- The government's online moving service is open to foreign nationals. The Digital Agency says so in as many words: anyone holding a My Number card can use it, regardless of nationality. Almost no English-language guide mentions this.
- What it does is the tenshutsu todoke (moving-out notification) and a booking of your visit to the new municipal office. What it cannot do is the tennyu todoke (moving-in notification), which the Digital Agency states must be done in person. The tenkyo todoke, for a move inside the same municipality, is equally not available online.
- The moving-in notification has a statutory deadline of 14 days. The moving-out notification does not have a statutory number of days at all. The law says it is done in advance and stops there, which is why every city publishes a different window.
- Whatever route you use, take your zairyu card (residence card) to the counter. Without it the visit does not satisfy the immigration reporting obligation.
- The My Number card carries its own 90-day rule tied to the moving-in procedure, and it is not the immigration 90 days.
The residence register side of a house move looks simple until you try to find out exactly when you can file. Then you discover that one municipality accepts a moving-out notification two weeks in advance, another accepts one a month in advance, and the same municipality gives you a different window depending on whether you walk in or file online. That is not sloppy publishing. It is what the statute actually leaves open.
This article separates the three layers: what the Basic Resident Registration Act fixes, what each municipality decides for itself, and what the national online service can and cannot do. It also quotes the two answers from the government's own frequently asked questions that settle the two things foreign residents most often get wrong.
Three notifications, and which one you need
| Your situation | What you file | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Leaving one municipality for another | Tenshutsu todoke at the old municipality, then tennyu todoke at the new one | Moving out: in advance, no statutory day count. Moving in: within 14 days of moving in |
| Moving to a different address inside the same municipality | Tenkyo todoke only | Within 14 days of the move |
| Leaving Japan | Outside the scope of the online service | Ask your municipality |
The statutory sources are Article 22, paragraph 1 of the Basic Resident Registration Act for the moving-in notification, Article 23, paragraph 1 for the moving-within notification, and Article 24 for the moving-out notification.
Why nobody can tell you how many days before you can file
Article 24 says a person who is going to move out shall, in advance, make a notification. It gives no number.
Everything you have read about filing two weeks ahead, or thirty days ahead, or up to a fortnight after the fact, is a municipal operating rule. To show how wide the variation can be inside a single city, take the published windows for Shinjuku in Tokyo: at the counter, from 14 days before the move, or within 14 days after it; through the government portal, from 30 days before the move up to the day of the move, or within 10 days after it.
Same city, same notification, four different numbers depending on the channel and the direction. Copying any of them into your own plan is a mistake unless you happen to live in Shinjuku, and even then only until the city changes its practice.
The practical rule: check the two municipalities involved in your move, not one, and check the specific channel you intend to use. The only number that is fixed nationally is the 14 days for moving in, and that one comes from the statute.
The moving-out certificate, and when there isn't one
When you file a moving-out notification, the old municipality issues a tenshutsu shomeisho, a moving-out certificate, and you attach it to the moving-in notification at the new municipality.
There is an exception written into the Act. Where the moving-out notification was made using a My Number card, no certificate is issued, and none has to be attached to the moving-in notification. This is Article 24-2. If you filed online and nothing arrived in the post, nothing has gone wrong. Take your My Number card to the new counter instead.
The online service, and the answer nobody publishes
The government portal's moving one-stop service has been available at every municipality in the country since 6 February 2023. It needs a My Number card with a valid electronic certificate and the personal identification numbers that go with it, and it cannot be used by a proxy.
The question that matters here is whether it is open to residents who are not Japanese nationals. The Digital Agency answers it directly in its published questions and answers.
Digital Agency, published questions and answers, Q7: can a person who does not hold Japanese nationality use it?
A7: a person of foreign nationality can also use it, provided they hold a My Number card.
That is the whole answer. There is no extra condition attached to it, no minimum length of residence, and no restriction by status of residence. The card is the only requirement.
That is the whole test. Not your status of residence, not how long you have been here, not whether you are classed as a mid-to-long-term resident. Whether you hold a My Number card.
It is worth pausing on how unusual it is to find that stated so plainly by a Japanese government body, and on how rarely it is repeated. Most English-language material on moving house in Japan simply does not mention the online route, which leaves readers queueing at a counter for something that could have been done from a phone.
What the online service will not do
The same set of questions and answers is equally direct about the limit, and this is the second quotation worth having in front of you.
Digital Agency, published questions and answers, Q3: a moving-in notification cannot be submitted online. It is essential to confirm strictly that the person filing it exists and is who they say they are, so the procedure has to be carried out face to face.
The same answer adds that neither the moving-in notification nor the moving-within-the-same-municipality notification can be submitted online.
So the division is clean:
| Step | Online? |
|---|---|
| Tenshutsu todoke, moving out | Yes, through the portal |
| Telling the new municipality when you plan to come in | Yes, as an appointment or advance notice |
| Tennyu todoke, moving in | No. In person |
| Tenkyo todoke, moving within the same municipality | No. In person |
| Moving out of Japan | Not covered by the service |
The Digital Agency does not publish a number of days for how far ahead the online moving-out notification is accepted. That is set by each municipality, which is the same variation described earlier arriving from a different direction.
