Tight Timeline. Change of Status or COE?

Hi, I'm a US citizen working out of Singapore and recently got laid off due to a restructure. As I'm not a Singaporean citizen/PR I have to leave the country within 30 days of the last day of my employment. I write this as I'm still in the country with our departure date coming up.

Our plan is to move to Japan as my wife is a Japanese national. We've got married in Japan 3 years ago, but have been living overseas ever since. She's actually a government employee who took an extended sabbatical to live with me out in Singapore, but upon our return to Japan she will rejoin the workforce.

Immediately after news of my layoff I did some job-hunting and quickly found a well-paying job with a reputable company that would hire me but made it clear they couldn't support a work visa for me. I went through with the interview process based on the premise that I would get work eligibility through my wife and managed to get an official offer letter outlining employment terms and salary, but I fear that the uncertainty of the status change processing time might scare them off, so I would like to hear everyone's story on which methods provided them their residence status change quickest.

Due to the short window of everything going on, would it be easier for me to go in on a temporary visitor pass and apply to change residence status than go for a COE? Especially as the latter sees me flying back to the US due to what appears to be a long processing window (1-3 months) and most likely seeing my job offer rescinded.

Thanks in advance.

COEs can and normally take 3 months.

Entering as a temp visitor makes sense.

i would do some research before coming on a tourist visa.

from august 2019 immigration changed the rules around being able to change a tourist visa to another kind of visa except in extreme circumstances. you now have to be on a long term visa already in japan to be able to change it. the standard is now to get a COE outside of Japan and get the visa stamp at your local japanese embassy.
may be worth asking an immigration lawyer whether your situation is viable to be able to process a change. its best to get qualified advice.

I�fve heard something similar to what Shelly mentioned, that is, an application from temporary visitor status to an employer sponsored work resident status while staying in Japan is no longer admitted (you need to go the COE path).

However, I have also heard that application for a change of status from temporary visitor to a family/relationship based resident status while staying in Japan may still be accepted (no change in handling by immigration authorities confirmed). This is something I heard from an immigration lawyer. See if you can find another to confirm this. Best wishes.

Yes excellent point, sometimes they allow family based ones, sometimes! they may see your situation as troubling for you and let it happen.
I, however was told to apply from my home country for my spouse COE, which took 5 months
I would speak to an immigration lawyer and see if they think they could get yours through

Thanks everyone for the answers. I was under the understanding that residence change via spouse, not work, would not be affected by those restrictions. Can anyone clarify?

Please read what I wrote – that �gno change in the handling by immigration authorities confirmed,�h but the immigration lawyer I spoke with said how they would handle spouse cases was �gunknown�h as far as his experiences went. (I never heard that �g(spouse cases) would not be affected�h either.)
That is why I suggested getting another immigration lawyer yourself to check.