Moving with a daycare place: transfers, new cities, and the month you cannot split

A daycare place does not travel with the child. The city that will supervise the new daycare runs a new application, on its own deadline, and it ranks you against people who already live there. Two fiscal-2027 guides were read: Kawasaki (川崎市) and Koto ward (江東区). A move inside the city is a transfer (転園, ten'en). A move across a city line is a new application, usually plus a second filing after the resident record actually moves.

Moving into Kawasaki

If you will be living in Kawasaki on 1 April 2027, file at the ward office of the address you are moving to, on Kawasaki's forms, by Kawasaki's deadline. Papers that show the new address and the handover date put you level with a resident for the ranking. A sale contract, a lease, or a company letter for company housing will do. Moving into a relative's home also needs the city's move-in pledge (転入に関する誓約書). Send a copy of something with the child's name and date of birth, such as a My Number card. After you have moved, file the application again at the children's and families desk (児童家庭課).

If you will still live outside Kawasaki on the start date, or you will arrive on 2 April or later, you apply through the city where you live now. Kawasaki residents are placed first, whatever your score. You are only in the second adjustment, not the first. The same "residents first" line applies to any out-of-city file unless a move-in by the start date is certain.

Leaving Kawasaki for a daycare elsewhere: the destination sets the deadline and the papers. If the move-out date is fixed, apply directly to that city. If it is not, file at your Kawasaki ward office at least 10 days before the destination's deadline.

Moving into or out of Koto

Koto tells arrivals from another city, and arrivals from overseas, to apply to Koto directly by post or electronic filing. An agent may bring the papers. From May, use the monthly windows in the mid-year article. If you were not on any Japanese resident register on 1 January 2026, the tax papers in the documents article apply as well.

If you have no plan to move into Koto, the ward limits the application. No workplace in Koto, a job-seeking parent, or childcare leave with no return date means you cannot apply from outside. A parent who works in Koto can apply in some months, with a minus-4 adjustment. The full table is the ward's points article. Use Koto's forms. If you will not move, file where you live now, and the result comes back through that city. Ward-run extended care is not available on an out-of-ward place.

Leaving Koto with a date already fixed: apply to the new city yourself. If the date is not fixed, Koto will send the papers on, but you must file at least a week before the destination's deadline. The ward is not responsible if you cut that fine and miss it. Once the resident record moves, apply again at the new city. If you do not, the offer can be cancelled.

A transfer inside the city you already live in

Kawasaki: collect the papers at the daycare you attend and file them by the same deadline as a new application. If the daycare is outside the city, talk to the ward office first. Transfers sit behind children who have no place yet, except a move of at least 1 kilometre in a straight line, certain by the start date, or children split across daycares whose parents want them together. Other transfers still have to meet the return-to-work rule if a parent is on leave for a child who is not in daycare. If Kawasaki offers the transfer, you cannot decline it and stay. The old place has already been given to someone else.

Koto uses the same windows as for a new child, and it wants the full set of papers again even when nothing has changed. The application lasts one fiscal year. A withdrawal must arrive by the scoring date (Wednesday 2 December 2026 for the April first round; Friday 12 February 2027 for the second; then each monthly close). After that, Koto in principle will not let you withdraw. Once the transfer is offered, you cannot change your mind and stay. If you leave the current daycare while a transfer is pending, the transfer is withdrawn.

A Kawasaki start cannot fall mid-month when you are leaving a daycare in another city. The old place ends on the last day. Kawasaki begins on the 1st. You cannot be enrolled in both.

What it costs

There is no transfer fee in either guide. Kawasaki says a fee can be calculated by the day when you leave mid-month because of a move. One day enrolled is otherwise a full month, so do not assume a pro-rata until the office confirms it. The new city's fee table replaces the old one. A missing tax file can also put you on a higher band. That trap is in the documents article.

What goes wrong

• Assuming the place moves because the employer did. It does not.
• Applying to Kawasaki while you will still live outside the city on 1 April, then finding you sat behind every resident.
• Accepting a transfer and wanting the old daycare back. Both cities shut that door when the offer is made.
• Missing the second filing after the resident record moves. Koto says the offer can be cancelled.

An application, including a transfer, is not a promise of a place.

What to do now

1. Ask the destination for its deadline before you give notice on the lease. Kawasaki wants forwarded papers at least 10 days early. Koto wants a week.
2. If the move is dated, apply direct, with the contract that shows the address and the handover day.
3. After the resident record moves, file again at the new office.
4. Do not accept a transfer you are unsure of. You cannot unwind it.