Planning to work, study or join family in Japan? Your priority is to identify the status of residence that actually covers the activity you will carry out. An employment contract is not a residence permission, a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) is not a visa, and an unexpired residence card does not authorise every job.
Which purpose matches your move?
| Real purpose | First decision and actor |
|---|---|
| Starting a paid job at a Japanese company | Ask HR which activity-based residence status covers your duties and what Japan-side COE/status documents they will support |
| Transferring within an international company | Have the employers determine whether intra-company transfer or another work category actually fits the assignment |
| Studying at a Japanese institution | Confirm school sponsorship, exact Student status and whether any part-time paid work needs additional permission |
| Joining a spouse or parent | Determine whether your family member is Japanese, a permanent resident or a foreign worker; spouse of a Japanese national is not the same status as Dependent |
| Launching a business or working independently | Investigate the specific business-management/work category and real requirements; a general tourist visit or professional status may not cover the intended activity |
| Already in Japan and changing employers or study programmes | Check the status on your residence card, notifications and whether new activities require a status change before they begin |
Before accepting the offer: verify the job and the written conditions
Ask the company to spell out the actual duties, job location, employing legal entity, pay, hours, overtime arrangements, holidays, contract period, probation and termination terms. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's foreign-worker portal supplies multilingual written working-conditions notices, handbooks and labour consultation routes. A recruiter saying “HR handles the visa” is not evidence your actual work fits the status.
Example: An offer is labelled “marketing specialist” but the day-to-day duties include a completely different occupation from the one described in the immigration submission. Ask HR/ISA whether the duties are within the approved status before starting, even if the salary and sponsor are legitimate.
If a school or employer promises you can pay all tuition and living costs with part-time work, investigate carefully. The ISA Student guidance states student status alone does not permit paid work; with proper permission for activities outside status, ordinary part-time work is commonly limited to 28 hours per week, with a separate up to 8 hours per day during specified long school holidays route. Exemptions, specific permission limits and prohibited settings matter; do not assume self-employment or online paid work is automatically outside the rules.
From overseas: the COE-to-entry sequence
- Choose the status: Ask employer/school/family sponsor for the exact ISA category and whether your duties, qualifications and relevant receiving organisation qualify.
- Determine the COE applicant and documents: ISA's official COE procedure permits the applicant, authorised receiving-organisation staff or certain representatives to submit, depending on the route. Forms and supporting evidence depend on the named status, not one generic “work visa” list.
- Wait for the proper outcome: An issued COE supports the subsequent consular visa application but is not a visa, landing permission or work authorisation by itself. Do not buy irreversibly dated tickets based solely on a submitted COE request.
- Use the correct embassy/consulate: File through the Japanese mission responsible for your place of legal residence and real long-stay purpose. Tourist eVISA is not the alternative visa application route for an employer-sponsored move.
- Check permission at entry: Keep the grant/landing record, residence card if issued and the specific period of stay and permitted activities. Arrange municipal registration and appropriate employer/insurance steps after arrival.
Example: A new engineer is due to start on 1 February, but the COE remains under review in January. The employer should decide how to amend onboarding dates or duties if approval is delayed. Entering as a tourist and beginning paid production work is not a safe default solution.
If you are already living in Japan
Read the status and period of stay printed on your residence card. Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services, Specified Skilled Worker, Highly Skilled Professional, Student and Dependent are not interchangeable labels. The work permitted, sponsor/organisation reporting and change-of-status procedure can differ.
- New employer: Check whether current activities still match the existing status and whether a notification to ISA or a change/application is required. Some covered status holders must report relevant contracting-institution changes within 14 days, but that is not an across-the-board rule for every status or event. Use the dedicated Japan job-change guide.
- Changing activity category: Use ISA's 2026 status-change and extension guidance and the current status-specific checklist. An application is not automatically approval to perform the new activity.
- Student or Dependent part-time work: Obtain the required permission outside status before paid activity, and follow its specific limits, not a generic paid-hours assumption.
- Family: A Japanese-national spouse or foreign worker's dependant may have very different work rights. Marriage alone is not residence status.
Status-specific organisation notifications and the 2026 amendment date trap
ISA separates contracting-organisation notifications from activity-organisation notifications. For statuses including Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services, Researcher, Skilled Labor and Specified Skilled Worker, its contract notification procedure specifies a report by the individual within 14 days after ending a contract or entering a new one, via the electronic system, post or an accepted ISA counter. Other statuses such as Professor, Business Manager, Education, Intra-company Transferee and Student may fall under the different activity-organisation procedure; do not copy the contract form blindly. If your current residence status is different, check that status's exact notice obligation. A submitted organisational notification does not approve activities outside the status you already hold.
June 2026 law distinction: ISA says Act No. 32 of 2026 was promulgated 5 June 2026, including possible higher maximum status-change/renewal fees and the future JESTA entry system. Those provisions are not simply in force since promulgation: the fee changes depend on a future effective date set by ordinance no later than 31 March 2027, and JESTA on an ordinance date no later than 31 March 2029. Do not quote the proposed ceiling as today's payable fee or tell a resident that JESTA is already a work-visa application. Check the actual fee and current requirements when filing.
The first month: split the duties between you, the company and the municipality
| Who | Ask them to confirm |
|---|---|
| You | Residence card/passport, actual address, current permitted-until date, required municipal address notification and contact information |
| Employer | Social insurance and Employees' Pension/Health Insurance enrollment if eligible, payroll documents, actual first authorised workday and any employer-side immigration notifications |
| Municipality | Address registration and, if not employer/dependant covered, applicable National Health Insurance and National Pension enrollment |
| School or family sponsor | Their own institutional/family evidence and updates, where required |
ISA's new entrant guidance says that a mid- to long-term resident generally reports a new residential address at the municipal office within 14 days of establishing it. That is not the same as a blanket 14-day deadline to do all insurance, banking and immigration paperwork. See the detailed first-month guide.
The Japan Pension Service sets the employer's eligible employees' pension/health-insurance enrollment responsibility; eligibility may cover certain part-time workers too. Private travel insurance is not simply a substitute for required public enrollment.
If the job ends, the school changes or the family arrangement breaks down
Do not guess that the residence card expires the same day as employment, and do not assume it guarantees indefinite stay regardless of permitted activity. Check ISA's category-specific status, reporting and revocation rules; job-seeking circumstances and justified reasons can matter. Coordinate with the municipality and health insurer so that an employment end does not create a surprise coverage gap.
Example: Your employment contract ends, your residence card still displays months remaining, and a new employer offers a role. That requires three separate checks: whether your current status still covers the proposed duties, what ISA notification/status action is due, and which employer/municipality arranges insurance during the gap. The job-change guide contains the detailed branches instead of repeating them here.
Your written pre-move checklist
Before resigning or signing a nonrefundable lease, get the employer/sponsor's written answers to the exact residence status, who is preparing COE/mission papers, what document must be issued before entry/work, the employment or school starting date if approval is delayed, and who handles health/pension. Add your municipal address plan and any dependent family applications. A visa with a long validity label is not useful if its activity restrictions do not fit your real life.
A person can identify the correct category/actor, the COE and consular sequence, the difference between permission to stay and to work, and whom to ask for the first-month insurance/address tasks. Complex case-specific ISA decisions must still use the actual residence record.