Leaving Japan Checklist for Foreign Residents: Before and After Your Move
Leaving Japan Checklist for Foreign Residents: What to Do Before and After You Move Out
If you are ending your residence in Japan and moving abroad, arrange your municipal move-out notice, insurance and pension records, taxes, home and service closures, and a route for final bills. On a final departure without re-entry permission, a mid- to long-term resident returns the residence card at the port. Some payments and decisions continue after the flight.
First, choose the right path:
Ending residence and moving abroad: Use the checklist below. Mark each task done, pending, or not applicable for your household.
Leaving temporarily and intending to return under your current status: Check the Immigration Services Agency (ISA) re-entry rules before travel. Do not use this closure checklist just because you have a flight booked.
Not sure which describes you: Ask your regional immigration office about your status and re-entry route, and your municipality about your address, before deregistering or returning either card. A visa label or wish to keep the card does not establish re-entry eligibility.
This is general planning information for residents ending a work, study, working-holiday, or family stay, not for tourists or routine holidays. Your municipality, employer, insurer, bank, lease, and providers control your case; seek their advice for individual decisions. Official sources were checked on September 29, 2026.
Your Departure Map
These are planning stages, not nationwide deadlines. In a private copy, mark each task done, pending, or not applicable and add dates from the responsible office or provider. Keep payment and contact routes working through final settlement.
| Task | Responsible office/provider | When to arrange it | Proof or follow-up to keep | Conditional note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Check lease notice and arrange inspection | Landlord or manager | As soon as the move is known | Notice, inspection appointment, condition record | If you rent; your lease sets the notice terms. |
| Confirm final work or school records and coverage end | Employer, school, insurer, or spouse's employer | As soon as the move is known | Final-pay date, withholding statement, insurance end date | Ask separately for each covered family member. |
| Plan bank closure or status change and final payments | Your bank and expected payers | Before committing to account or phone closure | Bank instructions and a route for salary, deposit, refunds, and direct debits | Resolve conflicting payment dates before departure. |
| File an overseas moving-out notice | Your current municipality | At its stated filing time | Any receipt or record of the reported move date | Shinjuku is one example; check your municipality's method and documents. |
| Withdraw from National Health Insurance (NHI), if enrolled | Municipal NHI desk | At the municipal visit; confirm the effective date | Withdrawal confirmation and any remaining premium notice | An address notice does not prove NHI was closed. |
| Check pension category and coverage end | Employer, municipality, spouse's employer, or Japan Pension Service (JPS) | At or before the last relevant office visit | Pension number, coverage history, effective dates | This is separate from a later optional lump-sum claim. |
| Settle local resident-tax arrangements | Municipality responsible for your January 1 address; employer/payroll | Before departure | Payment plan, tax-manager details if needed, receipts | Shinjuku is an example; ask what remains due. |
| Return My Number Card and old Notification Card, if held and you are not Japanese | Your municipality | With the overseas move-out procedure | Confirmation and a secure record of your My Number | Japanese nationals have a separate overseas-continuation route. |
| Check whether a national income-tax return is due | Your tax office; employer/payroll for pay documents | Before departure | Tax-agent notification or filing/payment record if applicable | If a return is required, the route differs with or without a tax agent. |
| Stop or transfer electricity, gas, water, and internet | Each contracted provider or building manager | Moving week, at each provider's lead time | Stop dates, access instructions, final-bill route | Keys and city-hall notices do not stop private contracts. |
| Arrange mobile cancellation or number transfer | Your carrier | After changing login verification, before the line ends | Cancellation or port confirmation, installment and final-bill plan | Keep a working way to receive codes and contact providers. |
| Update senders and mail delivery | Each sender; Japan Post for domestic options | Before losing access to the Japanese address | Updated contact details and any permitted domestic arrangement | Domestic mail is not forwarded overseas. |
| Check child, school, dependent, or care records | School, municipality, insurer, or relevant agency | Before the last local visit | Withdrawal or transfer instructions | Only for services your household uses. |
| Return residence card on final departure without re-entry permission | Immigration inspector at the port | Departure day | A private note of your departure and the instructions followed | Re-entry travel and later expiry abroad have different rules. |
| Reconcile bills, deposit, taxes, and pension choice | Providers, landlord, tax offices, JPS | After departure, as each item becomes due | Statements, filings, claim decision, current overseas contact | Do not assume a pending refund means you may keep an account open. |
Before Your Last Municipal Visit
Ask your own municipality how to report an overseas move, what to bring, and when to file. For example, Shinjuku City accepts its notice from 14 days before a move or within 14 days after. That is not a national filing window. Ask what dated record you can keep.
