Aug 13, 2021
Working Visa Question
If I have a work visa for 5 years and switch to a part-time position, can I keep my visa? I know renewal might be difficult, but I have a few years until then so I was curious.
Teacher, Traveler, Dancer -
Currently living in Gifu -
I love Japan, dance, cats, food, and fashion!
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on Aug 13
Gosh. I found it very difficult to find a clear answer to this online. In fact I didn't find even an unclear one. At the very least though the part-time position should be within the scope of activities permitted by your current status of residence. If you have any doubt about this at all, I would get in touch with immigration. Also, if it's the case that you would be switching employers in order to go part-time, you'd would need to inform immigration of leaving one employer and then inform them again when you get a new employer. As understand things, you have a kind of 3 month grace period in between jobs before immigration may start to ask questions, although this may have changed due to the pandemic. I'm not sure. Anyway, when it comes to informing immigration of your new (part-time) employer then I guess you would get a clear answer as to whether or not working part-time is OK. If it's a case of going part-time in the same job with the same employer, I really don't know. Get in touch with immigration would be my advise.
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on Aug 19
Immigration can make your visa invalid if you are not doing the activities designated by the visa for more than 3 months. So for one, it depends on whether the part-time position would be in the same visa category as your current job is. Also, work visas are not issued for "simple" jobs like e.g. working part-time at a convenience store. So that might be an issue, too. In general, you have to inform immigration when you quit a job/start a new job within 2 weeks, which can be done online through a simple form if you don't have to change visa categories. For changing visa categories you have to file a request with the corresponding paperwork for the new visa category. If you want to be sure you could ask the immigration office directly or consult a lawyer. As far as I know, even if the 3 months grace period is over it does not necessarily mean that immigration will come after you. But there is a possibility.
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on Aug 23
I hope you got this figured out by now. A lot of cities have free consultation (相談) including for foreigners in other languages. This would be with people who have immigration law experience. Usually it's on a Saturday at the city hall and would be advertised in any local free booklets that get delivered. (I know you speak decent Japanese, but you want the one for foreigners so they have knowledge about immigration / visa stuff.)
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on Sep 8
That sounds pretty dodgy and my instinct is that it would be a hard no, but in Japan, no one is actively bringing you to their attention either.... When you go speak to someone at the immigration office, you can ask them "IF I switch to part-time...." and make it sound like you have yet to make a decision, to be on the safe side lol.
4 Answers