I know all cases are different and I may be told to take this up with a lawyer, but on the off chance somebody here might have put themselves in a situation similar to the one I am in, I beg your advice.
I have been working a pretty demanding seishain job for the past year. In March, I got married and moved with my wife to her mother's home a couple hours from Tokyo (not of much importance, but the plan to get married was separate from the move– this was related to her mother's health). I also applied to renew my work visa/SOR (humanities).
The job hours and work environment were bad enough on their own, but the additional commute made the job impossible. I discussed this with my boss a couple weeks ago– more than two months after I'd applied for the renewal–and my consultation escalated into "why don't you pack up your things tomorrow?" I fell for this– I wanted out as soon as possible– under the condition that they would keep me as an employee two weeks after my last day, assuming this would be enough time to process my visa.
Phone calls and trips to immigration (no, I have not revealed that I quit yet) have yielded nothing. My renewal, which has taken almost three months now, is not finalized yet and I will soon no longer be an employee. I asked at Shinagawa if I could cancel the renewal and instead apply for a spouse/dependent visa and was told no, because my period of stay has already elapsed and cancelling the SOR renewal would invalidate the stamp extending it.
To be clear, the order of events here is:
Marriage > apply for renewal > move in with family > quit job (2+ months after application).
I know I did the wrong thing quitting during the visa renewal, but at the time I truly saw no other option. 5 hours round trip commute plus a demanding salaryman job plus my home life took absolutely everything out of me. I put my family here first and took my chances with immigration (I have never heard of a renewal taking this long but here we are).
How screwed am I? I understand I have to report within the next two weeks that I've left the job, effectively turning myself in. Is there any leeway here? Could I theoretically wait out the renewal assuming they don't call my workplace and then lie about the date that I left? Is it better to confess all to immigration on the chance I could be deported?
I am completely humiliated by the possible consequences here but at the same time can't help shaking a feeling that my actions were justified, or at the very least understandable and not of dubious intent.
Edit 6/5: I decided yesterday I’d make my way to a lawyer’s office after trying one more time with immigration— after finally reaching Shinagawa over the phone I was told my postcard had just been mailed. I will post another update later but it seems—fingers crossed—I’ll be OK this time.
I posted this with a bunch of stress and shame but I want to thank everyone who commented. I don’t expect anyone here can solve all my problems at once but it lifted me for a day having some perspective and insight into this stuff which I have had no luck discussing with anyone else.
by PutFalse9826