3 year Work Visa to Spouse Visa? PR?

Hello all!

After two years of trying, I just received my brand spanking new 3 year visa from immigration, yippee!

On the way home I realized that I had a few questions:

1. If my Japanese boyfriend and I decide to get married in the next year and I want to change my visa to a spouse visa, does it mean that I�fll be reduced to a one year visa again? Or will the change in status be stamped onto the back and I can continue to use the current visa until the expiration date?

2. If we get married in one year and I decide to stay on my current working visa and renew that in three years, will I still be eligible for permanent residence after 3 years of marriage to a Japanese citizen? Or is that only applicable for those under spousal visas?

While I realize that jt might just be best to call immigration myself and ask, I�fd like to know if anyone else has any experience with this as it would save me much pain!

From previous discussions here (have you done a search?), experiences vary on whether people who are married to Japanese nationals but not on spouse status can get on the "fast track" to PR; some people have been told yes, some no.

Legally, the only requirement is to be married, but immigration can and do impose additional requirements on some applications, at their discretion.

Hi!

Thanks for replying to my second question.

I did do a search, but I wasn�ft able to find anything that said if it was absolutely necessary to have the spouse visa for a fast track to PR. Most of what I saw was �gcan I get PR if I�fm married on a spousal visa for three years�h so I didn�ft find it too helpful.

Also, I wasn�ft able to find anything regarding being midway through (say like six months into it) a three year visa and changing to a spouse visa. Perhaps that�fs what I�fm more concerned about since I don�ft want to have to go back to immigration every year again like I had in the past.

Whenever you are granted a new status, whether through a change of status or a new landing, the allowed period of stay starts on the day the status is granted. The period of stay is not necessarily one year, however; it is determined by the officer granting the status.