This article is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails. Read the Japanese original（日本語版を読む）
Marrying a Japanese national does not change your status of residence automatically. You need to make a 在留資格変更許可申請 (Application for Change of Status of Residence) to the 地方出入国在留管理局 (Regional Immigration Services Bureau). Screening looks at whether the marriage is real and whether your livelihood is stable. Until permission comes through, it is safer to stay in your current job.
An enquiry from someone living in Japan on a work visa who has married a Japanese national, about whether to switch to a spouse visa.
A work visa is a status of residence for a particular job; a spouse visa is a status of residence for living in Japan as a married couple.
The big difference is that a spouse visa gives you more freedom in daily life than a work visa.
Once the marriage is established, you make a 在留資格変更許可申請 to the 地方出入国在留管理局. It does not switch automatically.
These are only part of the list, and extra documents may be requested depending on how screening goes.
Set out concretely, in the questionnaire and with objective material, how you met and came to marry.
A common place to stumble is to think that permission follows as a matter of course because you are married, and so to treat how you met and how your relationship developed too lightly. Sham marriages are watched for closely, so you need to show with objective material that the marriage is real and will continue in a stable way.
Also, if you continue to live apart after registering the marriage, this may be seen as not carrying out the activities of 日本人の配偶者等, and it becomes easier to be suspected of a sham marriage for the purpose of work. Even if you live apart because of work, you need to show that living apart is not by your own choice. Please prepare, as a matter of routine, things like a copy of the company's posting order, and records of travel or photographs showing that you live together at weekends.
Mainly the Japanese spouse's income, together with how the couple have paid their taxes and social insurance premiums.
Where the foreign spouse plans to leave their job, many people feel anxious about losing that income. In screening, what is looked at is whether the couple have the financial means to live stably in Japan. Basically it is the Japanese spouse's income that is examined, but the foreign spouse's past income and tax payment record are checked as well.
Until permission comes through, it is safer to stay in your current job.
While the application is pending, you are still within the activity period of your work visa. Until permission comes through, it is safer to stay in your current job. Even if you leave the company, your current status of residence remains valid until the next status of residence is granted, but you are in a state of having stopped the work that is its proper activity.
Once permission for the spouse visa has come through, you can change jobs or leave a job with peace of mind.
It is sometimes explained that "there is a status of residence anyone can switch to temporarily until the change is decided", but no such across-the-board fallback system can be confirmed. What can be done is a judgement made according to your individual circumstances, such as the state of your marriage, your application and your employment.
So please avoid deciding to leave your job on the basis that "I can switch later". If your work visa looks likely to expire while the application is pending, or if you have no choice but to leave your job, please speak to a specialist such as a certified administrative procedures legal specialist (gyoseishoshi) at an early stage, before acting on your own judgement.
No. It does not switch automatically. You need to make a 在留資格変更許可申請 to the 地方出入国在留管理局.
Restrictions on work almost disappear, and you can take a job of any kind. Even if there are periods when you are not working, you can keep the status of residence as long as your Japanese spouse supports you.
Until permission comes through, it is safer to stay in your current job. Once permission has come through, you can change jobs or leave a job with peace of mind. Note that there is no across-the-board fallback status of residence that anyone can switch to just for the period of screening; what can be done if your visa is about to expire is a judgement made according to your individual circumstances.
It becomes easier to be suspected of a sham marriage for the purpose of work. Please prepare, as a matter of routine, material showing that living apart is not by your own choice, such as a copy of the company's posting order, and records of travel or photographs showing that you live together at weekends.
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This page is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails.