Hello everyone,
My visa (specialist in humanities, engineer, international services) is expiring in January. It was a 5 years visa.
I’m applying for PR and it’s been 5 months since the application. I’m going spousal route (4,5 years of marriage, 9 years employment in Japan) while on a work visa.
Should I apply for the same category of visa im actually in? I’m afraid to not have 5 years of spouse visa if I switch to that, but pretty sure to be given again 5 years of work visa.
Also my PR is being treated under that specialist in humanities visa and not a spousal one.
Would you wait until December to apply for the renewal in case they take more time to process the PR application?
3 comments
If you apply for PR and the processing wait goes over the end of your current visa you still have the visa in progress status. When you finally get called in to collect your PR you’ll have to pay for both the extension of the previous visa, to that day, and for the change to PR.
It’s a bit a rip-off but don’t do what one guy I saw did where he tried to haggle with the immigration officer claiming that it was their fault for taking so long to grant the PR that he had to pay for an unnecessary extension so shouldn’t have to pay.
While there might be many factors you want to consider to decide which type of visa you apply for (any risk you might want to / have to change job? then spouse visa might be better. No risk for job? you might want to avoid the rather bothersome process of changing visa category); essentially it boils down to two points, I think:
– you might not get the result of the PR application until January. It will have been 8 months, and in Tokyo nowadays it can be like 9 months (my recent case, with a pretty straightforward application, similar to yours – assuming you have no issues like taxes or fines; from spouse visa to PR) or more. So, better to renew the visa, or at least start its process. (When? If you change category, it might take longer, so not at the last moment. If you just renew, it will be faster, so the 2 months extension should cover it and you can wait more.)
– regarding the category to renew or switch to, difficult to give meaningful advice because it depends as said, but my thinking would be: not being 100% sure that the PR application will be approved, I would apply for the category I would like to have if the PR is refused. Yes, there is a risk that the spouse visa would be shorter (especially if no children) – even if 4-5 years of marriage starts to be reasonable to hope for a long one.
Renew the status of residence that you currently have.