Visa: changes / extensions

[andrew]

Staying in Japan
after your current visa's "Period of Stay"
.

If you plan to stay in Japan to make final preparations or travel after your contract ends, you are required to submit an application to change your status to "Temporary Visitor" before your current Period of Stay expires. The temporary visitor is valid for either 90 days or 15 days.
.

Necessary Documentation to obtain a Temporary Visitor Status of Residence:

Application for permission to Change the Status of Residence (Application forms can be found at Regional Immigration Bureaus)

Passport

Alien Registration Card

Explanation for changing the Status of Residence: Explanation of reasons for staying in Japan, including an itinerary (form at immigration bureau)

Documentation that shows the last day of the JET's contract and the scheduled date of departure: It is recommended that Contracting Organisations produce such a document.

Others: A copy of the airline ticket for passage out of Japan; or alternatively, a copy of confirmed reservation on a flight out of Japan. The JET must also be able to show that they have sufficient funds for travel and living in Japan until their day of departure.
.

The above explanation and other visa change/extension information can be found on CLAIR's website

If the link doesn't work, go to http://www.jetprogramme.org/e/index.html click on 'E-CLAIR News' and go to point 6 on page 4 of the April 2004 edition.

Komatsu City's website also has a thorough explanation of procedures for residence
.

Immigration Bureau in Ishikawa
(Nagoya Regional Immigration Bureau)
Kanazawa Branch Office Address: 3-4-1 Sainen
Kanazawa Branch Office Tel: 076-222-2450
Office Hours :
09:00 ~ 10:00 Monday, Wednesday and Friday
09:00 ~ 12:00 13:00 ~ 16:00 Tuesday and Thursday
(but I've heard they are a little more flexible than this)

[size=14]Directions >>MAP
Go direct from Kanazawa Station towards the sea and it's a tall grey building on your right before Route 8.

The building is called 駅西合同庁舎　(ekinishi goudou chousha) and immigration is 入国管理局 (nyukoku kanrikyoku)


Your contract should allow you to get special time off (not nenkyu) to visit the immigration office in Kanazawa twice per contract year.

If you have employment arranged after your JET visa finishes, it will be a different procedure (try page 2 or 3 of CLAIR document cited above). If you can't find the appropriate info, contact your PA

[andrew]

Read this

To be sure, check the 'period of stay' on your visa stamp or your alien registration card. Double check with Immigration if you are even remotely unsure.

For information about JET visas (changes, extensions) see above.

[andrew]

This message came from a PA in Ibaraki after a lengthy discussion on visas after finishing JET. It is comprehensive and apparently authorative. In any case it should answer many questions about time remaining on your visa. Enjoy!8)

We field many visa questions at the foreigner consultation center at the international association where I am employed (Ibaraki). In responding to the visa questions of callers, we emphasize a number of things:

*Your visa is your property, not that of your employer. Your employer may not determine how you use your visa or demand that you cancel it when you terminate your employment relationship.

*As Ian stated, a visa is something that gives the bearer permission to reside in a foreign country for a particular purpose. As long as you are not engaging in activities outside of the confines of the visa, you're fine. The category of permitted activities usually pertains to how you may generate income. For example, one is not allowed to work on a tourist visa. Also, some JETs have worked on the side conducting wedding ceremonies. This is not allowed, but nor is it easily enforced.

*Your visa stipulates a certain set of restrictions; your employment contract may stipulate others. JETs are allowed to teach English according to their visa, but their contract forbids them from teaching privately. It's important to know which restrictions apply to your visa, and which apply to your employment contract. Your employer has something to say only about the latter.

*As long as you don't violate the terms of your visa, you are welcome to continue to live in Japan after terminating your employment relationship with the organization that sponsored your visa. Visas stipulate what activities you may engage in, but that's not to say that you have to engage in those activities. One JET wanted to study Japanese on his own during the third year of his visa. He had enough savings to carry him through the entire year and wondered if he simply could live in Japan during the final
year of his visa without having a job. The answer is yes. If he moves, he simply needs to register at the city or town hall of his new address (this pertains to his foreigner registration card, not his visa). Your visa does not require you to have a job or to engage in a particular activity, provided that how you actually use your time (usually related to generating income) is not in violation of the type of visa you have. As such, JETs who complete their contracts with time still on their visa are welcome
to travel, live, study, write, meditate, cavort, etc., in Japan. They siimply have to avoid generating income in a manner that would be inconsistent with their visa.

