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 Kobe address — you generally need somewhere to live before you can register

Step-by-step

1
Collect the residence card on arrival
The zairyū card is issued on landing at major airports for medium and long-term stays. Most people arriving for Kobe land at Kansai International and take the Bay Shuttle or the limousine bus. Check the name spelling, status and period of stay at the counter before you leave it.
In personWho: YouOn arrival
2
Confirm which of the nine wards covers your address
Kobe has nine wards: Higashinada, Nada, Chūō, Hyōgo, Kita, Nagata, Suma, Tarumi and Nishi. Kita-ku is the one that surprises people — it covers the entire mountain hinterland including Arima, so two Kobe addresses can be forty minutes and a tunnel apart.
OnlineWho: YouBefore registering
3
File the move-in notification within fourteen days
Take the residence card and passport to your ward office. The address is written onto the back of the card there, producing the jūminhyō and starting your My Number. Fourteen days is written into the Basic Resident Registration Act, not a local guideline.
In personWho: YouWithin 14 days of moving in
4
Enrol in health insurance and pension in the same appointment
If your employer runs shakai hoken they handle it. Otherwise enrol in National Health Insurance and the National Pension at the same counter visit — both are compulsory and combining them saves a second trip.
In personWho: YouSame visit
5
Know which immigration office handles your procedure
The Kobe district immigration office on the waterfront handles many routine matters, but the Osaka Regional Bureau at Suminoe handles others and the answer depends on the procedure. Confirm before travelling — Kobe to Suminoe and back is most of a working day.
OnlineWho: You
6
Apply for the physical My Number card
The number arrives by post; the card is applied for separately. It now functions as your health insurance card, enables online tax filing, and is the identity document most institutions prefer. Getting it early removes friction from everything afterwards.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport with the visa
Certificate of Eligibility, if one was issued
Residence card
Proof of your Kobe address
Employment contract, for status-related procedures
Passport photographs to Japanese specification

Things most newcomers don’t know

Working in Osaka does not move any of your administration to Osaka.

Kobe to Umeda is about twenty minutes on a JR special rapid and a very large number of Kobe residents commute daily. None of that changes anything: your ward office, your health insurance, your children's school allocation and your residence tax bill all follow your registered address in Hyōgo. People arrive assuming the Kansai conurbation is administratively one place. It is three prefectures and dozens of municipalities.

Source: Immigration Services Agency

Kita-ku is a third of Kobe's land area and nothing like the rest of it.

The ward runs over the Rokkō range and takes in Arima Onsen and a great deal of countryside. A flat there is dramatically cheaper and comes with a mountain crossing — a toll tunnel by car or the Shintetsu line — between you and Sannomiya. It is a legitimate choice with a genuinely different daily life, and listings simply say 'Kobe' without distinguishing.

Source: City of Kobe

Kobe's foreign communities are the oldest continuous ones in Japan, and it shows in the paperwork.

The port opened to foreign residence in 1868 and Chinese, Indian, Muslim, Jewish and European communities have been established here ever since — Japan's oldest mosque and a functioning synagogue are both in Kobe. The practical consequence is that ward offices, schools, hospitals and landlords here have far more institutional experience with foreign residents than in most Japanese cities of this size.

Source: City of Kobe

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

Japan scores education, income, age, research output 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 a spouse to work. Researchers at the Port Island cluster and staff at the foreign multinationals often clear it comfortably, but employers apply for ordinary work statuses by default and nobody checks the table.

Source: Immigration Services Agency

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming that commuting to Osaka makes any of your administration Osaka's — it does not.
Missing the fourteen-day notification and finding insurance, banking and your phone all blocked behind it.
Taking a cheap Kita-ku flat without registering that it is over a mountain from the city.
Travelling to the wrong immigration office because the procedure is handled by the other one.
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.