Change of Status of Residence in Japan: Application Guide

A job offer arrives in February and you graduate in March. A marriage is registered. A company folds and a new employer offers you something quite different from what you were doing before. Each of these can mean that the activity you are about to perform in Japan no longer matches the status of residence printed on your card — and that is the moment the change-of-status procedure exists for.

The application itself is defined in Article 20 of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act. It is a single procedure that covers every direction of travel: student to worker, worker to spouse, dependent to worker, one Designated Activities category to another. What varies is the evidence you attach and how long the office takes to read it.

What follows is the shape of that procedure as it stands in August 2026 — including a fee increase scheduled for 1 October 2026 that is large enough to affect when you file.

When a change is required — and when it is not

The test is not "has my life changed" but "does the activity I am about to do fall under a different status of residence". Moving from studying to full-time employment crosses that line. So does moving from employment to living in Japan as the spouse of a Japanese national. Applying to become a Permanent Resident is a separate application under Article 22, not a change of status application, even though people describe it the same way.

Several situations look like a change but are not one. If you switch employers and keep doing the same kind of work under the same status, you do not file a change application — you notify the Immigration Services Agency of the move within 14 days under Article 19-16, online, by post or at a counter. Many people also apply for a Certificate of Authorized Employment at that point so the new employer has written confirmation that the job fits the status; that costs 2,000 yen at a counter or 1,600 yen online. A part-time job outside the scope of your status is handled by permission to engage in an activity other than that permitted, which is free of charge, not by changing status.

There is a group of cases that runs the other way — the status name on your card stays the same, yet Article 20 still treats it as a change. Highly Skilled Professional (i) holders changing the institution designated by the Minister of Justice, Specified Skilled Worker holders changing the designated institution or the specified industrial field, and Designated Activities holders changing the specific activity designated for them all file a change-of-status application.

One status is deliberately hard to leave. Article 20, paragraph 3 says that an application from someone holding Temporary Visitor status may not be granted unless it is based on unavoidable special circumstances.

Where you file, and how early

You file at the regional immigration office with jurisdiction over the address registered on your residence card. Counters open on weekdays from 9:00 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 16:00, though some procedures have narrower slots, so call ahead if you are travelling any distance. The Foreign Residents Information Center answers general questions on 0570-013904.

The filing window runs from the moment the reason for the change arises until the expiry date of your current period of stay. Unlike an extension, there is no "three months before" rule — the Agency simply asks you to apply promptly once the reason exists. There is a reason to take that literally: if you have already stopped doing the activity your current status was granted for, that status can be revoked.

Two seasonal patterns have their own guidance. Students who want to start work in April are asked to file between 1 December and the end of January, because applications pile up between January and March and a late filing may not clear in time. And if your student status expires on or before 31 January while you are still studying, the Agency asks you to file an extension rather than a change during that window.

• You may file yourself, or your legal representative may file for you.
• Approved filing agents may submit on your behalf: staff of the organization employing or teaching you, supervising organizations, staff of public interest corporations, and lawyers or administrative scriveners registered with the bureau.
• A relative or housemate may file only if you are under 16 or genuinely cannot attend — illness, for example. Being busy at work does not qualify.
• Even when an agent files, you must be physically present in Japan while the application is pending.
• If you are 18 or over and not using an agent, file in person.

What the examiner is actually weighing

Permission is discretionary. The Agency's guideline on change of status and extension of stay — first issued in March 2008 and last revised in June 2026 — sets out what goes into that discretion, and it is worth reading before you decide what to attach.

The first two items in the list below are not weighed in the same way as the rest. Item 1 is not a factor at all but a requirement: the guideline says your intended activity must correspond to a status of residence under the Act before permission can be granted. Item 2, the landing permission criteria set by ministerial ordinance, must in principle be met — that applies to the statuses in Appended Tables I(2) and I(4) of the Act, meaning the work statuses plus Student, Trainee and Dependent, while Designated Activities and Long-Term Resident holders are in principle expected to keep meeting the requirements of the relevant public notice. Only items 3 to 8 are the discretionary factors — meeting all of them does not guarantee permission, and failing one does not automatically sink you, because they are weighed together.

