The Dependent (Fuyo) System
Dependent health insurance Japan runs on a simple promise with strict gates: a salaried worker's health coverage can include a spouse, children, and sometimes parents or siblings at no premium cost to the dependent.1 The gates are relationship, residency, and income, and the income gates shape how part-time spouses across Japan plan their hours.2
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare site and with your employer health insurer.
Overview
Japan assigns your insurance track by status, not by choice. Company employees enter through their employer, and almost everyone else enters through the municipality.2 A certified dependent rides on the employee track without paying social-insurance premiums of their own.1
Certification belongs to the employer health insurer, either a Kyokai Kenpo branch or a corporate Health Insurance Society.23 The ward office cannot grant it, and municipal insurance works on opposite logic where every member adds to the household bill.2
This guide maps the three gates (relationship, residency, income), the part-time income walls that follow from the income gate, the foreign-spouse case, and the certification flow from application to annual re-check.24
Who Qualifies as a Dependent
Only family inside a legally defined relationship range can be certified, and some relatives qualify only when they share the worker's home.23 A separate residency rule since 2020 requires an address in Japan in principle.2
Spouses and children
A spouse, including a common-law spouse, plus children and grandchildren pass the relationship test whether or not they live with the insured worker.23 Siblings, parents, and other lineal ascendants pass it the same way.2
Insurer rules accept a common-law partner as a dependent spouse, but tax law excludes 内縁 partners from the spousal deduction.25 A household can therefore hold fuyo health status while the earner gets no spousal deduction.
Parents, grandparents, and siblings
More distant relatives qualify only when they live with the insured person. That group covers other relatives within the third degree, plus the parents and children of the worker's spouse, including a deceased spouse's parents and children.23
Where someone else carries the priority support duty, the insurer checks that person first. Civil Code Article 877 obliges lineal ancestors, descendants, and siblings to support each other, so certification asks whether that other person truly cannot provide support or whether unavoidable reasons place the duty on the insured worker.2
Workers should also expect extra paperwork for dependents aged 16 to under 60 who are not students. Because they are of working age, the insurer asks for proof they cannot work and that the worker provides most of their living costs.3
The residency in Japan requirement
Since April 1, 2020, a dependent must in principle hold an address in Japan, judged by registration on the Basic Resident Register.2 Students studying abroad, family accompanying a worker posted overseas, and temporary travel for sightseeing or volunteering unrelated to work keep the requirement met as exceptions.2
The rule also draws a hard line at the border. Visitors on medical-stay or long-stay sightseeing visas cannot be certified even while physically in Japan.2
The Income Tests
The income gate has two parts and both must hold: the dependent's projected annual income must sit under a cap, and it must sit under a relative limit tied to the worker's own income.23 Projected income means the coming one-year estimate from past, current, and future earnings, and it sweeps in pensions and unemployment benefits, not just wages.2
The annual income cap
The standard cap is under 1.3 million yen per year, or under 1.8 million yen for members aged 60 or over or with a disability (as of 2026-09-07; confirm current figures with your employer health insurer).23 Members aged 19 to under 23 at year end, excluding the worker's spouse, instead face a cap of under 1.5 million yen for certifications dated October 1, 2025 or later, with no student-status requirement (as of 2026-09-07).31
Unemployment benefits usually block certification while they flow, since the recipient is not living mainly on the worker's income (as of 2026-09-07).23 The exception is a small basic daily allowance: under 3,612 yen per day, or under 5,000 yen if 60 or over or disabled, or under 4,167 yen for the 19 to 23 non-spouse group (as of 2026-09-07).23
The post-2022 part-time line works differently and matters for working spouses. At firms with over 50 insured employees, a short-hours worker whose scheduled monthly wages reach 88,000 yen or more (about 1.06 million yen annualized) joins employee insurance directly instead of staying a dependent (as of 2026-09-07).21 MHLW plans to abolish that wage line within three years from June 2025 and to phase out the firm-size line over ten years, reaching employers with 10 or fewer staff by October 2035, while students stay outside employee-insurance coverage (as of 2026-09-07).1
| Cap group | Annual income must be under | As of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard dependent | 1.3M yen | 2026-09-07 | Projected one-year income incl. pension and benefits23 |
| Age 60+, or disabled | 1.8M yen | 2026-09-07 | Same projection rule23 |
| Age 19 to under 23, excl. spouse | 1.5M yen | 2026-09-07 | Certifications dated 2025-10-01 or later; no student requirement31 |
| Short-hours own-coverage wage line | About 1.06M yen (88,000 yen/month) | 2026-09-07 | Firms with over 50 insured staff; worker joins directly21 |
The table above collects every cap in one place; each figure follows the projection rule and each needs a fresh check with the employer insurer before a hours decision, since administrative lines move on a government schedule.
