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.
You don't transfer a Japanese work visa. Your status stays valid, but you must notify immigration within 14 days or face a fine of up to ¥200,000.
Here's the thing almost nobody tells you before your first job change in Japan: there's no such thing as transferring a work visa. Your status of residence belongs to you, not to your employer. If you hold the most common work status and your new role does similar work, you can resign on Friday, start somewhere new on Monday, and never touch an application form. What you do owe immigration is a notification, filed within 14 days, and the penalty for skipping it runs to ¥200,000.
That misunderstanding keeps a lot of qualified people stuck in jobs they've outgrown. With a record 2,571,037 foreign workers in Japan as of October 2025, up 11.7% in a year (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, via The Japan Times, January 2026), a lot of those people will change employers this year. Here's what the process actually requires, including the two statuses where the simple version doesn't apply.
Key Takeaways
- Your status of residence stays valid when you change jobs, as long as the new role falls inside the same activity category.
- You must file a Notification of the Contracting Organization within 14 days of leaving and within 14 days of joining. Failure to notify carries a fine of up to ¥200,000.
- Highly Skilled Professional and Specified Skilled Worker holders are the exception: they need an approved change of status before starting, not just a notification.
- Going more than three months without working in your authorized activity is grounds for revocation under Article 22-4.
For most work statuses, no. Japan grants a status of residence based on the type of activity you perform, not the company that hired you (Immigration Services Agency, Application for Change of Status of Residence, 2026). If your new job sits inside the same activity category as your old one, your existing status stays valid right through to its expiry date, and you can start work immediately.
Take the most common case. Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services covers software engineering, marketing, translation, sales, design, and most white collar office work. A backend developer moving to a product manager role at a different company is still doing work that falls under that status. No application. No waiting period. Nothing to obtain first.
What ends is not your visa but your employment contract. Those are two separate things, and Japanese immigration treats them separately. Your residence card doesn't name your employer, and it doesn't need reissuing when you switch.
Two statuses break this rule, and they break it hard: Highly Skilled Professional and Specified Skilled Worker. Both are covered further down, and if you hold either one, read that section before you resign.
Worth knowing: Because your status is tied to activity rather than employer, a company cannot legally threaten your visa to keep you from resigning. If someone tells you your visa is "theirs," they're either misinformed or applying pressure.
Anyone holding a work status tied to a contract must notify the Immigration Services Agency within 14 days of the triggering event, under Article 19-16 of the Immigration Control Act (Immigration Services Agency, Notification of the Contracting Organization, 2026). Leaving a job is one event. Joining a new one is another. Miss the deadline and you face a fine of not more than ¥200,000.
This is the Notification of the Contracting Organization, and it applies to these statuses:
Holders of Professor, Business Manager, Legal/Accounting Services, Medical Services, Instructor, Intra-company Transferee, or Student file a slightly different form, the Notification of the Affiliated Organization, under the same 14-day rule.
Pick the right form for your situation:
| Situation | Form |
|---|---|
| You left your job, nothing lined up yet | Form 1-4 |
| You joined a new employer | Form 1-5 |
| You left and joined within the same period | Form 1-7 |
| Your employer changed name, moved, or dissolved | Form 1-1 |
You can file three ways: through the Electronic Notification System online, which runs 24 hours a day, in person at your regional immigration office, or by post to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau. There's no fee, no examination, and no approval to wait for. You submit it and it's done.
A note on why this matters more than the fine suggests. Late notifications sit in your immigration file. When you apply for permanent residence years later, the reviewer sees them. Filing on time is a five-minute task that protects a decade-long goal.
Your old employer files its own separate notification of your departure, and reports the change to Hello Work. That's their obligation, not yours, and it doesn't cover you. Both filings have to happen.
You need a Change of Status of Residence when the new job's duties fall outside what your current status permits, and you must have that permission before you start the work. The application costs ¥6,000 on paper or ¥5,500 online, and processing takes one to two months (Immigration Services Agency, 2026).
Some real examples of when this applies:
The timing here is unforgiving. Immigration takes one to two months, and starting the new work before approval is unauthorized activity. That's separate grounds for revocation, and it doesn't wait for the three-month clock to run. If your new role needs a status change, negotiate a start date that clears the processing window before you sign anything.
Highly Skilled Professional and Specified Skilled Worker work differently from every other work status, and this trips people up constantly.
Highly Skilled Professional. Your HSP approval rests on a points calculation that includes your specific employer, and the designation document (指定書) in your passport names that company. Change employers and the calculation no longer describes reality. You have to file a change of status application to get a new designation, even though you're staying in the same visa category (Support Administrative Scrivener Corporation, 2026). If your points at the new employer fall below 70, you may end up moving to Engineer/Specialist in Humanities instead.
Specified Skilled Worker. Your SSW status is tied to both an industrial field and a named accepting organization, which also owes you a support plan. Changing employers means a change of status application based on the new employment contract, reviewed and approved before you start. Moving to a different industrial field means passing that field's skills test first (Immigration Services Agency, Specified Skilled Worker FAQ, 2026).
The practical consequence for both: build one to two months of processing time into your notice period. A start date agreed in good faith can become unauthorized activity if the paperwork doesn't clear first.
If your job duties changed meaningfully, yes. The Certificate of Authorized Employment (就労資格証明書) is a document in which the Minister of Justice confirms in writing that the work you're doing falls within your current status. It costs ¥2,000 on paper or ¥1,600 online, up from ¥1,200 before April 2025 (Immigration Services Agency, Application for Issuance of Employment Eligibility Certificate, 2026).
It's optional. Nobody will fine you for skipping it. So why bother?
