Went to Osaka immigration today to apply for a possible change of status / COE because my wife and I have been traveling the world since March 2023. After speaking with a Japanese immigration lawyer, since I was not in my home country she said the easiest pathway would be to enter Japan on a tourist visa and apply for a change of status / COE since we are married (wife is Japanese). We submitted the paperwork for the COE alongside all of the necessary paperwork for the change of status, including photos of our relationship, financial information and letters explaining why we didn't do the COE while abroad.
My question is that my temporary visitor visa expires September 9th, the office told us about 2 months for the COE. Has anyone here had this experience where once receiving the COE they went to the immigration office and were able to convert it to a spouse visa without having to leave the country?
by Zack_Tuna22