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 Nagasaki 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 card-issuing ports — for most arrivals here that means Fukuoka, Kansai, Haneda or Narita rather than Nagasaki Airport. Check the name spelling, status of residence and period of stay at the counter, because corrections are far easier there than afterwards.
In personWho: YouOn arrival
2
Register your address with Nagasaki City within fourteen days
There are no wards, so this is done at the city hall in Sakuramachi or, for some procedures, at a local centre. Take your residence card and passport. For a first foreign-resident registration the main city hall is the safe choice — call ahead if you would rather use a local office. This produces the jūminhyō and starts your My Number, and 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 while you are already at the counter. Both are compulsory and combining them saves a second trip — which in a city where a lot of people live a stairway away from a bus stop is worth more than it sounds.
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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
File extensions early, through the Nagasaki branch office
The branch office sits in the Nagasaki Port joint government building at Matsugae-machi, by the cruise terminal. Applications to extend a period of stay can be filed from three months before expiry and routinely take several weeks to two months. If your case is unusual the decision sits with the Fukuoka Regional Bureau, so build travel time into your plan rather than discovering it at the counter.
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 municipality within fourteen days so the card is updated. Note that Nagayo and Togitsu immediately north are separate towns with their own offices — a move there is a move between municipalities, not within one.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

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

Things most newcomers don’t know

No wards means no ward office, and almost every guide to living in Japan assumes otherwise.

Nagasaki is a 中核市 — a core city — rather than one of Japan's ordinance-designated cities, and it has no administrative wards. Registration, National Health Insurance, My Number and residence tax are all handled by Nagasaki City directly. In practice this is simpler than the ward system, because there is no wrong office to go to. But it means instructions written for Fukuoka or Kobe do not map, and it also changes how the residence-tax bill is split between city and prefecture.

Source: Nagasaki City

A branch office is not a regional bureau, and here the parent is two hours away.

Japan has eight regional immigration bureaux. Nagasaki has a branch office of Fukuoka's, in the port government building at Matsugae-machi. Routine applications — extensions, changes of status, re-entry permission — are accepted locally. Anything contested or unusual sits with Fukuoka, which is roughly two hours by rail even after the 2022 Shinkansen opening, because you still change trains at Takeo-Onsen. Build that into your planning, and file early.

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. Research and academic posts at Nagasaki University score well on the education criteria, and many eligible people never calculate their score because an employer applied for an ordinary work status by default.

Source: Immigration Services Agency

Japan's digital nomad status does not make you a resident here, and here that matters more than usual.

The 2024 route permits a six-month stay for remote workers above a high income threshold but confers no resident status — no address registration, no National Health Insurance, private cover required, and no path onward. Nagasaki's low rents make it an attractive place to try that, and people do. It is a long visit rather than a move, and none of the city's housing subsidy schemes, which are aimed at settlement, are available on it.

Source: Immigration Services Agency

Common mistakes to avoid

Looking for a ward office that does not exist and losing days against the fourteen-day deadline.
Assuming a local centre can complete a first foreign-resident registration without checking.
Leaving an extension until the last few weeks when the decision may go to Fukuoka.
Assuming Nagasaki Airport issues residence cards — plan your entry through a card-issuing port.
Not realising that Nagayo and Togitsu are separate municipalities with their own offices and tax bills.

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