1. Your intended activity corresponds to a status of residence under the Act.
2. You meet the landing permission criteria that apply to that status.
3. You were genuinely performing the activity of your current status — a student who stopped attending, or an intern who disappeared from a placement, is marked down.
4. Your conduct is good; a criminal penalty or arranging illegal work counts heavily against you even on a first offence.
5. You can support yourself, judged at household level, without becoming a public burden.
6. Your employment and working conditions comply with labour law, part-time work included.
7. Your tax and social insurance obligations are met — large or long-standing arrears, including national health insurance premiums, are treated as a negative factor.
8. You have complied with residence-card and notification duties under Articles 19-7 to 19-13, 19-15 and 19-16 — address and card-detail notifications, card validity renewal, reissue, return of the card, and notification about your organization.

Since 2010 counters have asked to see proof of health insurance enrolment. Paper health insurance cards stopped being issued on 2 December 2024, so the Agency now accepts the qualification information screen in the My Portal app, a notice of qualification information, or a qualification confirmation certificate. Not being able to show one is not, by itself, a reason for refusal.

The paperwork: a common core plus a status-specific layer

Every application shares the same spine: the change-of-status application form, one photograph measuring 4 cm by 3 cm taken within six months before filing — bare-headed, facing forward, plain background — and your passport and residence card, which are presented rather than surrendered. From residence cards issued on or after 14 June 2026, a photograph is required for applicants aged one and over; before that date the exemption ran to age 16. No photograph is needed either if the status you are changing to will not make you a mid- to long-term resident — a period of stay of three months or less, or Temporary Visitor, for example.

Everything else depends on where you are going. Employment-based applications are sorted by the size and reporting profile of the hiring organization into Categories 1 to 4, and Categories 1 and 2 attach far less. Certificates issued in Japan must be dated within three months. Anything in a foreign language needs a Japanese translation. Documents are not normally returned, so ask at the counter if you need an original back.

Two recent changes are easy to miss. Since 15 April 2026, applications for Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services from Category 3 and 4 organizations must include a declaration concerning the organization's representative — and where the job mainly uses language ability, such as translation, interpreting, hotel front desk or other customer-facing work, evidence of language ability equivalent to CEFR B2. JLPT N2 or above, a BJT score of 400 or more, 20 years or more as a mid- to long-term resident, graduation from a Japanese university, college of technology or specialized course, or completion of Japanese compulsory education plus high school all count as meeting it.

Pulling the other way, since 1 December 2025 some documents can be omitted when moving from Student to Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services or to Researcher: for graduates of Japanese universities including graduate schools and junior colleges, for graduates of foreign universities ranked in the top 300 of at least two of the QS, THE and ARWU rankings, and for applicants joining an organization that already employs a former student in that status who has had at least one extension approved. Dispatch employment is excluded. An incomplete file is the most common cause of delay, and the Agency warns it can lead to an adverse decision rather than a request for more paper.

The fee, and the increase planned for 1 October 2026

Today a change of status costs 6,000 yen at a counter and 5,500 yen online, paid with a revenue stamp at the moment permission is granted. If the application is refused, you pay nothing. That figure has only been current since 1 April 2025, when it rose from 4,000 yen and separate online rates appeared for the first time.

A much larger revision is scheduled. Following an amendment to the Immigration Act passed in 2026, the Agency published a draft cabinet order on 3 July 2026 and ran a public comment period until 2 August 2026. Under it, the flat fee is replaced by a scale tied to the period of stay you are granted, with the following amounts and a stated enforcement date of 1 October 2026.

The same draft raises the permanent residence fee to 200,000 yen and sets out exemptions — changes to Diplomat or Official status, for example — plus a reduction for people in severe financial hardship who have been recognized as refugees or as subject to complementary protection, or who otherwise warrant humanitarian consideration. The new rates are to apply to applications accepted on or after the enforcement date, so filing before it matters. Because this is a scheduled revision rather than settled practice, check the current amount on the Immigration Services Agency site on the day you file; fees are subject to change.

