Hi everyone! As the title states, I’m in Japan on a work visa (engineer), but I will be marrying someone in the Navy.
I looked it up online and apparently I’ll have to change my visa status from work visa to SOFA visa? Will that affect my job?
We’re going to talk to legal soon, but I was hoping that some of you would have gone through something similar and have advice or your personal stories to tell!! I’m getting a little anxious haha
6 comments
Why would you *have* to change your status away from a work status? What if your weren’t American?
you don’t have to, at least from my personal experience, I still have my japan work visa. Dm me if you want for more info. And congratz!!
It’s really up to you. If you change to SOFA, you won’t be “allowed” to get jobs off base. My friend has PR and never changed her status to SOFA and won’t be unless they get orders somewhere else.
The type of work you’re allowed to do on a SOFA visa is much less diverse. You’re restricted to things like on base jobs and teaching English for the most part, although there are certain exceptions. I would not recommend changing your visa status if you’ll be continuing to work for the same employer!
For a second I thought this post was about marrying fictional Fairies from Nintendo games.
You don’t have to unless you want his sofa status and to quit your job and be able to stay in Japan. I had a humanities visa and married someone in the army. I ended up quitting my job and changing my status to SOFA, even with 8 months left on my visa but I didn’t have to as long as my current visa was still valid.
Let me know if you have any other questions!