Spousal Visa and Job Hunting Question

Hi everyone,
I've dug around a little bit and haven't seen a situation that fits mine, so here I go:
My wife and I have been married for a little over 2 years and we're currently living in the US. She has a green card and all of that fun stuff. We've decided over the past year or so that living in Japan would probably be better for us.
She currently has no job, and nothing lined up in Japan, so when we move I would be the primary income-generator of the household. I have previously studied in Japan for a year as an exchange student so I have higher than conversational yet below business level Japanese skills.
My main problem appears to be that my job search seems to be hindered by the fact that I don't currently have permission to work in Japan.
So I suppose my question is this: Since it seems the work permission issue is a roadblock to me, can I apply and get the spousal visa so I technically have that permission to work? Or is there a better way I could go about the whole work permission thing? Or am I just approaching the whole issue completely in the wrong manner?

You can get a work visa if you are qualified (and an employer agrees to sponsor you), or you can apply for a spouse visa (your wife's parents may have to serve as sponsor).

Work visas are specific to certain types of jobs.
Spouse visa allows you to work at any job the employer thinks you are suited for.

What type of work are you interested in, and what are your qualifications?

Right, but my understanding from reading around a bit is that not having a visa that allows you to work in Japan is a major hindrance to actually getting work in Japan. Some of the posts I've read from earlier this year (on this board) indicated that a spousal visa was one of the best options for those of us that are looking for jobs (and have that option, obviously).
I've worked in IT for the past 4 years since college doing things from help desk, to managing international IT development teams as well as a decent amount of project management and vendor/customer relations. I'd prefer to find something in IT Project Management, but as long as the pay is enough to support me and my wife I'm not too picky.

Anyone have any advice?

Yeah, a spouse visa is the best as you can work any field and not worry about limits of x hours per week etc. Go ahead and apply for it to see what happens.

What I'm about to tell you is NOT how Immigration wants things to be done and you should keep in mind that this is a single anecdotal episode about one particular individual and it may or may not work out the same for you or anyone else. Just keep that caveat in mind.

Last time I came back over here rather than bother with applying for a spouse visa from outside the country I just came on a tourist visa and applied for a change of status to a spouse visa after I was here. Immigration doesn't like it done that way, but there I was. When I went and applied for the change of status I asked the Immigration officer if I could go ahead and look for a job. The response was along the lines of, "You're not supposed to, but you have to eat." I had previously held a spouse visa, had been married for about 15 years, and we both knew that the paperwork was a formality and that there was no chance of a visa being denied under the circumstances and I would have it in a couple of weeks anyway. A large factor that separates a spouse visa from other categories is that ostensibly your purpose for being here (especially as a man...."bread winner") is to provide a livelihood for your Japanese citizen family members. Since the welfare of Japanese citizens are tied up in it, they don't get quite as uptight about it.

Also remember that your wife's green card will expire if she is absent from the U.S. for one year. Or at least that was the case the last time I checked, quite a few years ago. There is some sort of thing she can apply for which extends that for one year. As you no doubt know, applying for a green card can be its own brand of bureaucratic hell. So if you envision at some point returning to live in the U.S. with your wife you would be well advised to look into this aspect of the move very carefully and, if necessary and feasible, to have her pop back into the U.S. or a territory (Guam will do fine) prior to the green card expiring on her.

Meantime, bone up on Japanese like your life depended on it and DO NOT neglect expanding your reading skills. It is hard to feel like a grown-assed man with the dignity appertaining thereto when one is functionally illiterate.

The document he needs to keep his wife's green card from expiring is a Travel Document. IIRC they are good for 3 years. She needs to be in the USA at the time she applies. And we have caught grief at some of the less common ports of entry (particularly one nasty fellow in Minneapolis and a confused lady in Dallas). Before it expires if she wants to reapply she needs to return to the US. It is still a good idea to come back into the US every 6 months or so just to avoid the grief of dealing with the INS.

Since the board won't let me post URL's yet go to the USCIS website and look for form I131.

skankinmonkey said:

Right, but my understanding from reading around a bit is that not having a visa that allows you to work in Japan is a major hindrance to actually getting work in Japan.

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You can't get a work visa without a job, but it is not true that one can't get a job without a work visa already in hand. True, some employers want applicants to already have one (or at least to have a visa that permits work, like a spouse visa or working holiday visa), but that is not the norm.

Some of the posts I've read from earlier this year (on this board) indicated that a spousal visa was one of the best options for those of us that are looking for jobs (and have that option, obviously).

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While I agree that this is nice to have, don't treat it as a gold card. You will still have to prove to any employer that you have their requirements for the job itself.