Hello! I came to Japan last year as a student and I found and job in February this year that was able to sponsor my working visa. I applied on February 24th and I am still waiting for it (august 7th). My visa expired on July 16th and every time I call or go to the counter, they tell me that they are still processing it. My job started on April 1st and since then I’ve been working only part time because of my previous student visa. I am worried about this because I don’t know why is taking that long. Is there someone else having the same issue?
3 comments
Do they know you’re working the job (even if only part time) on your student visa?
I.e did you apply for permission to engage in activities outside the scope of your status of residency?
The previous 28 hour per week permission you may have had on your student visa technically ends when you stop being a student. See Q44 here: https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/applications/guide/kanri_qa.html
>Ｑ４４「留学」の在留資格で在留していますが、既に卒業しました。帰国することを考えていますが、まだ在留期限があるため、アルバイトをすることは可能ですか。留学生に対する包括的な資格外活動許可は、教育機関に在籍している間に限り有効ですので、卒業後いずれの教育機関にも在籍していない場合には、アルバイトをすることは認められません。
So as you’re no longer enrolled in an education institution, you’re no longer meeting the requirements of your student visa. So you should have obtained new permission to work whilst on your student visa.
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I had the same issue about 8 years ago when I changed from a Working Holiday, to being offered a full time job and changing to a Working SoR.
So long as you have the black stamp on the back of your residence card, your status is still valid. So you’re free to carry on your part time work, and your bank will accept this stamp as proof of overstay too.
In my case, I was fortunate that the Working Holiday status allowed me full time work during the wait. But I have to sympathise because it was an incredibly stressful time. Phoning the immigration bureau every other week to ask for an update, having my company’s HR do it too, and always receiving the same “It’s in progress, wait for the postcard” response. The only thing you can do is wait.
In my case, things worked out. After applying in February, I finally received the postcard in January the following year.
To this day, I still don’t know how it took so long. Was my application lost in a stack of papers? Was it held until it could fall under some sort of quota? Genuinely no idea.
All I can say is;
You’re not alone – this situation does happen.
No news is not always bad news.
It’s unfortunately totally out of your control, so try to take your mind off it as much as you can.
My only regret is not spending more time out and about before starting full time work. Make sure you’re out having fun!
You still haven’t received the visa?!!!
I never heard of anyone waiting that long. Then again, it’s immigration, who knows what hell goes on there.
When I changed from student to work it took a month. This was in Tokyo/shinagawa like 7 years ago.