📊 ISA Basic Survey on Foreign Residents

❓ What was published?

The Basic Survey on Foreign Residents is a national survey run by the Immigration Services Agency (ISA) under Japan's Comprehensive Measures for Acceptance of Foreign Nationals and Orderly Coexistence. Its stated purpose is to accurately grasp the situation of foreign residents and the problems they face in working life, daily life and social life, and to feed that into the design of coexistence policies. The latest FY2025 round was conducted from October to November 2025, and the summary of results was published in May 2026. The survey itself is carried out by a contractor commissioned by the Ministry of Justice; the summary is compiled from that contractor's report, and the underlying report PDF is linked from the same page. For FY2025 the list of survey questions and answer choices is posted in 10 languages — Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Nepali, Indonesian and Spanish — up from 9 languages in FY2024. The rhythm has been consistent: FY2024 was surveyed in September–October 2024 and published in March 2025, and FY2023 was surveyed in October 2023 and published in March 2024. Every round back to FY2020 sits on the same page, so questions and results can be compared across years.

👥 Who does this concern?

• ●Foreign residents who receive an invitation to take part (your answers feed national policy)
• ●Mid- to long-term residents working in Japan — working life is one pillar of the survey
• ●Companies, municipalities and support groups that employ or assist foreign residents
• ●Researchers and journalists who want statistical data on foreign residents

🌏 Impact on foreign residents

This survey is one of the few routes where answers from foreign residents themselves become direct input into national coexistence policy. If you receive an invitation and respond, issues such as treatment at work, language and information barriers, housing, healthcare and ties with the local community are reflected in the material policymakers review. If you skip it, those experiences never appear in the numbers. It is also worth reading. The summary of results shows where people in the same position are struggling, which helps you see that a problem is not yours alone. Because the question and answer-choice list is published in 10 languages, you can check exactly what is being asked in your own language even if your Japanese is shaky. For employers and support groups, it is official evidence to design support menus and internal rules. If you need more detailed data, you can apply for it through the Ministry of Justice's data window.