Checking the residence card before hiring a foreign national: what employers do to avoid facilitating illegal work

Bottom line first: Before hiring a foreign national, check on the residence card whether the person may work. Look at the "work restriction" field on the front and the "extra-activity permission" field on the back; if work is not allowed, confirm the scope of the extra-activity permission. Check the card's authenticity with the Immigration Services Agency's residence-card reading application, matching the face of the card against the IC chip, and check whether the number has been invalidated with the residence-card number invalidation inquiry. If you neglect the check and let someone work illegally, the crime of facilitating illegal work (Article 73-2 of the Immigration Act) cannot be escaped by "I did not know," and you may be punished if you were negligent (paragraph 2). The statutory penalty is imprisonment up to 3 years or a fine up to 3 million yen, and the dual-liability provision (Article 76-2) can impose a fine on the corporation too.

Where on the residence card does it show whether the person may work?

The residence card is issued to foreign nationals who reside legally in Japan for the mid-to-long term. The check before hiring looks at two fields tied directly to whether work is allowed.

What to check	Location	Meaning
Work restriction	Front	"No work restriction" / "only work based on the status" / "only work designated by the designation document" / "no work" etc.
Period of stay (expiry)	Front	After the expiry the status is lost; the treatment during a renewal is checked separately
Extra-activity permission field	Back	If it reads "permitted (in principle up to 28 hours a week, excluding adult-entertainment work)" etc., even a no-work status may work within scope

"No work restriction" covers permanent residents, spouses of Japanese nationals, long-term residents and the like, who may work without occupational limits. "Only work based on the status" covers Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services and others, who may work only within the scope matching the status. "Only work designated by the designation document" is Designated Activities, whose content you confirm from the designation document attached to the passport. "No work" is Student, Dependent and the like, who may not in principle do paid activity; but with the extra-activity permission on the back, they may work within scope, in principle up to 28 hours a week (excluding adult-entertainment work). For the detail of students' time management, see managing the 28-hour week for international-student part-timers. For the relationship between the expiry and the employment-contract term, see the relationship between the period of stay and the employment-contract term.

How do you verify the card's authenticity and invalidation?

Looking at the face of the card with the eye alone cannot catch forgery or invalidation. The Immigration Services Agency publishes free means of checking.

Means	What it verifies	Provider
Residence-card reading application	Reads the IC chip's identity items and photo and matches them against the face to verify forgery	Immigration Services Agency (viewed 9 Nov 2026)
Residence-card number invalidation inquiry	Whether the card number has been invalidated (loss, return, revocation of status, etc.)	Immigration Services Agency (viewed 9 Nov 2026)

The reading application reads the information stored on the IC chip and matches it against the face to verify forgery. Where the face differs from the read image, or where the app works normally but the IC chip cannot be read, the guidance treats it as a possibility of forgery and directs you to consult the nearest Regional Immigration Services Bureau. The invalidation inquiry lets you enter the card number and check whether that number has been invalidated. By not only eyeballing the face at hiring but also using the app and the invalidation inquiry, you can keep a record of the check. These are used after obtaining the person's consent.

Does "I did not know" work? What is the scope of facilitating illegal work?

If you hire someone whose status does not permit work, or who works beyond the scope of their extra activity, the employer may be charged with facilitating illegal work. Article 73-2, paragraph 1 of the Immigration Act provides that a person who does the following is punished with imprisonment up to 3 years or a fine up to 3 million yen, or both.

Item	Conduct
Item 1	A person who, in connection with business activity, caused a foreign national to engage in illegal work
Item 2	A person who placed a foreign national under their control in order to make them engage in illegal work
Item 3	A person who, as a business, caused illegal work or brokered the conduct in the preceding item

What matters is paragraph 2. A person who did the conduct in each item of paragraph 1 cannot escape punishment "by reason of not knowing" that the other is in a non-workable state (not an activity matching the status, without extra-activity permission, or in illegal stay etc.), with a proviso that "this does not apply where there is no negligence." That is, if you were negligent, such as neglecting to check the residence card, "I did not know" does not save you. Conversely, where you can be said to have checked appropriately and were not negligent, it does not apply. That is precisely why checking the residence card before hiring, and keeping a record of it, is the employer's defense. Further, under the dual-liability provision in Article 76-2, if an employee commits a violation in connection with the business, a fine can be imposed not only on the actor but on the corporation. Note that an increase in the statutory penalty for this crime is planned, but because the effective date could not be verified in this article it is treated as unverified, and the current statutory penalty (imprisonment up to 3 years, fine up to 3 million yen) is stated.