How long it takes — and the rule that keeps you legal past your expiry date

The Agency's published standard processing period for a change of status is one to two months. Real averages are published monthly by status of residence. These are the figures for permissions granted in June 2026, measured in days from filing to the day you are told the result.

Read those numbers carefully. They include any time spent waiting for you to send additional documents, and because the decision date is the day you attend the office to be told, they also include the gap between the examination finishing and your visit. Refusals and withdrawn applications are excluded. Applications for work statuses stretch out ahead of the April hiring season, and Student stretches out before the April and October school intakes.

This is where Article 20, paragraph 6 matters. If you filed before your period of stay expired and no decision has been made by the expiry date, you may stay on with your previous status, doing your previous activities, until the decision is made or until two months after the expiry date — whichever comes first. People whose period of stay is 30 days or less are excluded. When you file at a counter, the back of your residence card is endorsed to show an application is pending, so check the reverse if the date on the front has passed; online filings are not endorsed, but since January 2026 the Agency can certify that an online application, including this special period, is pending.

Living inside that two-month window has practical costs, which is why the Agency prefers decisions to land before your period runs out. A My Number Card expires with your period of stay unless you renew it at your municipal office beforehand, and bank accounts can be restricted from the day after expiry if you have not notified the bank. If you travel abroad and re-enter during the special period, come to the office before the two months are up: staying beyond it is illegal residence, application or no application.

Filing through the online system

A change of status can be filed through the Immigration Services Agency's online residence application system, which was replaced with a new platform on 5 January 2026. Beyond the 500 yen saving, the appeal is not queueing — and under the draft October 2026 schedule the counter-to-online gap widens to between 3,000 and 10,000 yen for every tier above three months (a period of three months or less costs 10,000 yen either way), which the Agency describes openly as a push toward online filing.

Seven groups can use the system: staff of the organization you belong to, lawyers and administrative scriveners, staff of public interest corporations, staff of registered support organizations, the applicant, a legal representative, and a relative — spouse, child, father or mother — normally only where the applicant is under 16 or unable to apply personally. Filing for yourself has conditions: you must be a mid- to long-term resident, which rules out Diplomat, Official and Temporary Visitor status and any period of stay of three months or less, and you must be at least 15.

One hard limit trips people up. You cannot file online on the final day of your period of stay — on that day you must go to the office with jurisdiction over your address. Since January 2026 the functions available to you also depend on the status of your My Number Card, and separate notices govern online filing for Specified Skilled Worker and Business Manager, so read the system's announcements page before you start rather than after.

Whichever route you take, the Agency asks people not to telephone for progress updates; it does not answer questions about individual applications, and the calls slow the examination down.

When the direct route does not work: bridging and refusals

Sometimes the status you want is not available yet. The Designated Activities status exists partly to cover those gaps, and the Agency's own list of designated activities includes several bridges: job hunting after graduating from a Japanese university or specialized course, waiting for a start date after receiving a job offer, waiting to enter graduate school, preparing to move into Specified Skilled Worker (i), and — for the road transport field — obtaining a Japanese driving licence or completing new-driver training. The job-hunting route is the best known: with a recommendation from the school you have just left and no problems in your record, you receive six months, renewable once, giving up to a year in Japan to find work. Each of these bridges is itself obtained by a change-of-status application.

If the answer is no, note first what the Agency's own procedure page says under method of appeal: none. There is no administrative appeal route for a refused change of status. In practice most people ask why and file again, and a refusal can in principle also be challenged in court by a revocation suit under the Administrative Case Litigation Act, which has its own filing deadline; a lawyer is the person to ask about that route. Published refusal examples cluster around a few themes — criminal fines and convictions, false statements such as declaring an address you do not live at, long periods of unauthorized work, and applications with no reasonable purpose, like repeating the identical course at the same school. A refusal grounded in incomplete or unconvincing evidence about the job can often be answered by a fresh application built differently; a refusal grounded in conduct usually cannot.

