2026-09-19

You have 14 days to tell immigration you changed jobs

Fukuoka now has 13,682 workplaces employing foreign staff, 11.0% more than a year earlier. More employers also means more people moving between them.

If you are on a work visa in Japan and you quit or change jobs, you have 14 days to tell immigration.

This covers visas such as Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services, specified skilled worker and skilled labor. When your contract with your employer ends, and again when you sign a new one, you file a notification within 14 days. It can be done online, at any hour.

Not filing can be fined up to 200,000 yen under the Immigration Control Act.

The second rule is the one that actually costs people their status. If you go three months without doing the activity your visa is for, and there is no justifiable reason, your status can be revoked.

In 2025, Japan revoked 1,446 residence statuses, the highest number on record. 999 of them, 69.1%, were under that three-month rule.

Immigration's own Q&A notes that if you are genuinely job hunting after leaving a job, it may not be treated as grounds for revocation. It also says each case is judged on its own facts.

So if you are between jobs, file the notification, and make sure your job search is something you could show if anyone asked.

Changing jobs here is getting more common, and none of this is a reason not to. It is a reason to keep your side of the paperwork clean while you look.

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You have 14 days to tell immigration you changed jobs

転職したら、14日以内に入管へ届け出る

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