If you want to hire someone whose status does not permit work, who do you turn to?

A check may show that the status does not permit work, or that the job you want to assign is not within the scope of the status. Here, what the employer (the labor attorney) can do goes as far as fact-checking and labor design. Handling the status of residence itself is a separate field.

What you want to do	Who to turn to	Why
Judging status eligibility	Administrative scrivener (filing agent) and Immigration	Status eligibility is a judgment under the Immigration Act
Applying to change the status or for extra-activity permission	Administrative scrivener (filing agent) and Immigration	Filing agency is the scrivener's work; a labor attorney cannot act as filing agent for a residence application
Post-hiring work rules, social insurance, working conditions	Labor attorney	The core of labor management
Denial handling or disputes over the status	Lawyer	Individual legal disputes

Judging status eligibility and applying to change the status or for extra-activity permission are not the labor attorney's work but the field of an administrative scrivener (filing agent) and the Immigration Services Agency. Because a labor attorney cannot act as filing agent for a residence application, you always turn to the scrivener and Immigration. 四葉行政書士事務所 is an independent business separate from the labor and social-security attorney's office, contracted separately. Letting someone work before the status is in order can touch on the facilitation of illegal work above, so as a rule do not let them work until the status is in order. For the whole picture of what the labor attorney can do in foreign employment and who else to engage, see what a labor attorney can do in foreign employment, and who else to engage.

What employment management and notifications do you set up after hiring?

Once you confirm the person may work legally and hire them, you move on to post-hiring management. Even for foreign nationals, the Labor Standards Act, the Minimum Wage Act, labor insurance and social insurance apply the same as for Japanese nationals, regardless of nationality.

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Procedure/matter	Content	Basis
Foreign employment status notification	Notify Hello Work on each hiring and separation; failure or false notification carries a fine up to 300,000 yen	Labor Measures Comprehensive Promotion Act Article 28, para 1; Article 40, para 1, item 2
Stating working conditions	State wage, hours, place of work, duties etc.; consideration such as the native language is also sought	Labor Standards Act Article 15; Ordinance Article 5
Foreign employment management guidelines	Matters the employer should strive for, from recruitment to management	Guidelines for employers to act appropriately (MHLW)
Joining labor and social insurance	Join if requirements are met, regardless of nationality	Each insurance act

For the practice of foreign employment status notification, see the practice of foreign employment status notification; for stating working conditions to foreign nationals and native-language consideration, stating working conditions to foreign nationals and native-language consideration; for the employment management an employer should strive for, the foreign employment management guidelines and the employer's duty of effort. Setting up post-hiring labor management is the labor attorney's field. Fees are in the fee schedule, and frequently asked questions in the FAQ.

Frequently asked questions

Q. If I keep a copy of the residence card at hiring, does that count as having checked?
A. Keeping a copy alone can be insufficient. What matters is confirming on the face whether the status permits work (the work restriction and whether there is extra-activity permission), and checking there is no forgery or invalidation. Matching the IC chip against the face with the Immigration Services Agency's residence-card reading application, checking the number's invalidation with the residence-card number invalidation inquiry, and keeping a record, backs up that you did a thorough check. Simply taking a copy does not amount to having verified authenticity or invalidation.

Q. The person says they "may work" — do I still need to check in detail on my side?
A. Yes. The crime of facilitating illegal work (Article 73-2 of the Immigration Act) cannot be escaped "by reason of not knowing" that the other is in a non-workable state, and you may be punished if negligent (paragraph 2). Skipping the check on the person's oral account alone may be held against you as negligence. Checking the front and back of the residence card yourself, and the designation document where needed, and verifying authenticity and invalidation, is the employer's defense.