Make separate counter checks for these items:
- Health insurance: If you have municipal NHI, ask for its withdrawal procedure, end date, and any premium balance. Shinjuku lists leaving Japan as an NHI withdrawal event. If an employer or spouse's employer handles coverage, ask about each person's end date instead. Use the health-insurance and pension guide if you are unsure which system covers the household.
- Pension record: Confirm which pension category you held, who reports its end, and how to obtain your coverage history. Do this even if you have no plan to claim a lump-sum payment.
- Resident tax: Ask the municipality where you were registered on January 1 about unpaid or forthcoming local tax, payment, and any local tax manager. Shinjuku's explanation says resident tax generally uses the January 1 address and prior-year income; leaving before a June notice does not erase tax due. Check your municipality's assessment and arrangements.
- Family services: Ask the relevant desks or school about child allowances, schooling, dependent records, older-person care, or other local benefits your household actually uses. A household member may need a separate action.
Your My Number Card is not your residence card
For a person without Japanese nationality moving overseas, the Digital Agency's FAQ Q3-19 says to return the My Number Card and any old Notification Card to the municipality. You may ask for the invalidated, hole-punched My Number Card back so you retain a record of the number. The newer Individual Number Notification does not need to be returned. The overseas continuation process described in that FAQ applies to Japanese nationals.
My Number is the number; My Number Card is a physical card; your residence card is a separate immigration document. Returning a card does not erase the number. Keep the number securely for later tax or pension correspondence; do not put it in a shared checklist or public worksheet.
Check Immigration and Taxes Before the Flight
The ISA residence-card return rule distinguishes a mid- to long-term resident departing without re-entry permission from one leaving under a re-entry route. In the first case, return the residence card to the immigration inspector at the port when you depart. If you leave under a valid re-entry route and do not return before it expires, ISA gives a separate return procedure for the expired card. Resolve an uncertain route with ISA before travel; a municipal moving-out notice does not decide the immigration procedure.
Handle national income tax and local resident tax as two questions. Ask payroll for your final salary date, withholding statement, and how any remaining resident tax is being collected. A final payslip does not prove that both tax accounts are settled.
If you still have a national income-tax filing obligation after losing your Japanese tax domicile or residence, the National Tax Agency (NTA) departure guide explains two routes: appoint and notify a tax agent in Japan before leaving so the agent handles the later return, or, if a return is required and no tax agent is appointed, file and pay the departure return before leaving. Not everyone who departs must file. Ask your tax office which route applies to your income. The national tax agent is a different arrangement from a municipal resident-tax manager; ask the January 1 municipality separately about local tax. Keep the forms, payment evidence, and reachable overseas contact details.
Close the Home and Contracts Without Losing Access
Read the lease notice clause before choosing your last day. Arrange the inspection and key return, record the home's condition, and request an itemized settlement statement and deposit-payment route. Your lease and manager control the process; the housing guide and MLIT's foreign-renter resources help you prepare questions. Do not assume a full deposit return.
Stop or transfer electricity, gas, water, and internet separately. Ask each provider for its request method, stop date, meter or technician access, equipment return if any, final bill, and confirmation. Tokyo Gas's service page and TEPCO's FAQ illustrate different provider procedures; their dates and access rules do not govern all Japan. The utilities guide's move-out sequence gives the detailed handoff.