If your current status still has time left and you still qualify for it, that status simply continues. If your period has already expired and the two-month special provision has run out, go to the immigration office immediately rather than waiting — remaining in Japan past that point is illegal residence.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I keep working while my change-of-status application is being examined?

You may continue the activities permitted by your current status. Article 20, paragraph 6 lets you stay on your previous status until the decision is made or until two months after your period of stay expires, whichever comes first — but only the previous activities. You cannot start the new job until permission is granted and you have collected your new residence card, because the permission takes effect at that moment. People holding a period of stay of 30 days or less are outside this provision.

I am changing employer but keeping the same job type. Do I need to change my status?

No. If the new work still falls within your current status, you notify the Immigration Services Agency of the change of organization within 14 days under Article 19-16 — online through the electronic notification system, by post, or at a counter. Many people also apply for a Certificate of Authorized Employment, which costs 2,000 yen at a counter or 1,600 yen online, so the new employer has written confirmation that the role fits.

How much does a change of status cost in 2026?

As of August 2026 it is 6,000 yen at a counter and 5,500 yen online, paid by revenue stamp only when permission is granted. A draft cabinet order published on 3 July 2026 would replace this with a scale from 10,000 yen to 75,000 yen at a counter, depending on the period of stay granted, from 1 October 2026. Amounts are subject to change, so confirm on the Immigration Services Agency site before filing.

What happens if my application is refused?

There is no administrative appeal for a refused change of status — the Agency's procedure page lists the method of appeal as none. Most people ask why, correct whatever caused the refusal and file again if the problem is fixable, such as unclear job content or unpaid tax. A refusal can in principle also be challenged in court by a revocation suit under the Administrative Case Litigation Act, which has its own filing deadline, so speak to a lawyer promptly if you are considering it. If your current status is still valid and you still qualify for it, that status continues. If your period has expired and the two-month special provision has ended, contact the immigration office at once.

Can I switch from Temporary Visitor to a work status while I am in Japan?

Only in narrow circumstances. Article 20, paragraph 3 states that an application from a person holding Temporary Visitor status is not to be granted unless it is based on unavoidable special circumstances. The usual route is to leave Japan and enter on a Certificate of Eligibility obtained by the receiving organization.

Summary

A change of status of residence is required when the activity you are about to perform falls under a different status — not simply when your circumstances change. Switching employers within the same status is a 14-day notification, not an application, while Highly Skilled Professional (i), Specified Skilled Worker and Designated Activities holders file a change application even when the status name stays the same.

File at the regional immigration office covering your registered address, from the moment the reason arises until your period of stay expires, and file early. Students starting work in April are asked to apply between 1 December and the end of January.

The fee stands at 6,000 yen at a counter and 5,500 yen online, payable only if permission is granted. A period-linked scale running from 10,000 yen to 75,000 yen is scheduled to take effect on 1 October 2026 and would apply to applications accepted from that date, which makes timing a real financial question this year.

Averages for permissions granted in June 2026 ranged from under a month for Nursing Care to well over two months for several work statuses, against a published standard of one to two months. If you filed before your expiry date, the special provision in Article 20, paragraph 6 keeps you lawfully in Japan until the decision or two months after expiry, whichever is earlier — though your My Number Card and bank account may need separate attention during that window.

Documents are where most delay is created. Beyond the form, photograph, passport and residence card, each target status has its own list, and the rules moved twice recently: added evidence for Category 3 and 4 applications for Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services from 15 April 2026, and omissions for certain Student conversions from 1 December 2025.

This article reflects the rules and published figures available as of August 2026 and is general information, not advice on any individual case. Fees, required documents and processing times are revised regularly — in particular, the fee schedule described here for 1 October 2026 was published as a draft cabinet order and should be reconfirmed before you file. Always check the Immigration Services Agency of Japan website or ask your regional immigration office for the position that applies to your own application.