Changing jobs just before applying for PR?

So I have been working at the same small English school for over 3 years now and I know that keeping this job while applying for permanent residence will look good because immigration will see this as stable.

Someone who changes jobs often would be seen as unstable, but even if I change my job now, wouldn't the fact that I was at the same school for more than 3 years still look good with a job change anyway?

It is a long story, but there are just a lot of problems with this school and it isn't really professional. The school owner and staff don't really know how to properly run a school.

I will most likely just keep this job until I get my results for permanent residence back, but the only reason I ask is because I am really really tired of working at this school.

Has anyone on here changed jobs just before or during their permanent residence application process?

I see from your other threads that you have been married to a Japanese national and have been on Spouse of Japanese National status. If that has been the status for the past three years, and you have been paying income/resident taxes for these years, changing jobs would not really matter.
Note that a review for PR can take quite long, in my spouse's case it took almost seven, eight months.

Well, I currently possess a 3 year Spouse of Japanese National visa, which I got exactly a year from now. I had two 1 year Spouse of Japanese National visas before this.

Since I just obtained the 3 year a year ago, I hope immigration doesn't reject me thinking that I'm applying too early because my current visa is still valid for 2 more years.

As for my taxes, I have been paying every year for my income taxes, but I have not paid residence taxes at all due to not having my own apartment. I do however pay my wife's mother half of her rent in cash and I also pay my pension when I can afford to.

I assume you were probably living with your wife in your own apartment right?

My situation is different because I'm living with my wife and her mother hence not paying any residence taxes.

Resident taxes are determined based on your income, and have nothing to do with the apartment/living environment. Probably you paid those all right :) (By the way I am the Japanese spouse and I was talking about the PR for my non-Japanese husband :))

Ok, thank you for clearing that up about the residence taxes because I was not sure on that.

Wow, your English is great...I thought you were the non-Japanese spouse haha.

Well, would it be alright to ask if your spouse is from the US?

I know that how long it takes to obtain permanent residence is based on a lot of factors, including home country. I'm from the US myself.

Also when your husband applied for permanent residence, did he already have a 3 year spouse visa or a 5 year spouse visa?

He obtained PR his first time applying?

He's from continental Europe. He had the 5-year Spouse of Japanese national status, and we decided to apply for PR after 2 years on it. Yes he got it on the first application, but he's been married to me over 20 years and we have been living in Japan about the same length of time (just kept on missing an opportunity to change to PR, and never quite felt the need to do so until recently lol).

(The "need" we came to feel recently to go for PR recently is because we wanted to apply for it while he is paying good level of income/resident taxes, as we advance in age.)

Ok, really different situation haha!

A couple Japanese immigration lawyers I consulted with told me that even if I don't obtain it the first time, they will help me reapply.

As far as I've heard from administrative scrivener specializing in immigration matters, yes, if you fulfill the requirements for the number of years resident in Japan, you will have good chances if you're paying taxes in Japan and prospects are seen to be good that those circumstances continue.

I know that having a 5 year spouse visa is much better than applying for PR with just a 3 year, but luckily immigration also accepts applications from 3 year spouse visa holders.

Do you amd your husband pay for national pension which is toed to the My Number system?

It is tricky because some foreigners do pay and some foreigners I know didn't even sign up for it. It is technically required by law but still a gray area.

My wife and I signed up and pay when we can afford to. It must look better to immigration than not being signed up at all.

Do you and your husband pay for national pension which is tied to the My Number system?*

Yes

You mentioned earlier that changing jobs would not really matter...but wouldn't changing jobs before applying look unstable to immigration?

Let's say I quit my current job which is almost full time (so most of my money comes from this school) and I take another part time job?

The reason I say part time job is because here in Shizuoka city, there aren't a lot of schools and not a lot of full time jobs available. Due to this, I work part time between two different schools.

Since having a job and keeping the same job looks stable to immigration, I don't see how they would see changing jobs as completely unrelated though.

Could you explain more about this?

I had a huge argument with my boss today because he kept complaining so much and he complains about me at least once a week. I have been here for over three years and I'm beyond tired of working at his school. I don't want to blow my chances of getting permanent residence though...

Well, I consulted with a Japanese immigration lawyer about this and he said what I thought he would say.

He recommended not to change jobs before or during the PR application process because it would just complicated things and make it much more difficult to obtain it. He mentioned to just change jobs after I obtain PR, but I really need to change jobs no matter what, try to sign a long contract with the new company such as a 2 or even 3 year contract instead of a standard 1 year contract.

Well, I consulted with a Japanese immigration lawyer about this and he said what I thought he would say.

He recommended not to change jobs before or during the PR application process because it would just complicate* things and make it much more difficult to obtain it. He mentioned to just change jobs after I obtain PR, but if I really need to change jobs no matter what, try to sign a long contract with the new company such as a 2 or even 3 year contract instead of a standard 1 year contract.

Well, I read online and had a Japanese friend call the immigration office and I found out that there is an option to edit your original PR application at a later date if there have been any changes to status such as a job change.

I realize this would make the process more complicated, but the option does exist.

As far as I know, if you have good tax payment record for the past few years, it wouldn't really make a difference. By "good" I mean you ARE paying income/resident taxes (your income not falling below the taxable level) and that the prospects for you seem good for some years to come. And of course that your marriage is genuine and continuing :)

So if you are telling me that your income is going to fall, for example, under half of what it used to be if you change your employers, then either apply now so that you can apply with good tax record for the PAST few years, or wait it out until the application review period is over.

Another thing - I can only speak from our own experiences and what I know from some experts I have talked with myself. And yet even they won't know for sure what immigration authorities decide. All I can say is apply, do what you need to do at your work place (sorry to hear of the current difficult situation!) and see how things turn out. The immigration lawyer is saying he will help you re-apply, right? Then to me it is no problem if you apply once, you might change jobs and then they somehow decline it, then you wait it out another few years until you gain more income through your part-time jobs (better tax record), and reapply. I see no need for all these questions :) It's not like you got only one chance. Best wishes.

Well, I actually applied for PR today. I know that by putting my current job (which I will quit soon) is better because I have good tax records here and I have been here more than 3 years, which shows stability.

One issue though is that I know that if I change jobs, I need to report it to immigration within 2 weeks...so if I report this job change...won't the immigration staff have me fill out the PR application form again to make the edit?

The reason I ask is because I don't want to have to edit the current workplace section on the application to replace the current job with the good tax record with the new school I just started at.

Would I be able to just fill out a separate form with regard to a job change rather than edit my PR application?

Aside from this, since I did put down this job as my current workplace, I know that the immigration staff are eventually going to call up this school to talk with the boss. Since the boss doesn't like me, is there a good chance he will say bad things about me to immigration?

Does immigration ask all sorts of questions when calling up the places I work at or used to work at or do they only ask basic questions such as how long I worked there?

I know that he was complaining and starting arguments with me all the time to get me to finally decide to quit my job because he didn't want to fire me.

Is there a reason why a boss wouldn't want to fire his foreign teacher here in Japan? Is there some law he was trying to avoid such as me suing him over being fired for an unfair reason or what?

No problem. Because your status is spouse of Japanese national. As long as either you or your wife has income, it does not matter. I had changed job during the application but no problem.

Ok, well that is good to know.

Did you let immigration know within 2 weeks after you changed jobs and they didn't care at all right?

You just filled out a form with regard to the job change?

You probably didn't change jobs so soon after applying. I applied today and my last day at my main job is in a little over 2 weeks haha.