Changing the Status of your Visa

If you're leaving JET at the end of your third year, you may find that your visa expires on your last day of work, meaning that you have to get it changed to a temprary visitor visa in order to stay the extra few days you need to pack up and leave etc. If you try and leave Japan on an expired visa, even by a day, it will cause you big problems at immigration as you leave and a possible fine and ban from returning to Japan.

Nearby Immigration Offices

• Nagoya Immigration Bureau
• Yokkaichi Immigration Bureau

Procedure

To change from an instructor visa to a temporary visitor visa, you need to fill in an Application for Change of Status of Residence form. When you go to the immigration center they will also give you a paper to write a simple outline of your reasons for wanting to stay longer in Japan (visiting friends, tourism etc). I had a stamped letter from my school confirming what I was planning to do between leaving school and leaving Japan, but the one you write at immigration should be fine by itself. If your papers are all in order then this is a simple process. They can give you a temporary visitor visa for 15, 30, or 90 days depending on your needs.

The fee for this procedure is 4,000 yen, paid by revenue stamp. You can buy the stamp at the Lawson store inside the immigration center in Nagoya.

You go to the upstairs section of the immigration center (go via the imformation desks if you'd like someone to check you've filled out all your forms correctly first), buy your revenue stamp from the Lawsons, then go to the waiting area and take a number from the machine by the counters at the front, on the far right. Sit down and wait for your number to be called. When it's your turn, give them your application to check and show them your supporting documents (the counter people usually speak English if there are any problems, or if you'd like to mention that your visa expires today so they know you can't come back). They'll take your form, passport and gaijin card, and ask you to sit and wait while your request is processed. Some time later they'll call you back and they'll be a nice new stamp in your passport. If the center isn't too busy then this can be done reasonably quickly, I was out of there in an hour. Obviously this depends on the number of people on the day.

The visa change can be done in one day. Once you change your visa status to a temporary visitor you will no longer be able to work, so it's not something you can do early. I was given special leave by my school to go to Immigration on the last day of my contract, I explained to the people attending me in the center my visa was expiring on that day and was processed no problem. Do not let your visa expire and go the day after your contract ends, get leave from your contracting organisation if you have no vacation time left.

Supporting Documents

You will need to bring:

• A completed application form
• Your gaijin card
• Your passport
• ¥4000 (see charges below)
• A copy of your flight reservation out of Japan (if you have one) to show that you will in fact leave, and when.

Charges

The fee can only be paid with postal cash stamps which you can get at any post office. There is a window inside the Nagoya bureau for getting these stamps, however this is not the case at the Yokkaichi bureau so make sure to pick them up in advance if going there. Actual cash won't be accepted.

Links

• Immigration Bureau of Japan - Official site