Renew your passport in Japan: embassy rules, timing and residence card checks

You renew a home-country passport at your own embassy or consulate in Japan. Japanese offices don’t handle it, and each mission sets its own booking, fees and waits. As of October 2026 the embassies whose fees we could confirm charge from ¥4,200 (Pakistan, lowest listed) to ¥23,000 (Nepal) for an adult renewal, with waits of about four weeks to two months.

What are the general steps?

The steps are similar everywhere, but the details are not. Check your own embassy’s page first.

What do embassies ask for and charge?

These are examples from each embassy’s own page, read on 29 October 2026. Fees and rules change, so confirm before you go.

Other details from those pages:

• Philippines: bring the passport with a photocopy of its data page and a ¥600 Letterpack. The Embassy usually cancels the old passport when you apply. It encourages renewal at least eight months before expiry and says there is no penalty for renewing an expired e-passport. If your passport isn’t an e-passport, you also need a PSA birth certificate on security paper and a valid ID.
• Pakistan: bring previous passports with a copy, your original NICOP or CNIC with a copy, and your residence card. Photocopies are not accepted in place of originals. The page says delays are due to backlog clearance in Pakistan.
• Indonesia: you need a valid residence card and your old passport. The embassy lists a one-day express service (arrive at 10:00, collect at 15:00); check its page for the fee.
• Nepal: bring the printed form, your Nepali citizenship certificate and a copy plus the original of the current passport. Upload files in the online form at 300 KB or less each.
• India: you can submit for re-issue up to one year before expiry. The Tokyo embassy covers Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Shinetsu, Hokuriku, Tokai and Okinawa.

We didn’t find official Tokyo pages for Bangladesh, Vietnam or Sri Lanka that we could verify, so they aren’t covered here. Check your embassy’s site directly.

Does renewing affect your residence card or visa?

Your residence card and your passport are separate documents with separate expiry dates. Renewing the passport doesn’t extend your stay. A few points from the Immigration Services Agency (ISA):

• Plain renewal: the 14-day filing for changes to your card covers name, date of birth, sex and nationality/region. A new passport number isn’t on that list.
• Name or nationality changed: report it in person at the immigration bureau for your address within 14 days. It’s free. Bring the new passport and proof. The ISA says that if the passport hasn’t been corrected or reissued first, the new card may not be issued the same day.
• Stamps in your old passport: if the old passport holds valid landing, re-entry or activity-permission stamps, you can ask the bureau to copy them into the new one with a transfer form (証印転記願出書).
• Leaving and re-entering Japan: the no-permit system (みなし再入国許可) needs a valid passport and, for mid- to long-term residents, a residence card. It lasts one year from departure or until your stay expires, if sooner. See the re-entry permit guide.
• At your next visa renewal: you can apply for an extension from three months before your stay expires, and the bureau doesn’t keep your passport while it decides. See visa renewal.

If you can’t get a valid passport because of your home country’s circumstances, the ISA says you can still apply for an extension with a reasonable explanation. A long embassy queue is a different case, so ask the bureau how it would treat yours.

What if you also need documents from your home country?

Some embassies ask for a birth certificate or citizenship certificate, and these may need a Japanese translation or apostille for other purposes. See certificate translation and apostille. If your passport is lost rather than expiring, see lost passport in Japan.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. For your own visa questions, ask the immigration bureau or an immigration specialist (行政書士).