The visit you cannot avoid, and what to take to it
Because the moving-in notification is face to face, there is one counter visit in every move across municipal boundaries. Make it count.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications states that residence cards and equivalent documents must be brought when making moving-in and moving-within notifications. From your side there is a stronger reason than compliance with a document list: submitting the card is what makes the visit count as the report required by the immigration law, through the deeming provision in Article 19-9, paragraph 3 of the Immigration Control Act. The mechanics of that, and what goes wrong without it, are the subject of the article on changing the address on your residence card.
Take, at minimum:
- Your zairyu card, and the card of everyone in the household being registered.
- Your My Number card and its personal identification numbers.
- The moving-out certificate, unless you filed the moving-out notification with your My Number card, in which case there will not be one.
- Your national health insurance card, if you are enrolled.
The household relationship question
You may have read that a document proving your relationship to the head of the household, issued by the authorities of your home country and accompanied by a Japanese translation, is required. The notification does include the name of the head of the household and your relationship to them, under Article 22, paragraph 1, item 5.
But the requirement for proof documents and translations is described by the ministry mainly in the context of registering for the first time after arriving from abroad, and it is not a uniform national rule for a move between two Japanese addresses. Municipal practice differs: Shinjuku says such a document may be required, and where one is needed it specifies a Japanese translation identifying the translator, while some other cities do not raise the point at all for domestic moves. Ask the receiving municipality rather than assuming either way.
The My Number card at the counter, and the 90 days that is not immigration
When you file the moving-in notification, the My Number card needs its printed details updated and its continued-use step processed. Do it in the same visit.
If you do not, municipal offices publish that once more than 90 days have passed since the moving-in procedure, continued use is no longer possible and the card becomes invalid. That statement comes from municipal sources. It is a rule about a card.
This is not the immigration 90 days. The immigration rule, in Article 22-4, paragraph 1, item 9 of the Immigration Control Act, makes it a ground for revoking a status of residence where a person has left the place of residence they reported and has not reported a new one within 90 days of leaving. One rule can cost you a card. The other concerns your permission to be in Japan. Any article treating them as a single 90-day rule has checked neither properly.
The two things to do at the same counter while you are there
National health insurance. If you are enrolled, this is run by the municipality, so crossing a municipal boundary means leaving one scheme and joining another. The health ministry gives 14 days for these procedures. The documents required differ by municipality, and short-stay residents are outside the scheme.
National pension. For a category 1 insured person whose My Number is linked to their basic pension number, an address change report is in principle unnecessary, including for a move between municipalities. Where the two are not linked, a report is made at the municipal office. You can check the linking through the pension service's online account or at a pension office. Note that no number of days is published for this, so do not import the 14 days from health insurance.
Where this sits in the rest of the move
The notifications are the administrative spine of the move, but they are not the parts with the tightest lead times. Utilities have their own calendars, and one of them requires a person to be physically present, which is covered in the article on switching utilities when you move. The full sequence, deadlines and penalties are in the main checklist for moving within Japan.
If the move is also a change of housing type, from a share house to your own flat or from company housing to a private lease, the tenancy side runs on a separate clock again, and our guide to renting in Japan as a foreign resident deals with that.
FAQ
Can I really use the online moving service if I am not a Japanese citizen?
Yes. The Digital Agency's published answer is that people of foreign nationality can use it if they hold a My Number card. The condition is the card, not nationality and not a particular status of residence.
If I file the moving-out notification online, do I still have to go to the new city office?
Yes. The moving-in notification cannot be submitted online, because the authorities consider it essential to confirm in person that the person notifying exists and is who they claim to be. The online route removes one visit, the one to your old municipality, not both.
I am moving within the same city. Can I do that online?
No. The moving-within notification is in the same category as the moving-in notification and cannot be submitted online. It is due within 14 days of the move, at your municipal office, and you should take your residence card.
How early can I file the moving-out notification?
There is no national answer. The Act requires it in advance without setting a number of days, so each municipality sets its own window, and the window can differ between the counter and the online channel within the same municipality. Check the published rules of the municipality you are leaving.
Nobody gave me a moving-out certificate. What do I do?
If you filed the moving-out notification using your My Number card, that is expected. No certificate is issued in that case and none needs to be attached to the moving-in notification. Take your My Number card to the new municipal office.
Can somebody else file for me?
Not through the online service, which is built around your own My Number card and its personal identification numbers and does not allow a proxy. For counter procedures, the rules on filing on someone else's behalf are set locally, so ask your municipal office what authorisation it accepts.
Do I need a document proving my relationship to the head of my household?
Possibly, but it is not a uniform national requirement for a move between two Japanese addresses. The ministry's description of relationship documents and translations relates mainly to registering after arriving from abroad. Municipalities differ: one may say such a document can be required and specify a translation identifying the translator, while another does not mention it. Ask the receiving municipality before you go.
