👶 New Childcare Exemption for National Pension

❓ What's changing?

On October 1, 2026, a new childcare exemption started for Category 1 insured persons under Japan's National Pension (Kokumin Nenkin). Category 1 covers people aged 20 to 59 who are self-employed, freelancers, farmers, students, or not working. A parent — biological or adoptive — raising a child can file a notification and have National Pension premiums waived for the period up to the child's first birthday. Income level is irrelevant: there is no means test. Just as important, the exempted months are treated as if the premiums had been paid, so they count in full toward the old-age basic pension. The measure was created as support equivalent to a financial benefit during the childcare period. The background is a gap between systems: company employees and public servants enrolled in Employees' Pension Insurance already have their premiums waived during childcare leave, while Category 1 insured persons had no equivalent support. Since April 2019 Category 1 members have had an exemption for the maternity period (four months starting the month before the expected month of birth); the new system extends support until the child turns one. It also differs from the existing income-based application exemption: a full income-based exemption is reflected at only one half in the pension amount, and the student payment special case or payment postponement is not reflected in the amount at all, whereas the childcare exemption counts in full.

👥 Who is affected?

• ●Category 1 National Pension insured persons aged 20-59: self-employed people, freelancers, farmers, students, and those not working
• ●Biological or adoptive parents raising a child who has not yet turned one
• ●People with higher incomes who never qualified for the income-based exemption or payment postponement — the childcare exemption has no income test
• ●Foreign residents registered in Japan who pay National Pension premiums themselves because they are not enrolled in an employer's Employees' Pension Insurance
• ●People who are enrolled as Category 1 in their own right, even if their spouse is a company employee

🌏 Impact on foreign residents

Anyone aged 20 to 59 with a resident registration in Japan is enrolled in the National Pension, regardless of nationality. International students, self-employed people, business owners, freelancers, and dependents working part-time who are not covered by an employer's Employees' Pension Insurance are Category 1 insured persons, so they qualify for this childcare exemption. There is no nationality requirement. Income often drops around childbirth and early childcare, and the monthly National Pension premium weighs heavily on the household budget. Filing the notification removes that burden until the child turns one — without reducing your future pension. The risk is doing nothing: unpaid months not only shrink your future old-age basic pension, they also affect whether you meet the contribution requirements for the disability basic pension and survivors' basic pension if something happens. If you cannot pay, do not simply leave it unpaid — file for the exemption first. If you plan to return home and claim the lump-sum withdrawal payment later, ask a Japan Pension Service office how exempted childcare months are treated in that calculation. Municipal counters have limited foreign-language support, so bring a translation app or ask for plain Japanese.