Q. We are a corporation; if a store manager neglects the check and lets someone work illegally, is only the manager punished?
A. Under the dual-liability provision in Article 76-2 of the Immigration Act, where an employee commits a violation in connection with the corporation's business, a fine under each relevant article can be imposed on the corporation as well as on the actor (the manager, etc.). It does not stop at the individual on site; the corporation's checking system is questioned. Setting an in-house procedure for the pre-hiring residence-card check and keeping a record is the corporation's risk management.

Q. May I keep employing someone whose period of stay is near expiry? Can they work while a renewal is pending?
A. Once the expiry passes, the status is in principle lost. The treatment while a renewal is pending (such as a special period after expiry) differs by status and the state of the application, and needs individual checking. The relationship between the expiry and the employment-contract term is set out separately. Whether a renewal or change can be made, and its prospects, is itself the field of an administrative scrivener (filing agent) and Immigration; consult them separately from the labor attorney.

Basis for this article

• Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (Cabinet Order No. 319 of 1951), Article 73-2, paragraph 1 — "a person who falls under any of the following items is punished with imprisonment up to three years or a fine up to three million yen, or both"; item 1 = a person who, in connection with business activity, caused a foreign national to engage in illegal work; item 2 = a person who placed one under their control to make them do so; item 3 = a person who, as a business, caused it or brokered it; paragraph 2 — "a person who did the conduct in each item of the preceding paragraph cannot escape the punishment under that paragraph by reason of not knowing that any of the following items applies. This does not apply, however, where there is no negligence"
• Immigration Act Article 76-2 — dual-liability provision (where an employee violates in connection with the corporation's business, a fine under each relevant article on the corporation as well as the actor); Article 19, paragraph 2 — permission to engage in an activity other than that permitted; Ordinance Article 19, paragraph 5, item 1 — the blanket permission for a student is in principle up to 28 hours a week (excluding adult-entertainment work)
• Immigration Services Agency, official guidance on the "residence-card reading application" and "residence-card number invalidation inquiry" — verifying forgery by matching the IC chip against the face; where the face differs from the read image etc., consult the Regional Immigration Services Bureau; free. Viewed 9 November 2026
• The categories in the residence card's "work restriction" field (no restriction / only work based on the status / only work designated by the designation document / no work) and the back's extra-activity permission field — confirmed from Immigration Services Agency and MHLW materials on 9 November 2026
• Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labour Measures etc. (Act No. 132 of 1966), Article 28, paragraph 1 — foreign employment status notification; Article 40, paragraph 1, item 2 — a fine up to 300,000 yen for failing to notify or filing a false notification
• Labor Standards Act (Act No. 49 of 1947), Article 15 — statement of working conditions (amendment effective 1 April 2024; Ordinance Article 5). The Labor Standards Act, Minimum Wage Act, labor insurance and social insurance apply regardless of nationality
• Provisions checked on e-Gov Law Search on 9 November 2026. The increase in the statutory penalty for facilitating illegal work (up to 5 years, 5 million yen) is planned, but because its effective date could not be verified in this article it is treated as unverified and the current penalty is stated. Individual judgments on status eligibility, the scope of extra activity and the treatment of a stay during renewal must be confirmed for each status; effective dates and case-by-case applications that could not be verified are not written

This article does not determine whether any particular case qualifies. 四葉社会保険労務士事務所 can advise on building the pre-hiring residence-card check procedure, setting up post-hiring working-condition statements, work rules, social insurance and labor insurance, and foreign employment status notification. Judging status eligibility, and applying to change the status or for extra-activity permission (filing agent), belong to an administrative scrivener and the Immigration Services Agency, and denial handling and disputes over the status to a lawyer; including 四葉行政書士事務所, each is contracted separately as an independent business. There is no referral fee. Fees are in the fee schedule, and frequently asked questions in the FAQ.

This article is general information. Individual determinations are made by a qualified professional after a consultation, in light of individual circumstances. Written by Joji Uramatsu (Shakai Hoken Roumushi, Gyoseishoshi, Registered Real Estate Transaction Specialist).