Foreign residents packed Tokyo’s main immigration office Monday, facing waits of as long as 7? hours as applicants rushed to complete procedures before steep increases in residency fees take effect this week.
At the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau in the capital’s Minato Ward, applicants were handed tickets instructing them to return hours later.
Japan is increasing its fees for immigration procedures from Thursday. The cost of applying for permanent residency will rise twentyfold to ?200,000 ($1,268) from ?10,000, while fees for changing or renewing a residence status will rise from a uniform ?6,000 to as much as ?75,000, depending on the length of stay granted.
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