Income less than half the insured person's
Same-household members must earn less than the cap and less than one-half of the insured worker's annual income (as of 2026-09-07).23 Separation for an unaccompanied job posting, or a child living apart for school, still counts as the same household.2
Separate-household members face the same cap, must receive a continual allowance from the worker, and must earn less than that allowance (as of 2026-09-07).23 Hand-delivered cash does not count. Remittance needs continuity at about monthly frequency with sender and recipient documented, and the amount must generally support one adult's living rather than read as pocket money.23
The diagram below compresses both tests into one decision flow. Caps differ by age band, so read the chart with the table above.
Part-Time Spouses and the Income Walls
The walls are the household-planning shadow of the income tests. Two different systems each draw a line, and clearing one line does not clear the other.15
| Wall | System | Line (salary-only spouse) | Crossing it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 103-man wall, now 123-man | Income tax, spousal deduction | Salary 123万円 or less from 2025 tax year (103万円 or less for 2024 and earlier) | Earner loses the spousal deduction above the line5 |
| 130-man wall | Social insurance, dependent status | Projected income 1.3M yen or more | Dependent status ends; worker joins insurance directly21 |
| 106-man line | Social insurance, own coverage at larger firms | Scheduled wages 88,000 yen/month or more | Part-timer joins employee insurance even below 1.3M yen21 |
Figures above are current as stated; confirm tax lines with the National Tax Agency and insurance lines with the employer insurer before adjusting hours.
The 1.03M-yen wall and the 1.3M-yen wall
The tax wall turns on the spousal deduction. It needs all of a legal spouse, a shared livelihood, spouse total income of 58万円 or less, and no wages as a blue- or white-form business dependent worker.5 For salary-only spouses that income line is salary of 123万円 or less for the 2025 tax year onward, and was 103万円 or less for 2024 and earlier after the Reiwa 7 tax reform raised the basic deduction (as of 2026-09-07; confirm current figures with the National Tax Agency).5
Where the deduction itself is gone, the special spousal deduction can still apply when the earner totals 10 million yen or less and the spouse totals over 58万円 up to 133万円 (as of 2026-09-07).5 The insurance wall is blunter: at 1.3 million yen of projected income the dependent test fails and employee or municipal coverage starts, with premiums attached (as of 2026-09-07).21
MHLW analysis argues the longer view favors working past the walls for many households. Its model of a part-time spouse returning after childbirth counts about 12 million yen more in household lifetime disposable income at 1.5 million yen yearly earnings versus staying inside the walls, and about 22 million yen more at 2 million yen yearly, through higher earnings plus higher future pension (as of 2026-09-07).1
The 1.06M-yen line at larger employers
The 1.06M line is not a dependent test at all. It is the employee-insurance coverage line for short-hours workers, and crossing it makes the worker an insured person instead of a dependent candidate.21
When labor-shortage overtime temporarily pushes a dependent over 1.3 million yen, an employer certificate of temporariness can preserve dependent status, in principle at most two consecutive times for the same person (as of 2026-09-07).31 Freelancers and self-employed earners sit outside this measure, so confirm eligibility before relying on it.
