I went to the immigration office in Osaka today and was told it is "not possible" under "any circumstance" to change status, even though we are already married and our marriage is registered in Japan and my wife is a Japanese national. I was told I must wait now for 2 months for the COE approval, then we can come back and try to change the status in the office.
I'm feeling pretty anxious about all of this, my wife and I have been traveling the world for the last year when we got married we met with a Japanese immigration lawyer who instructed us to enter this way since I wouldn't have easy access to the COE and our timelines were tight.
I don't have a home in the USA anymore, I just have some things at family members' houses. I have nowhere to go back to if they make me leave to return on the COE, does anyone have experience with this?
Am I overreacting? In 2 months they should just let us change status once the COE is granted right? We came here thinking it wouldn't be complicated since we are already married, we've been hoping to get an apartment, etc but now I'm weary of doing any of that. I have until September 9th on my tourist visa before I'd need to leave, I'm not sure if we should move forward anyway and hope for the best or just wait.
by Zack_Tuna22