The revised immigration law will take effect next July 9 and the government will start accepting applications for new residence registration cards on Jan. 13, the Cabinet decided Tuesday, paving the way for increased government scrutiny through a centralized immigration control of foreign nationals.

Under the new immigration law due to take effect from July next year, medium to long-term residents of Japan will have to obtain a new Alien Registration Card issued by the central government as opposed to the ones issued by local municipalities currently. Some other expected changes are:

- New visa extension for 5 years instead of the current 3 years
- No Reentry permit required for re-entrants
- Permanent residents, will have to apply for a new residence card within three years from July 2012

Read more at http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111221a5.html