Japan's Nomad Visa: the insurance rule that trips people up

When people read the insurance line on Japan’s digital nomad status, they usually fixate on the headline number and assume any decent travel policy clears it. The number is the easy part. The condition that actually disqualifies policies is buried next to it, and there is no public-insurance fallback if you get it wrong.

Japan’s digital nomad route is a “Designated Activities” status of residence (Notification No. 53), open since March 31, 2024. Private medical insurance is an explicit statutory requirement on this status, not a recommended extra. Here is what the requirement actually asks for.

Two separate things your policy must cover

The medical-treatment floor is the figure everyone quotes: cover of at least JPY 10,000,000 (about EUR 53,999 at the ECB rate of 185.19 JPY/EUR on 2026-06-10) for treatment of injury or illness. Most international health and travel policies clear this comfortably.

The part that catches people is the second element. Your policy must also cover death, and that death cover must include repatriation of remains or a death benefit. No minimum amount is set for the death element, but it has to be there. A policy with a high medical cap and no repatriation-of-remains or death benefit does not satisfy the requirement, however large its medical limit.

That is exactly where several common nomad policies sit. A number of health insurance products we track clear the EUR 53,999 medical minimum easily, yet we still cannot confirm they qualify — in most cases because we have not been able to verify a death or repatriation-of-remains benefit, and in at least one case because the repatriation element exists only as an optional paid module the applicant would have to add. The medical limit alone is not the test.

The coverage period and the documents

The policy period must correspond to your entire planned stay in Japan. The stay is a single block of up to 6 months with no extension, so your cover has to run for the whole window, not a shorter trip insurance period.

Credit-card-attached insurance is accepted if your documentation proves the required coverage. For families, an accompanying spouse or child may rely on family coverage under your policy, but every applicant, including each family member, must separately evidence cover. The proof documents are the insurance enrollment certificate, the policy terms and conditions, and the ISA’s “Explanation of Coverage under Private Medical Insurance” form.

The types accepted are travel and international health insurance. Note the figures here are the medical and death elements of a private policy; there is no separate proof-of-funds requirement on this status (the income test is JPY 10,000,000 a year, assessed separately).

Why public insurance is not an option

It is worth being blunt about the fallback that does not exist. On this status you are not a mid- or long-term resident, you receive no residence card, and you cannot enroll in Japan’s public medical insurance. So the private policy is not a formality on top of public cover; it is your only cover for the stay.

The practical takeaway: before you apply, confirm your policy explicitly lists a death benefit or repatriation-of-remains element and runs for your full stay, not just that the medical limit clears JPY 10,000,000. The medical number is the easy box to tick; the death and repatriation element is the one that quietly fails applications.