Permanent Residency in Japan: Requirements for SSW and TITP Workers

Key Takeaways

• Permanent residency generally needs 10 years of continuous residence in Japan, with at least 5 of those years on a qualifying work or residence status.
• SSW (i) and Technical Intern Training (TITP) years do not count toward that 5-year part, even though tax and social insurance are paid during them.
• SSW (ii) is not excluded, so time spent on SSW (ii) counts the same way an ordinary work visa does.
• Good conduct, independent livelihood, and a clean record of tax, pension, and health-insurance payments matter as much as the years. A February 2026 revision made this check stricter.
• Japan has proposed (August 2026) adding income, pension, and Japanese-language requirements. This is not yet in force, so confirm the current rule before you plan around it.

What permanent residency actually changes

If you are on SSW, TITP, or any other work status, your stay in Japan has an end date and a set of conditions attached to it. Permanent residency (Eijuken) removes both. There is no more renewal, no more restriction on what kind of job you take, and you keep it even if you change employer or lose your job. It is different from naturalization: you keep your Philippine passport and citizenship. Permanent residency is a status of residence, not a status of nationality.

This is why the question "how many years do I need?" comes up so often among Filipinos working in Japan under SSW or TITP. The honest answer is that the years alone do not decide it, and not every year you spend in Japan counts the same way.

The headline rule: 10 years total, 5 of them on a qualifying status

The Immigration Services Agency's Guidelines for Permanent Residency Permission (revised February 24, 2026) set the general standard like this: you must have lived in Japan continuously for 10 years or more. Within that period, at least 5 years must be on a work status or a residence-based status. TITP and SSW (i) are named exceptions and do not count toward that 5-year part.

Read that again slowly, because the two numbers do different jobs. The 10 years is about how long you have physically lived in Japan. The 5 years is about what kind of visa you held while you were living here. A person can clear the 10-year mark easily and still fail the 5-year part, if most of those years were spent on a status the guideline excludes.

Why SSW (i) and Technical Intern years don't count toward the 5

This is the part that surprises the most people, so it is worth spelling out plainly: years spent on SSW (i) or on Technical Intern Training do not count toward the 5-year work-status requirement, even though both are, in every other sense, real jobs where you pay tax and social insurance.

The guideline names these two statuses specifically as exceptions. It does not explain the reasoning in the public text. The practical effect is this: someone who works 5 years straight under SSW (i) and then leaves has not built any of the 5-year clock the permanent residency rule asks for. If that person later returns on a different status, the SSW (i) years stay off the books for this purpose.

This does not erase the years from your immigration record, and it does not disqualify you from applying later. It simply means those years are not the years the guideline counts when it checks the 5-year requirement.

Where SSW (ii) changes the math

SSW (ii) is not on the exception list. The guideline names TITP and SSW (i) only, so years spent on SSW (ii) count toward the 5-year requirement the same way an Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa or a spouse visa would.

In practice this means the clock effectively starts once you move from SSW (i) to SSW (ii), for the purposes of this specific requirement, since your earlier SSW (i) years do not count. Not every SSW field has an SSW (ii) pathway yet, so whether this route is open to you depends on your field. We cover how SSW (i) and SSW (ii) differ, and which fields currently allow the move, in our SSW requirements guide.

The requirements beyond the years

The 10-year and 5-year rule gets the most attention, but the guideline lists several conditions that apply regardless of how long you have been in Japan.

Good conduct. No criminal convictions, and general compliance with Japanese law.

Independent livelihood. You need stable income or assets sufficient to support yourself and your dependents without relying on public assistance.

Paying into the system. This is the one that catches people off guard. The guideline requires that you have properly paid your taxes, your public pension contributions, and your public health-insurance premiums, and that you have filed the immigration notifications you are required to file. Since the February 2026 revision, the Immigration Services Agency checks pension and health-insurance payment records more strictly than before, and even a single late payment within the review period can count against you.

If you have ever missed a National Pension or National Health Insurance payment because of a gap between jobs, catch it up and keep the receipts before you apply. This is checked, and it is one of the easiest things to fix in advance if you find out about it early.

What Japan is proposing to change (not yet in force)

On August 4, 2026, the Immigration Services Agency published a draft revision to the same guideline and opened it for public comment. As of this writing it is still a draft, not a rule in force, but it is worth knowing what it contains because the agency's own summary sets a start date.

The draft would raise the income bar for the independent-livelihood requirement, to above the average income of a Japanese household of the same size. It would also add a new pension test. Your projected pension benefit would need to reach the level you would get from 30 years of employee's pension enrollment at that income, though a shortfall can be offset with savings or other assets. On top of that, it would set a Japanese-language expectation of CEFR B1 under the national-interest requirement, and add weight to whether your school-age children are enrolled in school. Separately, it would extend the shortened path for spouses of Japanese nationals or permanent residents: from 3 years of marriage and 1 year of residence, to 5 years of marriage and 3 years of residence.

The agency's own schedule, published with the draft, sets the main changes to start from April 2027, with the income-related element starting earlier, in October 2026. Confirm the final, adopted version directly on the Immigration Services Agency's website before you plan around any of this, since a draft can still change before it is finalized.

Documents and how the process works

You apply at the regional immigration office covering your address, not at the Embassy or DMW. A gyoseishoshi (administrative scrivener) who handles immigration cases can prepare the file for you. The application itself must still be filed by you or, in most offices, a registered proxy such as your employer or the scrivener under a formal delegation. Typical documents include:

• Application form and a photo
• Passport and residence card
• A guarantor's letter of guarantee
• Proof of income and tax payment (certificate of tax payment, certificate of taxable income)
• Proof of pension and health-insurance payment history
• A reason-for-application statement in your own words

Processing commonly takes several months to a year, and the exact list and processing time vary by immigration office and by your individual case. If your case involves gaps in payment history, a job change close to application, or a mixed record of statuses, get a bilingual gyoseishoshi to check your specific timeline before you file. A rejected application does not refund the review time you already spent building your record. Use /find-help to look for English-capable professionals.

Sources

• Immigration Services Agency of Japan / Ministry of Justice: Guidelines for Permanent Residency Permission, revised February 24, 2026
• Immigration Services Agency of Japan: Q&A on the proper operation of the permanent residency system
• Immigration Services Agency of Japan / e-Gov Public Comment: Draft revision to the Guidelines for Permanent Residency Permission (outline), published August 4, 2026
• Hanapon: /routes, /find-help