Every other part of moving a family to Tokyo — schools, daycare, healthcare — assumes your family’s legal status and address registration are already sorted. This guide covers the two pieces of paperwork that gate everything else.
The Dependent Visa
Most families move to Tokyo together on a Dependent Visa, which lets a spouse and children join a principal visa holder with a qualifying status. It’s a different category from a Spouse Visa, with a key practical difference: work rights. A Dependent Visa holder who wants to work part-time needs a separate permission, generally capped at 28 hours a week — worth understanding early if a second income is part of your family’s plan.
Read next: Japan’s Dependent Visa Explained: Bringing Your Spouse and Kids to Tokyo
The 14-day ward-office deadline
Once your family moves into permanent housing, you have 14 days to register your address at the local ward office. This single visit is the gateway to National Health Insurance enrollment, the child medical subsidy certificate, and daycare applications — nearly everything else downstream assumes it’s already done.
Read next: Registering Your Family at the Ward Office: Your First Two Weeks in Tokyo
Where this connects
Visa and registration timing should shape your housing and neighborhood search, not the other way around, and it directly gates your healthcare enrollment and daycare or school applications. If you only read one page on this site before your move, this is the one to start planning around first.