This page is general information from official sources. It is not legal advice. For your own case, ask the Kumamoto Immigration Office or the Immigration Information Center.
If you have a residence card and a My Number Card, you may have heard that you can now carry one card instead of two. This guide explains the Specified Residence Card, who can get one, and where to apply if you live in Kumamoto City, Kikuyo Town or Ozu Town.
In short
- Since June 14, 2026, you can ask for a Specified Residence Card: a residence card that also works as a My Number Card. It is optional.
- You apply together with another procedure: at the immigration office (for example, extending your stay) or at your city or town office when you register an address.
- You cannot ask for it through the online residence application system. Apply at a counter.
- It takes about two weeks or more to get the card. It is not issued on the same day.
- To keep it, ask for it again every time you get a new card.
Checked with official pages on September 27, 2026.
1. What is the Specified Residence Card?
1.1 What does the card do?
Official rule (Japan)
The Specified Residence Card (特定在留カード, tokutei zairyu kado) is a residence card that also works as a My Number Card (マイナンバーカード). According to the Immigration Services Agency (出入国在留管理庁), it started on June 14, 2026. Getting one is optional, and you can keep carrying two cards. If you do not ask for it, you get a residence card in the new design when your card is next issued.
The agency explains the benefit like this. Now, after a procedure at the immigration office, a My Number Card holder must also go to the city office to update the card. With a Specified Residence Card, the My Number function is already updated, so you do not need that second trip.
Special permanent residents can ask for a similar card, the Specified Special Permanent Resident Certificate (特定特別永住者証明書). This guide covers the residence card only.
The Immigration Services Agency’s official video introduces the card. Its title is in Japanese.
1.2 How is it different from my current card?
Official rule (Japan)
The agency’s Q&A describes three kinds of card. Your old card stays valid until it expires, so you do not have to change it.
| Residence card issued by June 13, 2026 | New-design residence card (from June 14, 2026) | Specified Residence Card | |
|---|---|---|---|
| My Number Card | No | No | Yes |
| Stay details on the front | Yes | No (in the IC chip) | No (in the IC chip) |
| Photo, ages 1–15 | No photo under 16 | Yes | Yes |
“Stay details” means the period of stay, the type of permission, the date of permission and the date of issue. On the new designs they are not printed on the front; they are in the IC chip. On the Specified Residence Card, your My Number is printed on the back. The IC chip can be read with the agency’s residence card reader app (在留カード等読取アプリケーション). The date the card was issued cannot be checked with the app.
2. How do I apply?
2.1 Who can apply?
Official rule (Japan)
You can apply if you are a mid- to long-term resident (中長期在留者) and you are registered as a resident at a city or town office. At a city or town office, you apply yourself if you are 16 or older. If you are under 16, or cannot come because of illness or a similar reason, a relative aged 16 or older, a legal representative, or a person aged 16 or older asked by them can apply. At the immigration office, the people who can apply are the same as for the other procedure.
2.2 When and where can I apply?
Official rule (Japan) + Kumamoto
You cannot apply on its own; you apply at the same time as another procedure. The place depends on that procedure.
- At the immigration office for your address: when you extend your period of stay, change your status of residence, apply for permanent residence, renew your card’s validity, report a change other than your address, or ask for a new card because yours is damaged.
- At your city or town office: when you register your address after you arrive in Japan, after a change of status, or after you move house.
If you only want to swap your current card, apply at the immigration office. You ask for a new card on request (交換希望による再交付) and a Specified Residence Card together.
The agency says the immigration offices started taking applications on Monday, June 15, 2026. If you want the card when you register your address, ask the counter at your city or town office. See Where to register your address.
For the immigration office, people in Kumamoto Prefecture use the Kumamoto Immigration Office (Kumamoto Office, Fukuoka Regional Immigration Services Bureau, 福岡出入国在留管理局 熊本出張所). It is in the Kumamoto Second Joint Government Building, 3-1-53 Oe, Chuo Ward, Kumamoto City. Google Maps. Phone: 096-362-1721.
2.3 What are the steps?
Official rule (Japan)
- Choose the procedure you are doing anyway. For example, your extension of stay or your address registration.
- Fill in the Specified Residence Card application form. There are two versions: one for the immigration office (地方入管用) and one for city and town offices (市区町村用). Both are on the agency’s page.
- Fill in the PIN setting form (暗証番号設定依頼書). At a city or town office, use the form that office gives you.
- Prepare one photo. If the other procedure already needs a photo, you do not need a second one. No photo is needed if the child will still be under 1 year old when the card is issued.
- Show your passport and residence card at the counter. Hand in the forms with the documents for the other procedure.
- Collect the card when you are told it is ready. The agency says it takes about two weeks or more after you apply.
2.4 Do I pay a fee?
Official rule (Japan)
In principle, there is no fee the first time you get the card from June 14, 2026, if your current card was issued by June 13, 2026. It is also free, with some exceptions, when you already have one and keep it at your next procedure.
