Japan Immigration Agency Requires Facial Photographs for Child Residence Cards from June 14

(JAPAN) — Japan’s Immigration Services Agency will require facial photographs from certain child applicants for a residence card starting June 14, 2026, extending a photo requirement to applicants who, until now, generally did not need one before age 16.

The change covers children age 1 to 16 who apply for a residence card and are expected to receive that card on or after June 14, 2026. The same rule will apply to special permanent resident certificates, bringing both document categories under the new photograph standard.

Applications filed before the start date will not necessarily fall outside the new system. Children who submit applications before June 14, 2026 may still be asked to provide facial photographs if the card is issued on or after that date.

The agency has also set a narrower transition rule for special permanent resident certificates. Applications or notifications submitted between June 10 and June 13, 2026 must include a facial photograph if the person will be at least 1 year old as of June 14, 2026.

That timetable means the agency is tying the requirement not only to the filing date, but also to the applicant’s age and the date the document is expected to be issued. A child who files earlier can still be brought into the new process if the residence card arrives on or after the cutoff.

Immigration Services Agency officers have already begun applying part of that approach in advance. In some cases, officers are requesting or recommending photographs at their discretion for children who will be at least 1 year old on June 14, 2026, even if the child is still under 1 when the application is filed.

That discretionary practice may continue until the rule formally takes effect. Families dealing with applications in the weeks before June 14, 2026 can therefore face different treatment depending on the expected issuance date and the child’s age on the day the new requirement starts.

The policy marks a change from current practice for younger applicants. Until now, children under 16 generally did not need facial photographs for residence cards.

Under the new system, eligible children will receive residence cards or special permanent resident certificates that include a facial photograph. The practical result is straightforward: documents issued to children within the covered age group will begin carrying an image where, in most cases, one was not previously required.

The online residence application system will also change. The Immigration Services Agency plans to update that system by June 14, 2026 to add the new photograph requirement, aligning the digital filing process with the new rule that takes effect the same day.

That administrative update matters for applicants who file electronically as well as those preparing paperwork in advance. Once the change is in place, the application flow for covered child cases will include submission of facial photographs as part of the process tied to the issuance of a residence card.

The age range at the center of the new rule starts at 1 year, not at birth. That detail shapes the transition period, because officers may already seek photographs from families whose children will cross that threshold by June 14, 2026, even if the application reaches the agency before the child turns 1.

Special permanent resident certificate cases follow the same broad direction, but with an added date-specific requirement in the four days immediately before implementation. Anyone submitting an application or notification for that certificate from June 10 to June 13, 2026 must include a facial photograph if the applicant will be at least 1 year old on June 14, 2026.

That creates two overlapping tracks in early June. One is the agency’s discretionary practice, under which officers may request or recommend photographs before the new rule takes effect. The other is a fixed requirement for special permanent resident certificate filings during June 10–13, 2026 when the age condition is met.

Applicants seeking a child’s residence card around that period will need to pay close attention to when the document is expected to be issued, not simply when the paperwork is sent. A filing made before June 14, 2026 can still trigger the photograph requirement if the card comes out on or after that date.

The same timing rule also shows how the agency is handling the handover from old practice to new practice. Instead of drawing a line only at the moment an application is filed, the Immigration Services Agency is linking the requirement to the issuance date of the card or certificate, which determines whether facial photographs must appear on the final document.

Children who fall within the covered group will therefore see a visible change in the document they receive. Their residence card, or in the relevant cases their special permanent resident certificate, will include a facial photograph under the new system.

The agency has framed the rollout around an official notice, the application categories affected, and transition rules for filings made before June 14, 2026. Those transition rules are central to the shift, because they reach back to some pre-implementation filings and forward to documents issued after the start date.

Families preparing applications in late May or early June are already encountering that transition in practice. Officers may ask for a photograph sooner than the formal start of the rule if a child will be at least 1 year old on June 14, 2026, and that approach may continue right up to the launch date.

By mid-June, the old exemption for most children under 16 will no longer define these cases. From June 14, 2026, eligible child applicants for a residence card, along with those covered under special permanent resident certificate rules, will move into a system that requires facial photographs and issues documents bearing the child’s image.