Did you know that foreigners are required to always carry the Zairyu Card (Resident Card), by law foreigners who do not carry the Zaryu Card have to pay a fine of up to 200 thousand yen or face imprisonment (and if convicted to prison, you could be deported). Just because you don’t carry the Zairyu Card.
Zairyu Card is the mandatory document required by law
In Japan, all foreign residents over the age of 16 are required to carry the Zairyu Card with them at all times in order to prove their residency status. If you are caught without it, it is an offense punishable by law.
You can be fined up to 200,000 yen if you don’t have a Zairyu Card, and if you refuse to present the card, you can face up to a year in prison (and if you are sentenced to prison, you will be deported).
Penalty in case of non-presentation or failure to carry the Zairyu Card
- Anyone who refuses to present the Zairyu Card will be sentenced to less than one year in prison and deported or fined less than 200,000 yen.
- If you are not carrying the Zairyu Card when requested, you will pay a fine worth less than 200,000 yen.
- In case of loss of the Zairyu Card, the holder will have a period of up to 14 days from the date they notice the loss, to request the document to be reissued at the local immigration office.
You are obliged to always carry the Zairyu Card with younte
The Ministry of Justice explains that the Zairyu Card contains important updated information about foreigners and will be a way for foreigners to easily prove that they have a legal residence visa.