Tourist (US) to Long Term Visa

Hey all, has anyone successfully switched from a 90 day stay (US citizens so no visa needed) to a Business Manager + Dependent visa from inside Japan? Our COE processing is approaching 3 months now and our flight to japan is already scheduled in a few weeks. We will be staying as tourists for 90 days and possible another 90 (Korea visa reset run). We would like to avoid flying back to the US and spending $5k+ for a one week trip just to process our COE at the embassy (flight prices are nuts right now). Has anyone successfully changed their status while inside japan on a visa waiver?

Just to clarify, we are doing this all through a lawyer currently. When asked, they said they dont think it would be a problem (kinda vague), but Ive seen alot of conflicting info about the situation so I am curious if anyone has first hand experience.

You don't need to fly back to America to restart a new temp visitor status. Any country for 1 calender day will do.

I'd go down to the immigration office with all you application stuff. Maybe they can grant an extension while waiting for your status change.

We can fly to Korea as it�fs only an hour so it can be a day trip. My concern is switching from tourist visa waiver to resident from inside Japan without having to fly back to America.

You can call immigration and ask. They have English services available. Much quicker and easier than getting answers here.

TLDR .. tourist/temp to Spouse is quite normal. Others, prepare for rejection.

OP if you read/go through the COE threads, most people are still waiting for their COE approval way past 6 months. So, don't get your hope high, and also getting both business visa and dependent visa COE approved at the same times, there are cases where a child and mother applying for dependent visa COE, child got approved and mother still waiting for approval.

And back to the main question, unless you have very very good reason for skipping visa application process, immigration will not entertain your changes of status. BUT hey, don't trust what is said on the internet, since you said your immigration lawyer say no problem, then hold the lawyer word accountable, get it in writing so that if it don't happen, ask for damages/compensation.