Visa Transfer from Temporary Visitor Visa to Dependant Visa in Japan – Seeking Experiences and Information

Hello everyone!

I’m currently holding an engineer Visa in Japan, valid for five years. I recently got married and I would like to bring my wife to live with me in Japan as soon as possible. My plan is for my wife to enter Japan using a temporary visitor visa, which grants a 90-day stay, and then switch to a dependant visa while already in Japan. This is because the process of obtaining a Certificate of Eligibility (CoE) can be quite time-consuming.

I was wondering if anyone here has had a similar experience or has any information they could share regarding this visa transfer process. Any insights, tips, or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

2 comments
  1. >This is because the process of obtaining a Certificate of Eligibility (CoE) can be quite time-consuming.

    It isn’t, really. For comparison, in countries like the US, the wait for a similar visa is over one year.

    The kind of change you’re asking about got shot down by a directive to the various immigration offices back in summer of 2018. There are some exceptions made for changing to spouse of Japanese national or spouse of permanent resident, but extremely unlikely that they would do it for a dependent visa.

    Just do it the normal way. It’s usually only a couple of months.

  2. My coe took 25days and my spouse visa took 6 days after that to get processed.

    For yours and your wife’s sake don’t try to take shortcuts with immigration and try to bypass waiting periods. It will only come back to bite you in the ass and cause a headache (speaking from personal experience), just do it the correct way.

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