VisaResidents who lose their card in Japan must apply for replacement within fourteen days
A police report and an immigration replacement application are separate steps; families should also check the current photograph rules.
Official announcement date: not established (undated guidance)
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Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Use the immigration deadline rather than waiting for a search result
A mid- to long-term resident who loses possession of a Japanese residence card through loss, theft or destruction must apply for reissue within fourteen days of discovering the loss. The Immigration Services Agency’s procedure page says that if the person discovers it while outside Japan, the period instead runs from the first subsequent entry to Japan. This guide addresses replacement, rather than promising the documents needed to board a return flight.
The application goes to the regional immigration services office. The procedure identifies personal application, specified cohabiting relatives and authorised intermediaries, with conditions applying to each. A relative acting for the applicant may need evidence of the relationship and the reason for representation. Check that category before sending someone to the counter: ordinary permission to collect lost property from police is a different authority from permission to submit an immigration application.
Report the missing property and keep the reference details
Tokyo Metropolitan Police directs people to file a Lost Property Report at a police station or police box. Its English instructions permit preparing the website’s form beforehand, but require personal submission to a police office; they do not accept reports by email. They also say that police cannot accept reports for items lost outside Japan. These are Tokyo’s published reporting arrangements, not a claim that every overseas police force uses the same process.
Give a Japanese telephone number so police can contact you about a possible recovery; they normally do not make international calls. If the card may have been left on public transport or at a business, contact that operator as well because it may retain found items for several days. Tokyo’s online lost-property database is searchable by item type and date in Japanese. Searching that database helps trace the physical card, but does not replace the immigration application or suspend its fourteen-day period.
Describe the wallet and its contents clearly on the police form
The police form’s separate completion instructions ask for both the time when the property was last seen and the time when its absence was discovered. Record the location as specifically as possible, including a train or bus route, destination, transfers and boarding or alighting stop where relevant. A broad statement that something disappeared somewhere in Tokyo gives the search less useful information.
List property from the largest item to the smallest: for example, an illustrative report could identify a wallet first and its residence card among the contents. Give identifying features and numbers where known. Include an apartment’s building name and room number in the contact address; if staying with someone else, identify the main occupant using care-of details. The downloadable form is to be printed on ordinary white A4 paper, not thermal or other special paper.
Prepare the document pack and resolve the older photo wording
The agency’s entry-and-residence guide lists a passport, photograph, replacement application and evidence explaining the loss, such as a lost-property, theft or disaster report. Its stated photograph is four centimetres high by three wide and taken within six months. Keep the police evidence available for the immigration file, rather than assuming the two authorities automatically share a report.
An older English guide still describes an exemption from photographs for children under sixteen. The agency’s current card guidance says cards issued from 14 June 2026 carry photographs for children aged one and over; the exemption is for a child under one at issue. Families replacing a child’s card should therefore check the current procedure instead of relying on that older age line. The published photo standards also require a clear frontal image, uncovered head and plain background, subject to the stated special-circumstance provisions.
Check the replacement charge and permitted submission method
The agency’s residence-management FAQ says reissue for loss, theft or destruction carries no government fee. It distinguishes a voluntary exchange unrelated to significant damage, for which it lists ¥1,900. A missing card should not be assigned the voluntary-exchange charge simply because both procedures produce another card. Photography, copies and any privately engaged representative remain separate expenses; no universal price for those services was established.
The FAQ also says a lost-card replacement application and receipt of the card cannot be completed by post. It describes qualifying relatives as an alternative in appropriate circumstances. Keep the application receipt and follow the receiving office’s collection instructions. No guaranteed completion time for an individual file was established in this research, and finding the old card later should be discussed with immigration before treating it as valid identification again.