Where the labor contract itself projects under 1.3 million yen with no other expected income and the worker mainly lives on the insured person's income, certification follows the contract projection in principle (as of 2026-09-07).1 That contract-first handling is the one to confirm at hiring time, not after the first overtime-heavy payslip.
Foreign Spouses and Dependent Visa Holders
Immigration permission and insurer certification are two separate decisions that happen to use the same word for support. ISA Dependent status covers the spouse or child supported by a resident holding professor, artist, religious, journalist, highly skilled professional, business manager, legal or accounting, medical, research, education, engineer or humanities specialist, intra-company transferee, care worker, entertainer, specified skilled worker (category ii), cultural, or student status.4
A Dependent-status spouse holding a residence card meets the insurer residency and relationship inputs in principle, but still must pass the income tests and the society's certification to count as a 被扶養者 (hi-fuyōsha, "certified dependent").24 Nothing is automatic: the residence status opens the door, and the insurer tests decide.2
Part-time work by a Dependent-status spouse runs into the same walls as any dependent household. The income tests decide fuyo status, while how many hours a Dependent-status holder may work is a separate immigration question outside this article.24
How Certification Works
Every move between statuses runs through paperwork, and the insurer decides. The worker files through the company HR department to the Health Insurance Society, never at the ward office counter.23
Applying through your employer
Filing is due within five days of the change at the societies sourced: marriage, a birth, a new hire who already has dependents, or a newly qualifying dependent (as of 2026-09-07; confirm current procedures with your employer health insurer).23 Kyokai Kenpo branch windows are phrased separately, so treat the five-day figure as society practice rather than a universal deadline.
Dependent status starts only on certification, backdated to the triggering date. A newborn counts from the birth date, dependents present at hiring count from the worker's eligibility-acquisition date, and a new dependent counts from the date the reason arose.3
The flow below shows the full cycle from trigger to yearly re-check.
Losing dependent status
Any change ends the old status: employment, separation, death, or income over the cap needs prompt notification.23 The society also runs an annual dependent-eligibility re-verification, and missing documents at verification time can end eligibility on their own.23
A dependent certified under false pretenses loses status back to the start, and every medical cost and benefit paid during the period must be returned.3 Report income rises before the verification letter arrives.
When both spouses work, children certify under the higher earner, and all children go to one parent rather than splitting between two (as of 2026-09-07).23 Within a 10 percent income gap the notified primary provider carries them (as of 2026-09-07).2 Where one spouse holds municipal insurance instead, the comparison sets the society worker's income against the municipal spouse's projected income from recent earnings.2
If one insurer refuses certification, its non-certification notice attaches to the other insurer application.2 That notice-first sequence matters because it decides which track the member lands on without a coverage gap.
Good to know
Crossing the 1.3M line mid-year triggers removal, not a gradual phase-out
Exceeding the cap ends dependent eligibility outright; there is no taper band where status shrinks gracefully (as of 2026-09-07; confirm current figures with your employer health insurer).31 The only cushion is the temporary-exceedance employer certificate, capped in principle at two consecutive times for the same person, and freelancers sit outside it.31
The 103-man wall is tax while the 130-man wall is insurance; clearing one does not clear the other
A spouse can owe no income tax yet still lose dependent status, or keep dependent status while the earner loses the spousal deduction (as of 2026-09-07).15 Older guides still print 103万円 as the salary line, but the salary-only tax line is 123万円 for the 2025 tax year onward, so treat undated wall explainers as stale.5
Certification belongs to the insurer, not the ward office
Ward-office counters handle municipal insurance and cannot grant fuyo status.23 File through HR to the insurer, and remember coverage starts at certification even though it backdates to the triggering event.3
A refused certification needs the insurer notice before any municipal fallback
When both spouses work and one insurer refuses, attach its non-certification notice to the other insurer application rather than enrolling the member municipally by default.2 Filing the notice first keeps the member on the employee track the household already pays into.
See also
- How Japan's Universal-Coverage System Works
- Who Enrolls in National Health Insurance
- Birth Registration and the 14-Day Rule