I am currently living in Japan with an Engineer visa that expires in one year. My situation is a bit unique, and I could really use some guidance from anyone who has been in a similar position.
My wife (who is Japanese) and I are expecting a baby soon, and I will be leaving Japan in a couple of weeks to spend at least 6-9 months in my home country for the birth of our child. I’ve heard that it might be possible to ‘pause’ my visa if I pay a fee, and then resume it once I’m back in Japan. Is this true?
I’m really hoping to continue my visa year once I’m back, without losing the time I’ll be away. If anyone has experience with this or can point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance for any help!
8 comments
If you have a Japanese spouse, you won’t really have an issue I think. You can renter Japan on spouse of a Japanese national visa, get a job and swap visas to engineering if you want. Or stay on your spouse visa.
Married to a Japanese you don’t really have a visa issue.
You do need to apply for the spouse visa.
Get a spouse visa!
Reddit is not the place for asking such a specific question. Ask an immigration lawyer. That being said, I never heard about paying a fee and pause your visa. Since your wife is Japanese and you are going to have a baby, I would apply for spouse visa or PR right away and forget about visa renewals. Good luck.
Your SOR cannot be paused, but will remain valid even if you leave the country (assuming you obtain a re-entry permit / special re-entry permit).
However as u/tokyoevenings points out the easy (and simpler) answer is to transition to a spouse of Japanese national status.
I have never heard about pausing a visa.
You may want to head to your town/city all and book a spot at the free monthly legal consults they likely have. You can also just check directly with immigration.
I’m no sure why you are so attached to your engineer visa, but given your situation, spouse visa would seem like a no-brainer.
There isn’t any way to pause or get any kind of extension on your visa. The expiring day is the expiring day.
That said though, your consecutive residence requirement, shouldn’t lapse so long as you get back in time to renew.
switch to spouse visa asap. nuf’ said.
Something doesn’t sound right. You must be leaving out some info because there is no good reason why you would not want a SV