How the new PR rules might affect your children's educational plan?

On 2026/10/1, the Immigration Services Agency of Japan (出入国在留管理庁) published the new guideline for Permanent Residency, the rules which state the requirements to get the Permission for Permanent Residency in Japan. Most of the new rules will be applied from 2027/4/1, but they also announced that the new income standard rule will be applied to the PR applications filed on or after 2026/4/1.

Since there are many rules which were introduced in this amendment, I couldn't explain all rules in a single blog post. So, for this article, I would like to focus on one rule, the requirement regarding child's education.

I have to say that the new rule might require you to reconsider your educational plan for your children, or to accept the fact that your educational plan for your children might negatively affect your application for Permanent Residency in Japan.

The new rule for mandatory education

The new guideline states the following rule regarding the education of applicants and children of applicants.

"(10) School Attendance of School-Age ChildrenFor the child of a foreign national to adapt smoothly to the local community in Japan and to lead a social life without difficulty, it is considered necessary for that child to receive education in Japan. Accordingly, if the applicant is a parent raising a child of school age (meaning the period of compulsory education), the child is required to be attending elementary school or junior high school. If the applicant is themselves of school age, the applicant is required to be attending elementary school or junior high school. Whether these conditions are met will be taken into account as a factor in the assessment."

This is the first time that the government has mentioned the education of applicants and children of applicants as a factor they'll consider during the PR inspection. Under the previous rules, the guideline had no rule regarding education.

The importance of Mandatory education

The reason why the government implemented such a rule is that they believe that taking mandatory education (elementary schools and junior high schools) will work to avoid tension between Japanese citizens and foreign nationals, since foreigners will learn Japanese, the fundamental rules in this society and the fundamental knowledge shared among Japanese citizens.

This is because some problems were caused by a lack of knowledge or common sense in Japanese society.

And I also found that some local governments also face an issue regarding mandatory education. Some local governments also put their resources into finding children with foreign nationality who don't attend school. Although the obligation of mandatory education is just for Japanese citizens, the governments think caring about non-attendance at mandatory education is important to prevent or find other problems like child abuse and other crimes related to children.

These conditions could be the possible reason why the Immigration Services Agency implemented such a rule as one of the PR requirements.

Could you meet the new requirements with international schools?

I understand that many of you understand the importance of education and you'll do your best to provide better education for your children. But here is one question regarding this requirement, one which could be related to the children of highly skilled professionals in Japan.

Could you meet this requirement if your children attend international schools in Japan?

Will international schools be considered as "Elementary schools" or "Junior High schools" as written in this guideline?

As of today, there is no clear answer I have found from the Immigration Services Agency, but I have to mention that there is a possibility that you might not be able to meet this criterion if your children attend international schools in Japan.

Complicated legal status of International schools in Japan

To explain why international schools might not be treated as "Elementary schools" and "Junior high schools", we need to understand how international schools in Japan are treated under Japanese laws.

You might think the Japanese government treats international schools as part of the formal mandatory educational system. The answer is that the government actually doesn't include most international schools as part of its educational system in the first place.

In Japan, there are 2 kinds of international schools in practice. And these types of schools have totally different situations in Japan.

One is international schools operated by businesses for profit like Kabushiki-kaisha (K.K.) or Godo-kaisha (G.K.). These schools are run by purely private businesses for profit and provide educational services in the way they want.

But these schools are not officially recognized as "schools" under Japanese law, since Article 2 of the School Education Act (学校教育法) states that "schools" can be established only by the national government, local governments, public university corporations (公立大学法人) or School Corporations (学校法人). So the School Education Act doesn't, in principle, allow K.K., G.K. or other for-profit businesses to open their schools under this law. And "Elementary schools" and "Junior high schools" are also defined as "schools" in Article 1 of this Act. (In Japan, elementary schools and junior high schools which have approval from the authority are called Article 1 schools (一条校) because of this article.)

Although the new PR rule doesn't specify the definition of "Elementary schools" and "Junior high schools", it's not strange if the government means the schools officially approved under Article 1.

Another type of international school is the schools operated by School Corporations (学校法人). You might wonder whether this type of school will satisfy the requirement for mandatory education, since School Corporations can be founded only if the relevant authority approves the establishment.

But getting approval as a School Corporation doesn't automatically make their schools or educational programs authorized. The School Education Act requires approval from the relevant authority for the establishment of "Elementary schools" and "Junior high schools" if School Corporations want to start such schools.

So, to become part of the mandatory educational system in Japan, these schools have to be approved as Article 1 schools.

As of now, most international schools operated by School Corporations have not obtained approval as Article 1 schools (many of them are approved as "miscellaneous schools" (各種学校) instead). So, attendance and graduation at these schools doesn't mean that students finished mandatory education in Japan.

Planning and checking educational status is important

Although the new guideline states this requirement as a point they'll consider, meaning not meeting this rule doesn't automatically make your application rejected, you need to carefully consider it if you have a plan to apply for Permanent Residency in Japan.

If you want your children to get the International Baccalaureate (IB), you might have to consider sending your children to Japanese schools which offer the courses to get it.

I hope you'll check your educational plan for your children and prepare for your future PR applications.

Daichi ItoImmigration Consultant (Gyoseishoshi)