Because it moves the risk forward in time. Without the certificate, the first moment immigration formally examines your new job is when you apply to extend your period of stay. If they decide the role doesn't fit your status, you find out at renewal, when your current period is running out and your options are thin. With the certificate, you find out months earlier, while you still have room to fix it.
Processing times split sharply depending on your case:
| Your situation | Processing time |
|---|---|
| Same employer, same duties since approval | Same day |
| Changed employer | One to three months |
That one-to-three-month figure surprises people who expect a rubber stamp. Apply early, and apply online if you can: it's ¥400 cheaper and saves a trip to the immigration office queue.
Two situations where it stops being optional in practice. First, if your new employer is unfamiliar with hiring foreign staff and wants written proof before putting you on payroll. Second, if your title and duties look materially different from the ones on your original approval, for example moving from translation work into general sales.
Three months. Under Article 22-4, paragraph 1, item 6 of the Immigration Control Act, holding a work status while not engaging in the corresponding activity for more than three months is grounds for revocation (Immigration Services Agency, 2026). Certain Highly Skilled Professional holders get six months instead.
The rule has an important escape hatch: revocation doesn't apply if you have justifiable reason for not working. Active job hunting is the standard justifiable reason. But "active" means documented. Keep your application records, interview correspondence, and Hello Work registration. If immigration asks what you were doing for those months, a folder of evidence answers the question and a shrug doesn't.
Two things people get wrong about this window:
It isn't a grace period you have to use up. Nothing stops you from starting a new job the day after your last one ends. Three months is a ceiling, not a plan.
It runs from when you stop the activity, not from your resignation date. Gardening leave and unused paid holiday don't extend the clock in any way you should rely on.
Approaching the three-month mark with nothing lined up? Talk to an immigration lawyer (行政書士) before the deadline rather than after. Options exist, including changing to a job-hunting designated activities status, but they're far easier to arrange while your status is still clean.
Your extension application is where the job change gets its real examination. Extending your period of stay costs ¥6,000 on paper or ¥5,500 online, takes two weeks to one month, and you can apply from roughly three months before your current period expires (Immigration Services Agency, Application for Extension of Period of Stay, 2026).
The examiner is now looking at a company they've never assessed in connection with you. Two factors drive how much paperwork that means.
Your new employer's category. Japan sorts sponsoring companies into four categories based on size and withholding tax volume. Category 1 and 2 employers, the large and listed ones, need to submit very little. Category 3 and 4 employers, which covers most startups and small firms, must submit financial statements, company registration, and a detailed explanation of your role. Our guide to Japan's four company categories for work visas breaks down what each tier requires.
The April 2026 documentation rules. Since 15 April 2026, Category 3 and 4 sponsors face expanded documentation requirements, and applicants applying from overseas for Engineer/Specialist in Humanities roles at those sponsors may need to demonstrate Japanese at CEFR B2, roughly JLPT N2, where the role is Japanese-language heavy (Fragomen, Japan: Tightened Documentation Requirement and Introduction of Language Requirement for Certain Work Visas, 2026). This doesn't retroactively affect people already in Japan changing jobs, but it's worth knowing if your new employer is a smaller firm.
The timing insight most people miss: If your period of stay expires within six months of your planned move, consider switching after you renew rather than before. A three-month tenure at a Category 4 startup is a much harder file than a two-year tenure anywhere. Same job, same person, different amount of scrutiny, decided entirely by calendar order.
Four deadlines matter, and only one of them is flexible: confirm your status covers the new role, file within 14 days of leaving, file within 14 days of joining, and keep any gap under three months. Work through the rest in order.
Before you resign
Within 14 days of your last day
Within 14 days of your first day
Optional but recommended
At renewal
No. Your residence card doesn't name your employer, so a job change doesn't require reissuing it. You only replace the card when your status changes, your period of stay is extended, or your name, nationality, or address details change.
Yes, as long as the new role falls under your current status. The notification reports something that has already happened, it doesn't grant permission. You have 14 days from your first day, and there's no examination or waiting period involved.
Failure to notify carries a fine of up to ¥200,000 under the Immigration Control Act, and false notification can bring up to one year's imprisonment. In practice, late filings more often damage future permanent residence applications than trigger fines. File late rather than not at all.
No. Japanese immigration doesn't require consent from a previous employer. Your old company files its own notification of your departure separately. You'll want a certificate of employment (在職証明書) from them for your records, since renewal applications sometimes ask about work history.
No, it's entirely optional. It exists so you and your new employer can get written confirmation from the Ministry of Justice that your duties fit your status, rather than waiting to find out at renewal. It costs ¥2,000 on paper or ¥1,600 online.
Changing jobs in Japan is an administrative task, not a legal risk, provided you get three things right. Confirm your new duties fit your current status, and check whether you're on one of the two statuses that need an approved application first. File the notification within 14 days, both times. Don't let a gap between jobs run past three months without documented job hunting.
The people who run into trouble are almost never the ones who did something wrong at work. They're the ones who assumed the visa was their employer's problem and found out otherwise at renewal.
If you're weighing a move, it helps to know which employers already handle this paperwork routinely. Our list of companies offering work visa sponsorship in Japan is a good place to start, and if you want to understand your own status in more depth, we have a full breakdown of the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa and of Japan's Highly Skilled Professional visa.
Sources
This article is general information, not legal advice. For case-specific guidance, consult a licensed immigration lawyer (行政書士) or your regional immigration office.
Japanese income tax runs 5% to 45%, plus 10% residence tax and around 15% social insurance. The residence tax lag is what catches foreign employees out.
Japanese paid leave is a legal right, not a favour. Take-up hit a record 66.9% in 2024, and your employer is legally required to make you use 5 days.
Japan's standard permanent residency route takes 10 years, but most people qualify sooner. A February 2026 rule change creates a 31 March 2027 deadline.
