Procedures at immigration when changing jobs in Japan

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Procedures at immigration when changing jobs

If you are changing your jobs, you need to take some procedures at an immigration bureau.

Step 1: Notification (Art.19-16)

When you left the company, you need to notify it to the immigration office within 14 days.

Notification of affiliated (activity) organization (Professor, Highly Skilled Professional (i) (c) (*Note 1), Highly Skilled Professional (ii) (c) (*Note 2), Business Manager, Legal/Accounting Services, Medical Services, Instructor, Intra-company Transferee, Technical Intern Training, Student, Trainee)

Notification of affiliated (contracting) organization (Highly Skilled Professional (i) (a) or (b) (*Note 3), Highly Skilled Professional (ii) (a) or (b) (*Note 4), Researcher, Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services, Nursing Care, Entertainer, Specified Skilled Worker, Skilled Labor)

Please note that there are two notification forms so you need to choose a proper one depending on your current status.

You are also required to notify the start of new job. You can notify the both at the same time if you start a new job immediately after you left the previous company.

Step 1		Step 1		Step 1
Notification of end of prev job (Art.19-16)		Notification of end of prev job (Art.19-16)		Notification of end of prev job (Art.19-16)
↓		↓		↓
Step 2-A		Step 2-B		Step 2-C
Application of Status Change (Art.20)		Application of Certificate of Authorized Employment (Art.19-2)		Application of Period Extension (Art.21)
↓		↓		↓
Step 3		Step 3		Step 3
Notification of start of new job (Art.19-16)		Notification of start of new job (Art.19-16)		Notification of start of new job (Art.19-16)

Step 2-A: Application to change status for a new job (Art.20)

For instance, if you had worked as a language teacher for a private language school with "Eng/Hum/Int'l" and you will start your new career at an international school, you need to change your status to "Instructor".

Or, if you had worked as an engineer at a company with "Eng/Hum/Int'l" and then you found a teaching position at a university, you need to change your status to "Professor".

Like these cases, if types of your new job or place to work are different from the old ones, you need to apply for status change.

Application for change of status of residence

Step 2-B: Remains in the same status

If you had worked as an IT engineer for ABC company under "Eng/Hum/Int'l" and you will start a new job for XYZ company as an IT engineer in the same field, the status of residence remains the same.

Or, if you had worked as a translator for a previous company and you will do the same job, ie translator, at a new company, the status of residence remains the same.

In these cases, a foreigner does not need to change his/her status of residence.

Probably your academic or working background has been checked when you obtained a current status of residence so you still meet requirements of the status of residence. However, the immigration has not approved a new employer if it is a suitable company to hire a foreigner, and so forth. So, working at a new company might have some issues which do not meet requirements of he immigration law. For instance, if the company has enough translators already, a new translator might not be approved by the immigration.

To work at a new company sometimes might be risk. To ease risks without approval of immigration, you may apply for Certificate of Authorized Employment to ask if you will be able to work with a new company legally. (Art.19-2)

Application for issuance of a Certificate of Authorized Employment

This application is not obligation. However, to avoid unexpected illegal work, we recommend to take this process when you are changing your jobs in the same job field.

Step 2-C: Application to extend period on the same status (Art.21)

If your new job is the same as previous one and the period of stay expires within a few months, you can place an application to extend the period without Application for issuance of a Certificate of Authorized Employment above.

In this case, the immigration need to check a new job and a new employer, so in addition to the documents of regular extension without job change, you need to file some additional documents about new job and a new employer.

Step 2-S: Status without work restriction

If your status of residence is one of the following status, you do not need any action to the immigration since there is no job restrictions.

Spouse or Child of Japanese national Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident Long Term Resident Permanent Resident Special Permanent Resident

(Status listed in Table II and Special Permanent Resident)

Step 3: Notification (Art.19-16)

When you start a new job, you need to notify it to the immigration office within 14 days.

Again, you can notify the both end of job and start of job at the same time if you join a new company immediately after you left the previous company.

Where to notify and apply

Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau
(Tokyo Nyukan or Nyukoku-Kanri-Kyoku)
5-5-30 Konan, Minato-Ku, Tokyo

If you live in Tokyo, you can notify the termination of the previous contract and apply for your status change at Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau.

Immigration Assistance

As a registered immigration/visa specialist or "Gyoseishoshi", we can offer various services related to immigration procedures.

Services we can offer are

Consultation - to find out Status of Residence/Procedures that may best suit you and/or your family member, etc.
Documentation - to prepare and/or advice the documents you need to submit to the Immigration Bureau
Representation/Agency - to submit the documents and communicate with the Immigration Bureau on your behalf

and so forth.

Please let us know your situation. Inquiry Form

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Changing Jobs

Do you have any problem with your visa or immigration procedures? "Gyoseishoshi" or Administrative Scrivener is a registered specialist in documentation and we specialize in the field of immigration process.

We have been officially notified to Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau to act as an agent (GYO-07 No.337) and are ready to assist you. If you are seeking for any professional assistance, please contact us Inquiry.

8-7 Ishijima, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan