- August 17, 2026
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If you’re raising children in Japan, you may be wondering about child allowance in Japan for foreigners—specifically, whether you can receive it as a foreign national yourself. Even if you’ve heard the name of the program, it’s only natural to find the eligibility conditions, the amounts, and the application process hard to pin down.
Here’s the short answer: yes, foreign nationals can receive the child allowance too, as long as you meet the requirements—such as having a resident registration in Japan and raising a qualifying child.
In this guide, certified financial planner Masamichi Takayanagi explains it clearly—from who’s eligible for the child allowance as a foreigner, to the amounts after the 2024 expansion, how the third child is counted, the application steps, and the situations that commonly come up for foreign families.
About the Supervisor & Writer
Masamichi Takayanagi
Financial Planner & columnist;
An independent financial planner with extensive experience as a financial columnist, specializing in a wide range of topics including asset management, life insurance, inheritance, loan products, and credit cards. Over 1,000 articles and projects have been contributed to the field.
1st grade Certified Skilled Professional of Financial Planning, Certified Financial Planner®.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Can Foreigners Receive the Child Allowance?
Even as a foreign national, you can receive the child allowance (jido teate) without any problem, as long as you have a resident registration in Japan and hold a valid status of residence. The biggest factor in whether you qualify isn’t your nationality—it’s whether you’re recorded in the Basic Resident Register (juminhyo).
Eligibility covers a wide range of people: permanent residents, spouses of Japanese nationals, and long-term residents, as well as those on work-eligible statuses such as Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services or Specified Skilled Worker. As a rule, a qualifying child must live in Japan and be under the age reached on the first March 31 after turning 18.
Children living overseas are generally not covered, though there are exceptions—payment may be made when certain conditions are met, such as studying abroad. The program as a whole is overseen by the Children and Families Agency, while the actual applications and inquiries are handled by the municipality where you live.
Start by confirming your status of residence and the state of your resident record—it makes it much easier to see whether you can receive the allowance.
Source: Children and Families Agency — Child Allowance Guide
Chapter2: How Much Do You Get? (After the 2024 Expansion)
The October 2024 expansion removed the income limit, so payments are no longer restricted by income—anyone who meets the eligibility requirements now qualifies, regardless of how much they earn. The amounts depend on the child’s age and birth order, as follows:
- Age 0 to under 3: ¥15,000 per month
- Age 3 to the end of the school year at 18: ¥10,000 per month
- Third child and beyond: a flat ¥30,000 per month
Payments are grouped into six times a year, in even-numbered months, with each payment covering the two months up to the one before. It used to be three times a year, so it’s worth noting that the money now reaches your household at shorter intervals.
Here’s a rough picture by family makeup:
- A child under 3 and a elementary-school child: ¥15,000 + ¥10,000 = ¥25,000 per month
- Three children aged 3 or older, with the third child qualifying: ¥10,000 + ¥10,000 + ¥30,000 = ¥50,000 per month
The amounts and age brackets may be revised in future, so it’s reassuring to make a final check of the latest figures against your municipality’s guidance.
Source: Government of Japan Public Relations Office — Child Allowance Expansion
Chapter 3: How the "Third Child" Is Counted (A Common Sticking Point)
One thing foreign families find especially confusing is how the third child is counted. Under the system, the “third child” isn’t determined by birth order alone—it’s the rank you get by counting children up to the first March 31 after they turn 22, from oldest to youngest.
Before the expansion, only children up through high-school graduation were included in the count. After the expansion, regardless of whether a child has gone on to further study or still lives at home, they count toward the multiple-child bonus up to the end of the school year at 22—provided the parent “cares for them in a way equivalent to custody and covers their living expenses.” In other words, even an older child of university age may still count as the first child.
To give a concrete example, take a family raising three children—a second-year university student, a first-year high-school student, and a fifth-year elementary student. The payments break down like this:
- First child: second-year university student (not a payment recipient, but counted as the first child)
- Second child: first-year high-school student — ¥10,000 per month
- Third child: fifth-year elementary student — ¥30,000 per month
If you include a child over 18 in the count to receive the multiple-child bonus, the municipality may ask you to submit a confirmation form regarding custody-equivalent care and coverage of living expenses. Families who think this may apply should sort out the ages of their older children and their dependency situation early.
Applying for child allowance in Japan for foreigners works the same way as for anyone else—you have to apply yourself, and you won’t receive it unless you do—so applying early with the deadline in mind matters more than anything. The application follows these three steps:
- Submit a certification request form (nintei seikyusho) to your municipality within 15 days of the day after a birth or a move-in occurs.
- Gather and attach the required documents.
- Receive your certification notice (nintei tsuchisho) after the municipality’s review.
