How to Apply for Care-Needs Certification in Fukuoka City: By Post, at a Branch Counter or on Mynaportal, Result Within 30 Days

Applying for care-needs certification in Fukuoka City

Apply to the Fukuoka City Long-Term Care Certification Center instead of ward offices, via post, ward branch counters, or Mynaportal.
Results generally arrive within 30 days of the date the city receives the application.
Those unsure of where to start can consult their local Ikiiki Center Fukuoka free of charge.

This page is general information from Fukuoka City’s official pages. For your own case, ask the Fukuoka City Long-Term Care Certification Center or a local Ikiiki Center Fukuoka.

To use long-term care insurance services in Fukuoka City, you first apply for care-needs certification. You apply not at the ward office counter but to the “Fukuoka City Long-Term Care Certification Center”, in one of three ways: by post, at a branch counter in each ward, or online through Mynaportal. The result normally arrives within 30 days of the day the city receives your application. If you do not know where to start, you can consult the “Ikiiki Center Fukuoka” for your area free of charge.

In short

Who: people aged 65 and over who need care or support, for any cause; people aged 40 to 64 whose need is caused by an age-related illness (a specified disease).
How to apply: post to the Long-Term Care Certification Center, a branch counter next to each ward’s Welfare and Long-Term Care Insurance Section, or Mynaportal.
Someone else can apply for you: family, a community comprehensive support center, a care support provider or the care facility you use.
Result: normally within 30 days of the city receiving your application.
Consultation is free at the Ikiiki Center Fukuoka (57 centers in the city), Monday to Saturday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Checked with official pages on October 27, 2026 (Japan time). Eligibility and fees may change.

Note: Long-term care insurance (kaigo hoken) is the public insurance in Japan that pays for care services for older people. Everyone aged 40 and over pays into it. “Care-needs certification” decides your level of need, from “support needed 1 and 2” to “care needed 1 to 5”.

1. Who can apply for care-needs certification in Fukuoka City

People aged 65 and over (Category 1 insured persons) can apply if they need care or support in daily life, whatever the cause. People aged 40 to 64 (Category 2 insured persons) are covered when the need for care or support is caused by an age-related illness (a specified disease).

2. How to apply: by post, at a branch counter or on Mynaportal

You apply in one of these ways.

Post the documents to the Fukuoka City Long-Term Care Certification Center (505, 3-11-3 Nagahama, Chuo Ward, Fukuoka City 810-0072).
Apply at the branch counter of the Certification Center, next to the Welfare and Long-Term Care Insurance Section of each ward.
Apply online through Mynaportal.

Family members and others can apply on your behalf, and if neither you nor your family can go, you can ask a community comprehensive support center, a home care support provider or the care insurance facility you use to apply for you.

To apply by post or at the counter, you need the application form for care-needs and support-needs certification, the home-visit survey sheet, the original long-term care insurance card, identification of the applicant, and a document that shows the My Number. The application form changed on May 1, 2026 (Reiwa 8). On the form, you write the name and address of your family doctor’s clinic and the doctor’s name. If you do not have a family doctor, consult the Certification Center.

For people aged 40 to 64, because health insurance has moved to the My Number insurance card, you no longer need to submit your health insurance card, and the city checks your enrollment. Only if it cannot be confirmed will you be asked for a qualification certificate or similar. For online applications, check the required documents in the Mynaportal application guide (Fukuoka City, “Certification flow 1: first, apply”). For inquiries, call the Fukuoka City Long-Term Care Certification Center (092-711-6030).

3. From application to the result (normally within 30 days)

After you apply, a city staff member or a care manager of a company commissioned by the city sets a date and visits your home or another place to hear about your physical and mental condition from you and your family. The visitor carries a name tag and a care manager card, or a survey staff card or home-visit request form issued by the city. Around the same time, the city asks your family doctor for an opinion report.

The level of care needed is decided in two steps: a first-stage computer assessment based on the interview, and a second-stage decision by the “Fukuoka City Long-Term Care Certification Review Committee”, made up of health, medical and welfare experts, based on the doctor’s opinion report and other material. The result is one of “not eligible”, “support needed 1 or 2”, or “care needed 1 to 5”, and in principle the certification notice and your insurance card arrive within 30 days of the day the application is received.

The certification is valid until the end of the month 6 months later for new applications and category changes, in principle, and 12 months later for renewals. If you do not agree with the result, first consult the Certification Center by phone, and if you still object, you can file a request for review with the Fukuoka Prefecture “Long-Term Care Insurance Review Board”. How renewals, category changes, urgent surveys, a death during the application, and traffic accident cases are handled is on Fukuoka City’s care-needs certification page.

After certification, you have a care plan made, based on the result, by a designated preventive care support provider such as an Ikiiki Center Fukuoka or a home care support provider, and start to use services. Certification takes effect back to the application date, so you can use services with a provisional care plan even before certification. However, if the result is lower than the care level assumed in the provisional plan, or “not eligible”, you pay the full cost of that part yourself (Fukuoka City, “Steps to use long-term care insurance services”).

4. How to find your Ikiiki Center Fukuoka

Ikiiki Center Fukuoka is Fukuoka City’s community comprehensive support center, and there are 57 in the city. Public health nurses, social workers and senior care managers answer questions on health, welfare and care, care prevention, and protecting the rights of older people. It is free, Monday to Saturday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm (except holidays and the New Year period). On Saturdays, consultation is by phone or at the center, and a dedicated number is announced for outside hours. Depending on the matter, staff can visit your home.

The center in charge is decided by your elementary school district. On Fukuoka City’s “Ikiiki Center Fukuoka” page, you can look up the center in charge and its phone number for each elementary school district. National health insurance procedures are covered in our page (in Japanese), Fukuoka City national health insurance enrollment and withdrawal.

Common questions

Where do I send my application?

To the Fukuoka City Long-Term Care Certification Center, not the ward office counter. You can post it, take it to the branch counter next to your ward’s Welfare and Long-Term Care Insurance Section, or apply on Mynaportal.

Who can I ask if I do not know where to start?

Your local Ikiiki Center Fukuoka, free of charge.

Address: 505, 3-11-3 Nagahama, Chuo Ward, Fukuoka City (Fukuoka City Long-Term Care Certification Center) · Google Maps · Tel: 092-711-6030

Sources

5 pages we checked

Checked with official pages on October 27, 2026 (Japan time).