Is the visa situation getting stricter?

[jamurai77]

It's been said that the Japanese govt is getting stricter on those looking for work on a tourist visa. I heard this from someone on another thread and thought it was significant enough to warrant it's own. It was indicated that the govt will no longer issue a COE if they know you are already in Japan. So you can't just get sponsored and switch visas in Japan. Not only that, the poster said that the old method of getting the COE then going to Korea and coming back has been cracked down on as well. Is this true? Does this mean that it is no longer possible to just come to Japan on a tourist visa and find a teaching job? I know it was never technically legal, but it used to be mostly overlooked according to articles I've read.

[sarasi]

I have heard nothing along those lines, and I follow news on visas fairly closely. What has been getting stricter is their reaction to people who stay 90 days on a tourist permit, go to Korea for a day, then try to come in again, especially if they do it more than once.

It hasn't been necessary to go to Korea to change to a working visa for many years now, so they have actually become more lenient on that point, not stricter- they allow you to change status in Japan.

[jamurai77]

Aha, I believe the one who told me this said they had done exactly as you say and been a multiple tourist visa person. Thank you for your help Sarasi. Anyone else care to concurr?

[Tsuwabuki]

Originally Posted by sarasi

I have heard nothing along those lines, and I follow news on visas fairly closely. What has been getting stricter is their reaction to people who stay 90 days on a tourist permit, go to Korea for a day, then try to come in again, especially if they do it more than once.

It hasn't been necessary to go to Korea to change to a working visa for many years now, so they have actually become more lenient on that point, not stricter- they allow you to change status in Japan.

Patently false. This was changed in July of 2008. I'm in America visiting my grandmother, or I would pull up the paperwork I received from Ministry of Foreign Affairs explaining that status changing in Japan is no longer allowed. Trust me on this; my experience would have been easier had they not changed this policy.

And yes, they are extremely suspicious of multiple tourist visas, but there are several explanations you can use to get multiples in a row. You just have to be morally and ethically "okay" with either an overt lie or a lie of ommission.

[SSJup81]

I know of people as recent as 2009 who did a change of visa status (Tourist Visa > Work Visa) without any trouble, then again, they didn't have multiple tourist visas either. Could that be the reason why?

[jamurai77]

Originally Posted by Tsuwabuki

Patently false. This was changed in July of 2008. I'm in America visiting my grandmother, or I would pull up the paperwork I received from Ministry of Foreign Affairs explaining that status changing in Japan is no longer allowed. Trust me on this; my experience would have been easier had they not changed this policy.

And yes, they are extremely suspicious of multiple tourist visas, but there are several explanations you can use to get multiples in a row. You just have to be morally and ethically "okay" with either an overt lie or a lie of ommission.

Okay, obviously it is not officially legal, it never was as far as I can tell. The question is whether they gave YOU problems specifically because you had multiple consecutive tourist visas. We are not debating whether it is against their policy to change within the country we are trying to figure out when it is they actually decide to enforce this policy. It sounds like they bring out the paperwork when you get their attention by applying for consecutive visas and not if you get your COE before you have to exit the country after the first 90 days. You speak of others who had problems, are you sure they didn't also have consecutive tourist visas?
No one is calling you a liar, just trying to get to the bottom of these contradictions.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by jamurai77

just trying to get to the bottom of these contradictions.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Japanese government bureaucracy. There is no bottom line, and depending on the day of the week and the person you talk to you will get a different story.

[Tsuwabuki]

The coworker who came in after me did not even land in Japan. He had to do the entire process from the United States. He never had a tourist visa. He was told that he could not wait for the COE inside the country, nor would he receive a change of visa status if he chose to came. So your consecutive visa hypothesis does not pan out in that case.

As for the people that SSJup says managed to do it, I have my doubts that there were not extenuating circumstances of some sort, because the policy is quite clearly that such a change is no longer done. Student visas to work visas are. Work holiday visas to work visas are. Cultural visas to work visas are. But the MOFA has been pretty blunt about tourist visa to work visa.

Originally Posted by MOFA

If a foreign national who resides in Japan wishes to change the activity that is the purpose of his residence, he must receive permission for change of status of residence for the new activity.

If a foreign resident in Japan intends to engage in an unauthorized activity under his/her current status of residence, and such unauthorized activity falls under other status of residence, then the foreign resident does not have to leave Japan and may apply for changing his/her status of residence in accordance with this procedure.

If a foreign resident intends to change his/her status of residence, he/she must apply to Minister of Justice for changing his/her status of residence in accordance with the applicable procedures as set forth in the Immigration Control Act Enforcement Regulations.

The issue here is that a Temporary Visitor does not reside in Japan. A change of status would be from say an Instructor visa to an Engineer visa, because the Instructor already resides in Japan.

[SSJup81]

Well, the only "circumstance" that all had in common, was that they were hired from overseas and were asked to come over last minute, and didn't have the time to do the process of obtaining the Work Visa in their home countries, and just did it in Japan. Guess it had a lot to do with the fact that these were dispatch companies, and how they don't send one his/her CoE, unless they know for sure that they can offer said potential employee an actual position. IIRC, they got there and maybe a couple of days later or something, they changed their visa status with the help of whatever dispatch company they were hired through.

I guess a dispatch company is equivalent to a temp agency which works in the same way.

[Tsuwabuki]

I work for a dispatch company. The legalities of the system are... variable, depending on the type of structure. Inaku is illegal.

The situations you describe seem very iffy, very out of the ordinary, and definitely against immigration policy. Now immigration officials do have a lot of leeway in how they apply policy, but I find it pretty hard to believe that this was done without a COE.