Before ending a Japanese phone line, change any account that sends login codes to that number. Ask your carrier whether to cancel or port, when the line ends, and what installments and later charges remain. DOCOMO's cancellation page is one provider example: it distinguishes number portability and says installments and later bills can remain after cancellation. See the phone guide for the fuller number-and-login decision.
Talk to your bank before departure. Give it your actual move and residence facts and ask whether to close or formally update the account, and how to receive final salary, a housing deposit, tax or pension payments, and any remaining direct debits. Resolve any conflict with the bank and the payer before choosing closure dates. The Financial Services Agency's banking guide tells departing customers to contact their financial institution and close an account when returning home, and says cross-border remittance availability depends on the provider. The bank guide covers the status-change question. Never give or sell the account, passbook, or card to someone else, and do not assume an account may simply stay active after you cease residence.
Finally, update the senders, not just the post office: employer, school, landlord, bank, insurers, JPS, tax offices, and each provider that may send a later bill or statement. Japan Post says it does not forward domestic mail overseas. Ask each sender whether it can use your overseas address or a permitted domestic contact or delivery option. A domestic forwarding notice is not an international mail service.
After Departure: Finish the Open Items
Track final bills, lease settlement, deposit, pay, tax notices, and any filing. If a refund depends on an account your bank requires you to close, arrange another permitted route with the payer and bank; do not rely on silent continued access.
A pension lump-sum withdrawal is a choice, not an automatic refund. The JPS application page says eligible non-Japanese people with short National Pension or Employees' Pension coverage can apply after leaving Japan and no longer being covered, within the stated two-year window. Check the current claim form and notes for the exact conditions and the start of your deadline. The notes warn that receiving the payment invalidates all Japanese pension periods before the claim, even if the payment amount used a capped number of months. Compare future Japanese pension rights and any applicable social-security agreement totalization before claiming. A contribution history alone does not guarantee payment or make claiming the best choice. For an Employees' Pension lump-sum payment, the NTA explains separate income-tax withholding and a possible tax-return route; ask the tax office about your facts rather than assuming a net amount or refund.
Documents and contact details to keep
Keep the relevant records securely:
- any municipal move-out record, NHI withdrawal proof, insurance end dates, and household-service confirmations;
- a record of your residence-card departure route and My Number Card handling, plus your My Number and pension number;
- pension coverage history, any agreement documents, and your later claim decision;
- final payslips, withholding statements, tax-agent or local tax-manager arrangements, tax notices, returns, and payment evidence;
- lease notice, inspection and condition record, key-return proof, and settlement statement; and
- provider stop confirmations, final bills, bank instructions, and the overseas contact details you gave each sender.
After the flight, track final bills, deposit, tax notices or filing, optional pension claim, and contact updates separately. Do not put identity numbers or account details in a shared checklist.
FAQ
Do I return my residence card when leaving Japan?
On a final departure without re-entry permission, a mid- to long-term resident returns it to the immigration inspector at the port. Departure under a valid re-entry route and expiry while abroad have different ISA rules. Ask ISA if the route is unclear before traveling.
Does a municipal moving-out notice close National Health Insurance?
Do not assume so. Shinjuku lists NHI withdrawal as a distinct procedure when leaving Japan. Ask your own municipality for the required notice and effective date if you are enrolled.
Do I get my pension contributions back?
Only eligible people may choose a JPS lump-sum claim. It is not a refund of every contribution. Review the loss of earlier coverage periods and any agreement-based future pension option before deciding.
Can Japan Post forward my mail overseas?
No. Its domestic forwarding service does not forward mail to an overseas address. Update each sender and ask about a permitted delivery arrangement.
Should I close my Japanese bank account before leaving?
Ask your bank before departure. Its rules and your pending payments determine the steps; the FSA guide advises closing when returning home. Arrange final pay, bills, and refunds with both bank and payers instead of leaving an unresolved account behind.
Official Sources and Help
The controlling authorities are linked beside each step above. Check their current instructions and your own contracts. For a fact-specific question, use the official help directory for foreign residents to find the right municipal, immigration, pension, tax, or consumer channel.