Tod Tollefson
Ibaraki International Association

[vimalazima]

Dear sir
I am Brazilian in travel lost my passport with my reentry permit for Japan. I am now in India and had look in internet about but could not find the procedure.
I would like to know which procedure shall I do in this case. Somebody told me that can I go back to Japan and explain my case to immigration in airport, but I dont think it is work. Is it possible or shall I do other procedure for that???
Please I request for some information if is it possible???
Thanking you for your cooperation I remain
Vimalazima@hotmail.com

[kellogg]

Bump due to new info.

This won't apply to most of you, but after going to the immigration office yesterday to re-apply for a new work visa (my 3 years are up), the official gave me a notice and explained that visa expiration regulations have changed as of July 1, 2010. It's a bit dense/confusing, but from what I understood it basically says that you have a leeway of up to two months after your visa expires to get your shit together. The notice was written in Japanese and English, and I'm sure the Japanese version could be found on the web, but for ease and because I couldn't find the English version, here it is:

NOTICE
In the case where an application pursuant to change of his/her status of residence or extension of his/her period of stay is made, if the disposition (a stamp of approval or a notification of the result) for this application has not been made until expiration date of the period of stay accompanied by a status of residence which such a foreign national has at the time of the application, such a foreign national may, even after the expiration date of the period of stay, reside in Japan continuously under such status of the previous period of stay (herein referred to as "special measures period"), whichever comes first, under the revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act on July 1, 2010.

If two months have passed from the experation date of your period of stay without being granted a disposition (a stamp of approval), you will not be able to stay in Japan. You are therefore requested to appear at this office as promptly as possible upon receipt of the notice of the decision taken on your application.

So if you do not receive the notice not later than ten days prior to two months from the expiration date of your period of stay, please appear at this office.

A foreign national who has obtained re-entry permission that expires on the last day of the "special measure period" can re-enter Japan until that day, but if that day falls on a holiday of the office, the disposition (a notification of the result) of the application for the change of status of residence and the extension of period of stay cannot be carried out. So, please take the procedure before a holiday of the office.

For further information or inquiry, please contact:
Nagoya Immigration bureau Kanazawa Branch Office
076-222-2450

[japanna]

Thanks, Kellogg!

From the JET Programme website on Staying in Japan for sightseeing after your JET contract expires:

Check the expiration date of your visa. If your visa expires on the same day your contract ends, or before you leave Japan you must apply for a Temporary Visa to begin from the day after your current visa expires. You can apply for a Temporary Visa up to 2 weeks before your visa expires.

If your visa is not set to expire when you finish JET (i.e. you have a 3-year visa but only did 1 or 2 years of JET) then you can stay for up to 90 days for the purpose of sightseeing after your JET contract finishes WITHOUT CHANGING YOUR VISA. (Note: to receive the flight home, you must leave Japan within 30 days.)

If you try to leave the country after your visa has expired then you will be classed as an illegal alien and probably be detained and interrogated at the airport. This means that you will need to pay for your own flight home when you are deported and you may not be allowed to come back to Japan.

If your current visa is set to expire but you want to stay in Japan for a bit longer, and if your Contracting Organisation has no problem with it, then you can apply for a Temporary Visitor Visa. You must apply for the Temporary Visitor Visa whether you wish to reside in Japan for only one extra day or the entire 90 days, otherwise you may be subject to punishment or deportation under Japanese immigration laws.

Applications can be made up to 2 weeks before your current visa expires at the Immigration Office in Kanazawa. You need to bring:

● Application form for Change of Status of Residence to Temporary Visa
● Reasons for Requesting a Change of Status (explanation of reasons for staying in Japan, including an itinerary, prepared by you)
● Letter supporting your travel itinerary and the starting and ending date of your contract and your intended date of departure (Ask your Contracting Organisation to issue the letter)
● A copy of the airline ticket for passage out
● You must also be able to show that you have sufficient funds for travel and living in Japan until your date of departure
● Valid passport and Alien Registration Card
● ¥4000 Revenue Stamp

You can also apply for a visa extension. The Extension of Period of Stay visa covers you for only
15 days after your current visa expires. The Extension of Period of Stay can usually be granted on the same day, but you can apply for it up to 2 months prior to the end of the current period of stay. The Immigration Office can deny you this visa so you must have a valid reason for the extension. Furthermore, you should not be applying for this visa until a week before your current visa expires as it will negate your work visa.

Some valid reasons might include:
● you have too much to pack in a short period of time
● you are taking a cultural exam or other test that can’t be taken outside of Japan
● you have unexpected or unfinished business that needs to be completed
● your office has asked you to stay on to help train your successor