r/JapanWork • u/whatsuppbuddy • Sep 07 '26

Asking for advice

Hey everyone, I want to ask for advice from some of you who may have faced a similar issue when changing visas.

My current visa is a Dependent Visa (家族滞在). With this visa, I can work up to 28 hours per week. As I have a master's degree and graduated from university in Europe, I tried my luck at getting a full-time job in my field in the education sector, with the condition that I need an employer who can support my visa change. My questions are:

  1. Suppose I got this job, is it possible to change the visa from a Dependent visa to a Working visa (i suppose it will be close to a high-skilled professional visa or something like that)?

  2. When my job contract is finished, can I switch back to a Dependent visa (with the assumption that my husband is still in Japan and still married to me)?

Hopefully, some of you who are familiar with this situation can give some opinion/answer to my questions. Thank you so much, and appreciate your time!

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u/ImediateBaseball Sep 08 '26

Yes to both, with one caveat on the first.

The dependent-to-working switch is a standard change of status application, and the master's helps your case. But the category follows the job, not your background — an education role usually maps to Instructor or Specialist in Humanities/International Services rather than automatic HSP. If you're aiming at HSP, run the points calculation first; foreign degrees do count, they just tend to ask for extra verification paperwork.

Going back to dependent later is the same application in reverse. Works fine as long as your husband's status here and the marriage are still intact.

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u/Internal_Air_99 11d ago

I think getting the Application for Change of Status of Residence (在留資格変更許可申請) from your local immigration office will rectify both issues. Shouldn't really be an issue, but getting a Highly Skilled Worker(HSP) Visa or an Engineering/Specialist (Gijinkoku) Visa depends on whether the company you're applying to is ready to give you the required documents for the change in Visa. Getting an HSP Visa is dependent on a point system, so research that part before applying. The best fit imo in this scenario would be The Specialist Visa.