When I came in five years ago, someone told me that I needed to have my residential address sorted out within 14 days of entering Japan. Someone has just joined my company from abroad and was wondering how much time they have to find an apartment. I decided to Google it before giving him the advice that I was given… and I can’t seem to find a definitive answer to the question. I can see that you need to register your address at the ward office within 14 days, but that’s not a deadline for finding the residence as such. Anyone know the answer? Thanks!
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How can you register an residential address if you don’t yet have an address?
I provided the temporary address of my hotel on arrival as I was training in Tokyo for 2 weeks before moving to my apartment.
When I arrived at my apartment, I was able to register at the city hall.
My residence card does not show my temporary address. The first entry is my real apartment 16 days after arrival (arrived Nov 2nd, stamped Nov 18th). Immigration simply needs a way of tracking you down in case they (or you) need to deal with some additional paperwork.
According to https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/publications/materials/newimmiact_4_q-and-a_page3.html#q83-a (question 83) the requirements are to register within 14 days of moving to a permanent address and within 90 days of arriving in Japan.
You have to register a (permanent) address at city hall within 14 days once you have one. If you will not have a permanent address (“base of your life” / 住所) then please see below.
If you do not establish a permanent address but are at a fixed location, you generally need to inform immigration of your location within 14 days (via a declaration to your municipality).
But if you are hoping around hotels and have neither a fixed location nor permanent address, there is no need to immediately inform immigration (though you may wish to consult were that situation to persist past the ninety days you have to notify them from arrival).
Moved to Tokyo recently. We lived in an Airbnb for the first month while searching for a more permanent accommodation. What we did (advised by ward office staff to do so) was to register the Airbnb as our residence and then change it once we’ve found our new apartment. Basically they wanted us to register something within the first 14 days regardless of how permanent it was.
*edit: typo