Louise Bremner wrote:
> Declan Murphy <declan_murphy@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
>>>I have foreign student visa now, and I will graduate in March. My visa is
>>>until April by the way. I already found a job in Japan. How long does it
>>>take to change my visa status from foreign student visa to working visa?
>>>My friend says it takes around 3-6 months. Anyone has any experience?
>>
>> From my experience (having sponsored 11 work visas so far), it will be
>>anything from 5-14 weeks depending on the following 3 variables:
>>
>>1) Is your student visa "shugakusei" or "ryugakusei"?
>>2) Which category of working visa are you going to apply for?
>>3) Which bureau will you be applying at?
> 
> Do the Immigration allow the same sort of leeway as they do for
> switching from Specialist in International Whatever to Long-Term
> Resident--i.e., once you've applied and got a stamp stating that in your
> passport, the old visa can be allowed to expire without penalty before
> the new one is authorized?

Yes - they treat pretty much every status of residence that initially 
required a certificate of eligibility the same way. Only hassle I can 
think of being that if the old visa expires before the new one is 
authorised, there is no possibility of entering/leaving as re-entry 
permits are out of the question in the interim. Not that it is a wise 
idea to leave the application for change of status to the last minute.



-- 
"Kick it to the shithouse" - Bob Dwyer, Saturday 2nd November, 1991.