The Atarashift Blog
Insights for working in Japan
Guides, interviews, and honest advice for international talent building a career in Japan.
The Atarashift Blog
Guides, interviews, and honest advice for international talent building a career in Japan.
A change of status to a work visa took 52.5 days on average in 2025-26, and fees now run up to ¥75,000. When to apply, what to file, and how to avoid delays.
A change of status of residence lets you switch from one visa to another without leaving Japan, for example from Student to a work visa. Immigration's official standard is one to two months. For the most common work visa, approval took 52.5 days on average between July 2025 and July 2026.
Since 1 October 2026, the fee depends on the period of stay you are granted. At the counter, that is ¥33,000 for one year and ¥75,000 for five years. Online is cheaper.
This guide covers when you need one, how long it really takes and what it costs. It also covers the timing rules that catch graduating students out.
A change of status of residence is the application you make when you want to do a different kind of activity in Japan. It is called zairyū shikaku henkō in Japanese, and Article 20 of the Immigration Control Act sets it out.
Your status of residence covers one type of activity. Studying is one type. Office work in engineering, sales or translation is another. When your activity moves from one category to another, your status has to move with it.
It is not the same as renewing. An extension of period of stay is the application for keeping the same status for longer. Our work visa renewal guide covers that process.
Nor is a job change always a change of status. If your new job fits the status you already hold, you only file a notification within 14 days. Our guide to changing jobs on a work visa explains when that is enough.
You need one whenever your main activity no longer matches your status. The most common cases are:
Apply as soon as the reason arises. ISA's rule is that you can file from the moment the change happens until your current period of stay expires. Leaving your original activity for too long can lead to your status being revoked.
ISA's official standard is one to two months. Its monthly data gives a sharper picture.
We analyzed ISA's 13 monthly processing reports from July 2025 to July 2026. The wait depends heavily on the status you are moving to.
| Changing to | Days to approval notice | Days to end of review |
|---|---|---|
| Business Manager | 110.1 | 100.6 |
| Specified Skilled Worker (i) | 61.1 | 41.6 |
| Spouse of Japanese National | 53.2 | 42.8 |
| Engineer/Specialist in Humanities | 52.5 | 40.1 |
| Designated Activities | 47.7 | 35.8 |
| Skilled Labor | 37.3 | 31.1 |
| Dependent | 35.4 | 27.7 |
ISA reports two clocks. One stops when the review ends. The other stops when you collect the approval at the bureau.
For Engineer/Specialist in Humanities, the review in March 2026 took just 28.2 days. Yet the approval notice came at 65.1 days.
The reason is graduation. Students can apply before they finish, but ISA hands over the result only after they show a graduation certificate. So we found a 37-day gap in March, against 8 to 14 days in every other month. The review was fast. The wait was for graduation day.
For work visas, yes. We found the review for changes to Engineer/Specialist in Humanities took about 32 days in late 2025. It reached 48.1 days in June 2026 and 63.3 days in July. Over the same period, the approval notice moved from about 41 days to 72.9.
Business Manager has slowed far more. ISA tightened its rules on 16 October 2025, adding a ¥30 million capital requirement and at least one full-time employee. Since then, the wait has more than tripled: changes to that status took 53.4 days in October 2025 and 194.5 days in July 2026.
For an April start, ISA asks students to apply between 1 December and the end of January. Applications pile up from January to March, so a late or incomplete one may not clear in time.
Three details matter:
Our job-hunting timeline for international students shows where this step sits in the wider calendar.
You can wait in Japan under a separate status. Designated Activities for job offer holders is the status for that gap. It covers graduates with an accepted offer who start within one year of the offer and within 18 months of graduating. The employer must also sign a pledge to keep in touch.
With permission, you can work part-time up to 28 hours a week while you wait. Internships at your future employer can go beyond that limit.
You can switch to Designated Activities for continued job hunting, with a recommendation from your school. It is granted for six months and can be renewed once, so you get a year in total.
Yes, if you graduated from a Japanese university and have JLPT N1 or a BJT score of 480 or more. Designated Activities No. 46 allows wider duties than Engineer/Specialist in Humanities, such as restaurant management combined with customer service in Japanese. Our guide to JLPT levels for jobs covers what each level opens.
