Before you start

A Certificate of Eligibility obtained by your employer or sponsor before the visa application, for most work statuses
A visa issued by a Japanese embassy or consulate
A passport valid well beyond the intended stay
A confirmed Sendai address, so you can register within the fourteen-day window

Step-by-step

1
Receive your residence card at the airport
For medium and long-term stays the zairyū card is issued on landing at the major ports, which for Tōhoku usually means Narita or Haneda rather than Sendai Airport. Check the name spelling, status of residence and period of stay at the counter — corrections are far easier there than afterwards.
In personWho: YouOn arrival
2
Register your address at the correct ward office within fourteen days
Sendai has five wards — Aoba, Miyagino, Wakabayashi, Taihaku and Izumi — and you must register at the one covering your address. Take your residence card and passport. This produces the jūminhyō and starts your My Number. Fourteen days is a legal deadline.
In personWho: YouWithin 14 days of moving in
3
Enrol in health insurance and pension in the same visit
If your employer runs shakai hoken they handle it. If not, enrol in National Health Insurance and the National Pension at the ward office while you are already there. Both are compulsory and combining them saves a second morning.
In personWho: YouSame visit
4
Apply for the physical My Number card, not just the number
The number arrives by post; the card is a separate application. It is increasingly used as identification, for online tax filing, and now functions as your health insurance card.
OnlineWho: You
5
Use the Sendai bureau for extensions and status changes
The Sendai Regional Immigration Services Bureau covers all six Tōhoku prefectures. Applications to extend a period of stay can be filed from three months before expiry, and routinely take several weeks to two months. A single bureau serving a region this large rewards filing early.
In personWho: YouFrom 3 months before expiry
6
Carry the card, and report every move within fourteen days
Foreign residents must carry the residence card at all times. Moving means notifying the new ward office within fourteen days so the card is updated, and that applies to a move between two Sendai wards as much as a move between cities.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport with the visa
Certificate of Eligibility, if issued
Residence card
Proof of your Sendai address
Passport photographs to Japanese specification
Employment or enrolment certificate, for extensions

Things most newcomers don’t know

One bureau covers six prefectures, which cuts both ways.

Sendai is one of Japan's eight regional immigration bureaux and its jurisdiction is the whole of Tōhoku — Miyagi, Fukushima, Yamagata, Iwate, Akita and Aomori. If you live in Sendai you get a bureau in your own city rather than a branch office that must refer decisions upward, which is a genuine advantage. If you live anywhere else in Tōhoku, the bureau may be several hours away and the branch offices handle only routine business. Either way, file extensions from three months out rather than close to expiry.

Source: Immigration Services Agency

The fourteen-day ward registration is the keystone, and Aoba ward is enormous.

Health insurance, most bank accounts, phone contracts and your My Number all depend on being registered as a resident of the specific ward your address sits in. Sendai's five wards stretch a long way — Aoba runs from the central arcades out to the mountains at Akiu, Taihaku from the station district to the prefectural border. Registering at the wrong office means being sent to the right one against a legal deadline.

Source: Immigration Services Agency

The Highly Skilled Professional points system is worth calculating before you accept a standard status.

Japan scores education, income, age and Japanese ability, and clearing the threshold brings a five-year period of stay, permanent residence in as little as one to three years rather than ten, and easier arrangements for family. Academic and research posts at Tohoku University score well on the education and research criteria, and many eligible people never calculate their score because an employer applied for an ordinary work status by default.

Source: Immigration Services Agency

Sendai City certifies business plans under the national foreign-entrepreneur programme.

Japan's startup route began as a special-zone scheme and was consolidated into METI's nationwide Foreign Entrepreneurship Promotion programme on 1 January 2025, with around seventeen municipalities certifying plans — Sendai among them. A certified plan can support a 'Designated Activities' status of up to two years to incorporate before meeting the ordinary Business Manager requirements, which became substantially harder from 16 October 2025. Check the current thresholds with the city before assuming the route is available to you.

Source: JETRO; Immigration Services Agency

Common mistakes to avoid

Missing the fourteen-day ward registration deadline and blocking everything behind it.
Registering at the wrong one of Sendai's five ward offices.
Leaving an extension until the final weeks at a bureau that serves six prefectures.
Assuming Sendai Airport issues residence cards — plan your entry through a card-issuing port.
Accepting a standard work status without checking your Highly Skilled Professional score.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.