Can you still renew a work visa if you’re sick and can’t work full time?

Hello reddit. It’s actually my first post here and I’d have loved for it to be on a happier subject but here we are anyway. The title pretty much says it all but here are some details: I’ve been living in Japan for seven years now. First with a working holiday visa of one year, then with a 3 years work visa (specialist in humanities) renewed once for another 3 years. I will need to renew my current visa in April this year so I’m thinking of starting the procedure soon.

I got my most recent visa in 2019 but lost my job due to covid in 2020. I spent a few months at hello work and when I couldn’t find a full time job I called the immigration office to know what my options were. At the time, they told me they would accept if I only found a part time job giving the circumstances of the pandemic. Since then I kept the part time job of only a few hours a week (less than 10 hours but still paid a pretty good amount) as an English teacher that I found during the pandemic.

Another reason I couldn’t find a full time job that would fit my original visa criteria is my health condition. For a few years now I’ve had severe migraines that make me throw up for one to two days at a time, resulting in me taking way too many sick days. I’ve also started to develop signs of a IBD or IBS (my mom is diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and it could be genetic) which makes it hard for me to go in to work early in the morning when I have to frequently go to the bathroom and never know if I’ll be able to stay on a train for long, so part time is really all I can manage at the moment.

I’ve been going to several hospitals/clinics both for the migraines and the IBS/IBD thing, but after several MRI and colonoscopy I was recommended to go to a more specialized hospital to get even more tests done somewhere during the next months. I was also diagnosed with endometriosis a few months ago (which could also be a reason for the chronic migraines and gut problems) and have just started a treatment for it last month.

I live with my boyfriend of 8 years (Japanese) and though we both share the rent and groceries fees, he’s definitely been a huge help financially (and emotionally of course). Thanks to this, I can still live somewhat comfortably with what I make from this current part time teaching position. (I’m mentioning this because I know that not being able to afford rent in Japan could be a problem for the immigration).

My workplace is run by a very understanding boss and teachers who offered to write me a letter for the immigration, describing my condition and saying how they want me to keep working for them and how the students are used to me being their teachers, etc.

Even with the help of my employer and partner cheering for me, I’m afraid my visa won’t be renewed by the immigration given the current circumstances. I know this is kind of a specific case, but maybe some of you have had a similar experience or heard of other solutions to present my case to the immigration. I’m also thinking of asking advice directly from the immigration office, but I’m scared they could revoke my visa right away if they knew of my condition so I thought about coming here first in case anybody would have ideas and solutions to my problem.

PS: Since I mentioned living with my boyfriend of 8 years, I know the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is for us to get married, and yes it would definitely be an ‘easy’ solution, but for reasons I’m not going to get into here we’re not planning to get married just yet so please be respectful and understand that I’m looking for a solution about extending my current visa, not changing its status. Thank you.

Thank you for reading this really long post and have a nice day!