Moving apartments in Tokyo: where to change your address

If you hold a residence card and are moving to a new apartment in Tokyo, go to the ward office for your new address within 14 days of moving in. Take your residence card and, if you have one, your My Number card. You don't need to visit an immigration office: the ward records the move and that counts as your report to immigration.

The 14 days start on the day you begin living at the new address, and you can't file before that day. If the new apartment is in a different ward or city from the old one, there is one extra step at the old office, which you can do before you move.

One form or two

Japan's resident registration law uses three forms, and which ones you need depends on whether you stayed inside the same municipality. In Tokyo's 23 wards, each ward counts as its own municipality.

If you moved within the same ward, you file one form at that ward office: 転居届 (tenkyo todoke — change-of-address form). Article 23 of the Basic Resident Registration Act sets the deadline at 14 days from the day you moved.

If you moved to a different ward or city, you file two forms. The first is 転出届 (tenshutsu todoke — moving-out form) at the old office. The second is 転入届 (tennyū todoke — moving-in form) at the new office, within 14 days of moving in under Article 22 of the same law.

You can file the moving-out form before you move. Shinjuku takes it from 14 days before the moving date until 14 days after. Shinjuku also takes it by post, though only from the person moving, not from a representative. Since February 2023, every municipality accepts it online as well, through マイナポータル (Mynaportal), the government's My Number portal, if your card's electronic certificates are valid. The Digital Agency says this removes the need to visit the old office, but you still have to appear at the new office for the moving-in form.

If you file the moving-out form on paper, the old office gives you a 転出証明書 (tenshutsu shōmeisho — moving-out certificate) to hand in at the new office. If you file it with your My Number card, Shinjuku says no paper certificate is issued; the information travels between the offices instead.

What happens to your residence card

Article 19-9 of the Immigration Control Act says a mid- to long-term resident who changes address must present the residence card at the new municipality within 14 days of moving in, and that the municipality passes the address on to the Immigration Services Agency. The agency's own page confirms that filing the moving-in or change-of-address form with your card at the municipal counter counts as that report, so no separate immigration form is needed. The office writes the new address on your card and hands it back.

A relative aged 16 or over who lives with you can file for you, and Shinjuku also accepts another person carrying a signed letter of authorisation. Shinjuku's moving-in page lists what to bring: the moving-out certificate, your residence card, and the My Number cards of everyone in the household. Foreign residents may also be asked for a document showing their relationship to the head of household, with a Japanese translation if it's in another language.

Deadlines for updating your My Number card

The same counter updates your My Number card, but keeping it valid depends on two separate deadlines. The first is for filing the moving-in form. Bunkyo's card page says that after a move from another municipality you must file within 14 days of moving in, or the card becomes invalid. Shinjuku's moving-in page adds the other half of that rule: the card also becomes invalid if you file more than 30 days after the planned moving-out date you wrote on the moving-out form. Whichever of those two dates comes first is your deadline. If you miss the 30-day one, Shinjuku says you have to ask the old office to reissue a paper moving-out certificate before the new office can take your form.

The second deadline is for the card itself. Bunkyo says that once you have filed the moving-in form, the counter has to rewrite the address on the card within 90 days, or the card becomes invalid even though the form was on time. Bunkyo calls that step 継続利用 (keizoku riyō — continued use), and it needs the four-digit PIN you set when the card was issued. If your card becomes invalid, you'll need to apply for a new one. Ask to have its address updated when you file the moving-in form.

Here is an invented example to show how the dates fit together. You file the moving-out form on 1 November and write 15 November as your planned moving-out date, but the new apartment only becomes available on 20 November. Counting 14 days from 20 November gives 4 December; counting 30 days from 15 November gives 15 December. The earlier date, 4 December, is your deadline for the moving-in form. If you file it on 1 December and update the card's address the same day, there is nothing more to count. If you file the form but don't update the card's address that day, the card update is due by 1 March, which is 90 days after 1 December.

Any change to the printed address also cancels the card's signing certificate, the one used for e-Tax and for filing the moving-out form online next time. Ask the counter to reissue it while you're there if you use those services. For a move within the same ward, Bunkyo says the card still needs its address changed after the change-of-address form, but it sets no deadline and doesn't say the card becomes invalid.

Health insurance and pension

If you're on National Health Insurance and moved from another municipality, you leave the old ward's scheme and join the new one. Shinjuku requires the new registration within 14 days and asks for the moving-out certificate. It also warns that premiums are charged back to the month your membership began, and that if you use the ward's insurance for treatment without having registered, you repay those medical costs to the ward later. The ward posts the new eligibility document to your home.

Pension usually needs nothing from you. The Japan Pension Service says that if your My Number is linked to your basic pension number, no address change is needed. If you pay National Pension yourself and the numbers aren't linked, or you're a short-term foreign resident, file the change at the ward office.

Licence, post and the contracts in your name

You can change the address on a Japanese driving licence free of charge at any police station in Tokyo, a licence update centre or a test centre. The Metropolitan Police list the residence card among the documents that prove the new address. If your licence is combined with your My Number card, update the card at the ward first.

Japan Post forwards mail from your old address to the new one for one year, free of charge. You can hand in the forwarding form at a post office, apply online, or drop the form in a mailbox. For the mailbox option, Japan Post asks you to enclose a copy of an identity document, and its list includes the residence card. The year runs from the day you file, so file close to the move.

Your bank, phone company, employer and school each need the new address separately. Go to the ward office first; each of them will want to see the new address already printed on the card.

If you're already late

File anyway, as soon as you can. The ward will still accept the form and update the card. Article 71-5 of the Immigration Control Act sets a fine of up to ¥200,000 for not reporting a new address, and Article 22-4 lists failing to report a new address within 90 days of leaving the old one as a ground on which residence status can be cancelled, unless there is a proper reason. Before cancelling, immigration has to hear your side, so a late filing with an honest reason is far better than an address that stays wrong.

If this is your first address in Japan rather than a move, the rules differ slightly; the resident record guide for students covers that first visit.