From 1 October 2026, the fee depends on the period of stay you are granted. It is the same table that applies to renewals.
| Period of stay granted | At the counter | Online (with payment fee) |
|---|---|---|
| 3 months or less | ¥10,000 | ¥10,330 |
| Over 3 months, up to 6 months | ¥18,000 | ¥15,330 |
| Over 6 months, under 1 year | ¥25,000 | ¥21,330 |
| 1 year | ¥33,000 | ¥27,330 |
| Over 1 year, under 3 years | ¥48,000 | ¥42,330 |
| 3 years to under 5 years | ¥64,000 | ¥56,550 |
| 5 years or more | ¥75,000 | ¥65,550 |
You pay only on approval. At the counter, you pay with revenue stamps when you collect your new residence card. Online, you pay at a convenience store or by bank transfer.
Applications received by 30 September 2026 pay the old ¥6,000, or ¥5,500 online. A reduced ¥10,000 fee exists for serious hardship, at the counter only.
Everyone submits the application form, one photo, and their passport and residence card. The rest depends on your new status and, for work visas, on your employer.
For Engineer/Specialist in Humanities, ISA sorts employers into four categories. Large and listed companies in Categories 1 and 2 send almost nothing else. Smaller Category 3 and 4 employers send more. For example, they file your employment terms, proof of your degree, the company registration and its financial statements. Our guide to Japan's four company categories explains each one.
Students got a shortcut in December 2025. A change from Student to Engineer/Specialist in Humanities can now use the short Category 2 list. Any one of these qualifies:
To claim it, you attach a short explanation to the application. Dispatch (haken) employment is excluded.
No. You can attend the company's entrance ceremony and unpaid orientation. Paid work under the new status starts only after the change is approved.
If your current period of stay ends while you wait, the special period covers you. You can stay until the decision, or for two months after your original expiry date, whichever comes first. But you may only continue your old activity, not start the new one.
Refusals are rare for students. In fact, in 2024, ISA refused 1,376 of 41,142 job-related applications from students, or 3.3%. But the reasons repeat.
ISA's guideline weighs whether your new job matches the status, and your conduct, finances, taxes and notifications. For students, four problems come up most:
ISA's standard is one to two months. Changes to Engineer/Specialist in Humanities averaged 52.5 days to the approval notice from July 2025 to July 2026, and 72.9 days in July 2026.
Yes. Apply with an expected-graduation certificate, from 1 December for an April start. ISA gives you the result after you show your graduation certificate.
From 1 October 2026, it depends on the period granted. At the counter, one year costs ¥33,000, three years ¥64,000 and five years ¥75,000, paid on approval. Online is cheaper.
Not after you graduate. Your part-time permission ends with your enrollment. If you are waiting for a later start date, Designated Activities for job offer holders allows up to 28 hours a week with permission.
Usually not. If the new job fits your current status, you file a 14-day notification instead. Highly Skilled Professional and Specified Skilled Worker holders are the exception and need an approved change first.
Yes. Company staff approved by ISA as filing agents can apply on your behalf. So can registered lawyers and immigration scriveners. You must be in Japan while they file.
If you are still looking for an employer, start with companies that offer work visa sponsorship. Platforms like Atarashift filter roles by visa support, so you only see employers ready to sponsor.
Processing times come from ISA's monthly processing period reports. We extracted the change-of-status columns for each status from July 2025 to July 2026 and fact-checked them against the original tables. The 13-month averages are our own simple averages of the monthly figures. ISA notes that the days include time waiting for extra documents and exclude refusals.
Student approval figures are from ISA's 2024 report on students joining Japanese companies, published November 2025. The application window and the December 2025 document shortcut are from ISA's notice to students changing to a work status. Pre-graduation filing, part-time work after graduation and entrance ceremonies are from ISA's work-visa Q&A, July 2026.
The legal basis, filing window, filers and standard period are from ISA's change of status page, and fees from its online fee page. Job offer holders' status is from ISA's page on waiting for a start date, and job hunting from its page on continued job hunting. Designated Activities No. 46 is from ISA's No. 46 guideline.
The Business Manager rule change is from ISA's notice on the October 2025 revision. The refusal example is from ISA's published refusal cases, and the factors from its change and renewal guideline.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Every case is reviewed on its own facts. Data retrieved 6 October 2026.
Japan's main work visa has no fixed minimum salary. You must earn what a Japanese colleague would. The rule for each visa, and what approved hires earned.
Japan's visa renewal fee rose from ¥6,000 to as much as ¥75,000 on 1 October 2026. When to apply, how long it takes, and what to bring.
40.2% of major Japanese employers want N1 and 20.5% want N2, yet a third set no JLPT bar. What each level opens up, plus the visa rules.