If you make it within 15 days, payments generally start from the month after the qualifying event. The main documents to have ready are:
- The applicant’s proof of identity and something confirming your My Number
- Documents confirming your health insurance enrollment, such as a qualification confirmation certificate or your medical insurance details on Myna Portal
- A copy of a bankbook showing the account for deposits
- Additional documents if there are factors involving living apart or overseas (such as a consent form confirming custody)
Even if you don’t have every document ready, the request form itself will still be accepted—so it’s reassuring to get it submitted within the deadline first. If your application is late, as a rule you can’t receive payments retroactively, and you’ll lose the amounts for the delayed months.
Note that the special measure allowing retroactive payment back to October 2024—for applications made by March 31, 2025 in connection with the October 2024 reform—has already ended.
Chapter5: Common Situations for Foreign Families
Foreign families need to be especially careful about missed procedures when moving or changing jobs. If you move across municipal lines, the allowance from your previous municipality stops—so unless you submit a new certification request form in the place you move to, your payments won’t continue.
The recipient doesn’t have to be one particular spouse, but as a rule it’s the parent who supports the household to a greater degree (generally the one with the higher income). In dual-income households, it helps to remember that the application is basically made in the name of the higher-earning parent.
If you keep your address in Japan—during travel or a temporary return home, for example—you won’t necessarily lose eligibility right away. On the other hand, if you move the base of your life overseas, it isn’t judged by the form of your resident record alone; check the specific treatment with your municipality.
That said, if you move your entire base of living abroad, cancel your resident registration, and leave the country, your entitlement is lost at that point. When a child lives overseas to study, they may be recognized as eligible by exception—provided certain requirements are met, such as a record of having lived in Japan for more than three years.
Chapter6: Using the Child Allowance for Education Savings
A smart way to use the allowance is to save it for your child’s future education. Keep saving it from birth through the high-school years, and for a first or second child, it adds up to roughly ¥2.3 to ¥2.5 million—assuming the current system stays the same.
That’s a meaningful sum. It’s well worth leaving untouched as a cushion for when university starts. The easiest way to manage it: move each payment into a separate savings account on the day it arrives, so it never mixes with your everyday spending.
Still, four years of university can cost several million yen, so the allowance alone won’t cover it all. To prepare for the gap, some families combine it with educational endowment insurance (gakushi hoken) or regular savings. The more you plan to settle in Japan long-term, the more it helps to start planning for education costs early—so you’re not scrambling later.
Chapter7: When to Ask for Help
When your situation is complicated, the safest move is to ask your municipality rather than decide on your own. If you’re unsure about your status of residence or how your resident record is treated, the counter staff can tell you clearly whether you qualify.
Some cases are hard to judge on paper—how the third child is counted, or how a child living apart is treated. Asking at the counter helps here too. And if reading and writing Japanese worries you, a professional who knows the procedures, such as an administrative scrivener (gyoseishoshi), can help.
Not sure how the allowance fits into your household budget? A financial planner is another option. And because the rules change with each reform, it’s worth getting into the habit of checking your municipality’s official guidance for the latest information.
Chapter8: Frequently Asked Questions
Here we’ve gathered the most common worries about child allowance in Japan for foreigners, along with answers to each.
Q. Can foreigners receive the child allowance in Japan?
Yes, you can. Nationality doesn’t matter—if you have a resident registration in Japan and hold a valid status of residence, you qualify just like a Japanese national. Work-eligible statuses, permanent residents, spouses of Japanese nationals, and more are all widely included, so the first thing to do is check your own status of residence.
Q. Can I receive it if my child lives overseas?
As a rule, no. But there’s an exception: if your child lives abroad to study and meets certain requirements—such as a record of having lived in Japan for more than three years—payments may still be made. When you’re unsure, ask your municipality’s counter early.
Q. What happens if I move, or start or leave a government job?
If you move across municipal lines, the allowance from your previous municipality stops, so you’ll need to reapply where you move to. The same goes if your workplace changes—for example, if you stop being a public employee: you apply again to the municipality where you now live. In both cases, aim to file within 15 days of the next day to avoid a gap in your payments.
Chapter9: Summary
When it comes to child allowance in Japan for foreigners, even foreign-national parents can receive it—as long as you have a resident registration in Japan and hold a valid status of residence. The key isn’t nationality but your resident record, and a qualifying child must, as a rule, live in Japan and be within the age limit up to the end of the school year at 18.
The October 2024 expansion removed the income limit. Payments are now ¥15,000 a month for ages 0 to under 3, ¥10,000 a month from age 3 to the end of the school year at 18, and a flat ¥30,000 a month for the third child and beyond—paid six times a year, in even-numbered months.
As a rule, you apply within 15 days of a birth or move-in, and if you’re late, you can’t receive payments retroactively. Check individual circumstances—such as how the third child is counted or how overseas stays are treated—with your municipality, and start putting the allowance you receive to work early as a cushion for education costs.
*This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute individual financial or legal advice. The figures shown here are based on the sources cited and will vary depending on your family situation, the ages and number of your children, and your status of residence. Information is accurate as of August 2026. Child allowance eligibility, amounts, and application procedures differ case by case and may change with future reforms, so please confirm with your municipality, a certified financial planner, or a qualified professional before acting on any information in this article.
