.
After approval & family planning
- A Dependant may study full-time at any level; children attend local public schools free of tuition or private and international schools at the family's cost.
- A dependant's status depends on the principal's. Loss of the principal's status, or a divorce, generally requires the dependant to change to another status or depart; some spouses may qualify for Long-Term Resident on the facts.
- A dependant who obtains a professional role may change to a work status in their own right; years under Dependant count towards the ten-year permanent-residence residence period but not towards the five work-status years.
What this route builds, and what it opens
WG assesses every route on three returns: the knowledge it adds, the cognitive capability that sustained work abroad develops, and the institutional opportunity it opens or closes. Real work is the mechanism in each case.
Knowledge
A family that settles in Japan learns the municipal, insurance, school and tax systems at first hand. Children in Japanese or international schools acquire language and credentials; a spouse working under a concession gains Japanese professional experience that is itself a credential for later moves.
Cognition
Daily life in Japanese institutions, from the ward office to the school parents' association, is a sustained exercise in multicultural working for every family member, not only the principal. Households that manage it well develop shared procedural discipline.
Opportunity
Dependant status permits study and limited work; the HSP concessions permit a spouse's professional career and, in defined cases, a parent's presence. The structure keeps the family together and preserves each member's path to permanent residence. It closes little: a spouse's Japanese work history supports their own future applications in Japan and elsewhere.
Programme context. Where a participant holds a genuine managerial or specialist role with a qualifying affiliate, the family's statuses may be assessed alongside the principal's so that schooling, work and residence plans are coherent from the start. Read the framework ↗
Frequently asked questions
Can my spouse work full-time on a Dependant visa?
Not under Dependant alone. Full-time professional work requires a change to a work status, or for HSP households the Designated Activities spouse concession.
Does the 28-hour limit apply per employer?
No. It is a total across all paid activity in any week, however counted, and ISA examines payroll records when a dependant later applies for anything.
Can my parents come to help with childcare?
Only through the HSP parent concession, which requires a child under seven or a pregnancy, household income of JPY8 million or more and cohabitation. Other statuses do not provide a parent route; parents may visit as temporary visitors.
Can a domestic worker accompany us?
Under the HSP concession, yes, where household income reaches JPY10 million, pay is at least JPY200,000 a month and the family-circumstances or financial-talent conditions are met. Check the linked authority for the current detail.
Is a Dependant covered by health insurance?
Yes. Dependants of employees are usually covered as dependants under the employer's health insurance; otherwise they enrol in National Health Insurance at the municipality.
My child was born in Japan. What do I do?
Apply for permission to acquire status within 30 days of the birth, after registering the birth at the municipality within 14 days. A child of a Japanese parent may instead be registered as Japanese.
Points to consider
- Household compliance is assessed as a whole in later permanent-residence applications; a dependant's unpaid pension contributions or excess hours affect the principal.
- Some sponsor categories require additional documents; the Dependant page lists the procedure-specific items.
Sources & further reading
Editorial review: 21 October 2026. Official rules, forms, fees and entry restrictions can change. Check the linked authority before an application or investment decision.
General information, not an individual eligibility decision or legal, tax or investment advice. The competent authority determines the outcome. WG’s engagement and any regulated professional work are scoped separately.