Well, this puts a wrinkle in my hoping to test this year… I live in Japan but don’t have a residence card, so I will have to look into whether I can take the test here or if they expect me to fly back to the US to take the test there…
are you a diplomat? :0
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After a fail for the N5 last july, and after progressing and done 70% on the N5 JLPT test on bunpro, I will challenge myself with the JLPT N4 in july, wish me good luck ! がんばって !
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Not anything so cool as that, haha.
150 days left 😶🌫️
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Interesting, I just took the JLPT here in Canada and I’d be curious to hear more about that. By “non-residents”, do you mean non-canadian non-residents, or just out-of-province people? And by “local students” do you mean students of that specific host institution only?
As you say, there are only a few cities here that host it so obviously a lot of people like myself have to fly to a host location… When you say spots are filling up, I assume that’s either Toronto or Vancouver?
I’m pretty sure it’s an anti cheating measure. It’s really hard to know if an ID is fake or not when it’s not from your country and you don’t know what the real thing is supposed to look like.
By insisting that everyone have a residence card, it will be much easier for them to screen out the professional test-takers that have been causing problems. Most of them don’t live in Japan, but come over from the mainland for the test.
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I can’t say anything about the other test locations, but Vancouver has had a priority registration for in-province applicants for a few years now: Take the JLPT at VJLS – VJLS-JH
So people from out of BC can still sign up, but the sign up period is about a week later.
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I’ve just learned about this change, and I’m super bummed out about it 
I went to take my N5 and N4 in Japan, and I was planning to continue doing so for next levels, each time in a different region, being a huge motivation to prepare in time for the exams with the thrill of being also the time to go there and explore new areas of Japan.
I wonder if this will be a definitive change. As the post is titled ‘Notice about the JLPT in 2026’, and also starts with ‘The 2026 JLPT is primarily intended for…’, makes me hope that this could be reverted for future years, but I guess that’s just wishful thinking…
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The information posted about the exams in Mexico for July did not include information about residency (at least so far). It’s in Spanish https://www.jlpt.mx/Inicio.sca?id=1
I’m a Mexican permanent resident, so I would be fine anyway. But I’m Canadian, so it’s good to know that Vancouver isn’t a good option as my address would be considered out of province (my family is in Ottawa).
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Does anyone in the UK know when and how registrations will be released? I’ve visited both London providers’ websites and am no wiser for it on how to book for July - though I may just be slightly blind. . .
Copied from Soas’ website :
We will announce the opening date for the July 2026 application form in early March. Please note that the application will not open in early March; only the opening date will be released at that time.
So I guess in a month’s time we’ll find out.
Similarly, on King’s website it says:
July exam
We will announce the application opening date in early March; however, the application form will not be available at that time.
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Thank you both - I must be blind!
My country says sign-ups are March 17th. I don’t live in the UK, but it’s probably around then.