Visa--Change of status of residence

MJM · 2 Apr 2007

Hello All,

New thread from a new member--would be very grateful for any insight anyone could provide.

Have recently found and been hired for a job as a translator. Was working as an English teacher until last month, and had to apply for a change in my status of residence (ﾂ催昶?板ｯﾅｽ窶佛?i窶｢ﾃ渉更窶ｹ窶凪?ｰﾃ? in order to move to a different field of employment. Applied two weeks ago for the permission to change status; was wondering if anyone has gone through a similar experience and, if so, how long it took for your application to be processed and approved. The Japanese immigration website says 1-3 months, the lady at the immigration office where I submitted my application said 3-4 weeks, and my former boss said 2 weeks or so...

Any of these close to the mark?

Thank you for your time in answering my question.

窶ｹX窶堋ｵ窶堋ｭ窶堋ｨﾅ?ﾃｨ窶堋｢窶堋ｵ窶堙懌?堋ｷ

epigene · 2 Apr 2007

Hi MJM,

From what I heard from friends and acquaintances, the website gives you the longest (to be on the safe side, considering people with history of immigration problems), the woman at the office is giving you the average, and your boss is being optimistic (this is my personal guess... )

Good luck!

MJM · 2 Apr 2007

Thanks very much, Epigene. I`m being optimistic, too!

MJM · 2 Apr 2007

And if anyone else has any comments or insight, please feel free to share them...

Thanks...

salarymanjapan · 2 Apr 2007

MJM said:
Hello All,
New thread from a new member--would be very grateful for any insight anyone could provide.
Have recently found and been hired for a job as a translator. Was working as an English teacher until last month, and had to apply for a change in my status of residence (ﾂ催昶?板ｯﾅｽ窶佛?i窶｢ﾃ渉更窶ｹ窶凪?ｰﾃ? in order to move to a different field of employment. Applied two weeks ago for the permission to change status; was wondering if anyone has gone through a similar experience and, if so, how long it took for your application to be processed and approved. The Japanese immigration website says 1-3 months, the lady at the immigration office where I submitted my application said 3-4 weeks, and my former boss said 2 weeks or so...
Any of these close to the mark?
Thank you for your time in answering my question.
窶ｹX窶堋ｵ窶堋ｭ窶堋ｨﾅ?ﾃｨ窶堋｢窶堋ｵ窶堙懌?堋ｷ

Hm, my experience with the immigration bureau is that it's not possible to predict how long it will take for any change in visa status. The answer I was given was: "we will call you!". They certainly did, but it took 3 months. I think they are a bit more strict with foreigners these days than they used to be.

MJM · 3 Apr 2007

Thanks, salarymanjapan... If you don`t mind my asking, which status did you change from/to? I`ve heard that changing from, say, a working visa to a spousal visa or a permanent resident visa takes months, even years...
I`m asking to change only from an education visa (was working as an English teacher) to what seems to be called a `humanities visa` (as I`ve found a new job as a translator). When I applied for my present `instructor` visa from outside of Japan, the entire process took less than one month, including mailing time in both directions. Since I`m changing only from one subcategory of working visa to another subcategory of working visa, I`d imagine that it shouldn`t, theoretically, take any longer than it did to obtain the original instructor visa in the first place...
Or am I missing something?

Ewok85 · 3 Apr 2007

3-4 weeks is the norm for small changes such as change of status or plain visa renewals.

MJM · 3 Apr 2007

Thanks, Ewok85. Hoping that the immigration authorities aren`t too bogged down now by all the other applications they must surely receive at this time of year.

Also, checked out both links--good websites...

Mike Cash · 3 Apr 2007

I applied for a change to PR in October 2005 and was told it would take 6-12 months.

I just received my notification a couple of weeks ago.

MJM · 4 Apr 2007

For now I`m hoping only for a simple change from `instructor` to `humanities specialist`, which, hopefully, will take much, much less than six to twelve months to come through...

Permanent Resident status would certainly make switching jobs a whole lot easier, though. Congratulations on getting it. Just getting to the point of being able to apply for it is an achievement in itself!

MJM · 11 Apr 2007

Hi all--visa finally came through. Thanks for all of your advice. Seems it took about two-and-a-half weeks to process, plus an extra two or three days for the postcard from Immigration to arrive...

KirinMan · 11 Apr 2007

Mike Cash said:
I applied for a change to PR in October 2005 and was told it would take 6-12 months.

I just received my notification a couple of weeks ago.

Wow, I got my PR status change in roughly 8 weeks or so, immigration actually "told" me to apply for PR status.

Mike Cash · 11 Apr 2007

Obeika said:
Wow, I got my PR status change in roughly 8 weeks or so, immigration actually "told" me to apply for PR status.

If I had applied for it way the heck back when I first was eligible for it and not after they loosened the standards and started a flood of applicants, I likely would have gotten it in a matter of weeks also.

Just by coincidence, the lady from the Philippines who was handing in her paper with the revenue stamp on it at the same time I was was also there to receive PR status. I didn't ask her how long she waited, but I'm guessing it was considerably longer than I did. The number on my application was about 1500 or so and hers was something like 590. I'm guessing she waited well over two years.

Visa--Change of status of residence

MJM

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epigene

相変わらず不束者です

MJM

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MJM

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salarymanjapan

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MJM

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Ewok85

先輩

MJM

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Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

MJM

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MJM

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KirinMan

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Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

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