You may pay two fees in other cases. The main one is when your current card is a new-design residence card issued on or after June 14, 2026, and you apply together with an extension of stay, a change of status, a card renewal or a report of changes other than your address. Some card exchanges and reissues also cost money.
The two fees are ¥1,900 to the immigration office, paid with revenue stamps, and ¥600 to J-LIS (地方公共団体情報システム機構), the body that runs the My Number Card system, or ¥800 if electronic certificates are issued. At the immigration office you pay J-LIS by bank transfer; at a city or town office you pay it in cash. In limited cases a city or town office can post the card to you, and the immigration fee is then ¥2,600.
Some cases change for applications made on or after October 1, 2026, for example when you hold a new-design card and move house or apply for permanent residence. Check the fee table on the agency’s page before you apply.
3. What should I watch out for?
3.1 Can I ask for it with an online application?
Official rule (Japan)
No. The agency says that for now, you cannot ask for a Specified Residence Card through the online residence application system. If you want the card, make your extension or change of status at the counter and collect the card there. How the online system works is in Renewing your period of stay online.
3.2 What happens to my My Number Card while I wait?
Official rule (Japan)
Important
The electronic certificates on your current My Number Card stop working about one week before you receive the new card. The agency says this may affect things like using the card as your health insurance card (マイナ保険証). The card takes about 10 days longer to issue than a normal residence card.
3.3 What if my period of stay ends while immigration is still checking my application?
Official rule (Japan) + Kumamoto City
The My Number function of the card is valid only until the end of your original period of stay. If immigration has not finished by then, the agency says to change the validity of the My Number function at your city or town office before that date. Otherwise, the card may stop working as a health insurance card.
In Kumamoto City, the My Number Card Call Center (熊本市マイナンバーカードコールセンター) answers questions about My Number Card procedures: 096-277-1869, 8:30 to 19:00 except the New Year holidays. In Kikuyo Town and Ozu Town, ask the town office.
3.4 Will I always get the card?
Official rule (Japan)
No. The agency says you may get a normal residence card instead in some cases. Examples are when your name changes after you apply, or when you move before you receive a card you applied for at a city office.
Also, the card is not renewed automatically. Each time you get a new card, for example at your next extension of stay, ask for the Specified Residence Card again. If you do not, you get a normal residence card.
3.5 Can I use a new card everywhere?
Depends on the provider
Some companies cannot yet read residence cards issued on or after June 14, 2026. For example, PayPay says these cards cannot be used for its identity check for now, and asks you to use a My Number Card. PayPay’s notice does not say whether it accepts a Specified Residence Card as a My Number Card; ask PayPay. For mobile phone companies, see section 4 of Mobile phone plans for foreign residents in Kumamoto City.
3.6 What if I lose it?
Official rule (Japan)
The card is both a residence card and a My Number Card, so you do the steps for both. The agency says to suspend the My Number function, report the loss to the police, and then apply for a new residence card at the immigration office. You first get a normal residence card. The full steps are in Lost or stolen residence card in Kumamoto.
4. Common questions
Do I have to carry the Specified Residence Card?
Yes. The agency says it is a residence card, so you must carry it at all times, the same as a residence card.
Can I get it at the airport when I arrive?
No. When you land, the airport issues a normal residence card. You can ask for the Specified Residence Card later, for example when you register your address.
Can I apply for my newborn baby when I register the birth?
No. The agency says you cannot apply together with the permission to acquire a status of residence (在留資格取得許可). The baby first gets a residence card. If you ask for a new card on request and a Specified Residence Card on the same day you receive that card, there is no fee.
Can I use it as a health insurance card or with my driving licence?
Yes, it can be used as a My Number health insurance card and a My Number driving licence (マイナ免許証). But licence information on your old My Number Card is not moved to the new card. To keep using it, you record it again at a driving licence center and pay a fee.
I received a My Number Card expiry notice from J-LIS. Can I use it to get the Specified Residence Card?
No. The agency says that notice is only for renewing a My Number Card. To get or keep a Specified Residence Card, go to the immigration office counter.
I forgot my My Number Card PIN. Who do I ask?
The agency points to the My Number Card toll-free line (マイナンバー総合フリーダイヤル): 0120-95-0178.
Sources (checked September 2026)
- Immigration Services Agency: Specified Residence Card applications (特定在留カード交付申請について), including the Q&A, fee table and leaflet
- Immigration Services Agency: Specified residence card leaflet (Japanese and English, PDF)
- Immigration Services Agency: The Specified Residence Card cannot be requested online
- Fukuoka Regional Immigration Services Bureau: Kumamoto Office address and phone
- Kumamoto City: My Number Card counters and call center
- PayPay: Notice on residence cards issued from June 14, 2026
