Quitting a job and coming back to Japan

Hello

I am currently working in Japan and my current residence status (engineer, specialist in humanities) is valid for another three years. However, my Japanese husband got accepted to a graduate school in my home country and we are going to move away from Japan for about two years.

I am wondering should I just temporarily leave my work and continue working there after coming back or is it possible to quit my current job altogether? If I quit and get re-entry permit from immigration, can I come to Japan with same residence card?

I don't mind taking just a temporary leave from my work, but as I still would be an employee of the company I would have to pay for shakai hoken even though I wouldn't get paid.

I donft know what kind of position you have at your employer in Japan right now, but I donft think that any employer is going to give you a two-year-long leave and allow you to simply return to work for them later. Well, maybe your employer does, I donft know.

If you quit your job, and then return two years later and show the same resident card (obviously you cannot have worked for that company in Japan for these two years, and their name appears as the sponsor), the immigration authorities will wonder what has happened. Some say if you quit your job, your employer-sponsored status is valid for ga few monthsh until you find another employer with the similar duties, others say it is yours to keep until it expires, and Ifve read about someone who quit their job, left for overseas, and came back in with the same resident status without any issue. So the immigration authoritiesf handling seems to be somewhat inconsistent.

Is there any way you can change your resident status to gspouse of Japanese nationalh before you leave? (This status has no restriction on the types of work you can do in Japan.)

This is really confusing. Isn't the purpose of re-entry permit to allow foreign residents to come and continue their activities indicated on their residence cards after coming back to Japan? In my case, my employer is willing to give me a leave and gladly welcomes me back to the company when I return. I may also be able to work remotely.

I also wonder, why would immigration out of nowhere revoke someone's status of residence even though they have granted the re-entry permit and are somewhat aware that the foreign national is leaving for a year or two but is going to return.

I won't get the status change on time before my return as we just recently got married, the marriage hasn't been registered to my husband's koseki yet and I heard the marriage registration back in my home country will take quite a long time.

I think the point is that you have a residence status that is linked to your work in Japan. If you change your work, as far as I know you have 2 weeks to inform immigration. Youfll then have a few months to find a new job. But thatfs not your case. You will be working overseas for some time. Even if you work for your current employer youfll be an employee of their overseas subsidiary. You will need to pay taxes, health insurance etc in the country where you will live.

If your company is happy for you to rejoin them in a few years they should also be happy to assist with a new visa / residence status. Youfll just need to apply with soffit time before youfll be transferring back to Japan. Yes, a bit of extra paper work, but if you fulfill all criteria not a big deal.

The only way around this I can think of is getting Permanent Residence. If you currently have 80 points on the HSP scale and had 80 points already a year ago you can apply for permanent residency even without holding an HSP residence at the moment.

Once you have permanent residency you can actually live some years overseas. I know, a bit non-sensical.

I guess the governing idea is that with all other residency status you can have them FOR being in Japan. You get the status because you must be in Japan to be an employee of your company or the wife of your Japanese spouse. But if he isnft in Japan or your work isnft in Japan you donft need that residence status.

While for a PR it is like the government has accepted that YOUR center of life is Japan. And they kind of accept you as one more resident of the country regardless of if you must be in Japan from the government perspective.

Just think of it, when you go into pension unless you have PR (or a residency status not linked with your work) youfll need to leave Japan.

I have different opinion.

they do not monitor your real working in Japan, when you go back and forth at immigration boarder.
so, you can go back and forth from Japan until the status is expired with re-entry permit.
at the time when you apply the renewal, they will check your jobs.

if I were you, I change my address, where my zairyu card is recorded, to his parent's house for the possibility of future immigration troubles.
get a multiple re-entry permit when I go out from Japan.
I can go back and forth from Japan.
but, to make it more simple, I change my working status to the spouse of Japanese nationals at an appropriate time.

Thank you for your answers, everybody. I have been living in Japan only for four years now and this is my first time leaving the country for longer period than a month so I'm not completely sure am I able to come back normally. I think I should apply for spouse visa from my home country just in case. I was going to do so anyway after re-entering, so why not do it beforehand.

About the purpose of re-entry permit: If the non-Japanese employee goes on a vacation, or a home leave, etc. during their work contract, and comes back, yes, that is what re-entry permit is supposed to be for. I was simply assuming that an employer would not grant a leave as long as two years. If that is what you are getting, then you will be fine.

About the gspouseh thing - applying for a gspouse visah anew from outside Japan would take time. You should be able to do the equivalent process quicker in Japan, through a process called gapplication for change of resident statush (because you already have an employer-sponsored gresident statush), NOT an application for a fresh visa. (You might say since youfll be outside Japan for 2 years so it should not matter, but it might, particularly during this pandemic, when processing of visa is taking even longer than usual.)

So is it safe to say that I can re-enter with my current status of residence? My employer seems to have no problem with me leaving for a longer period and I can continue working at this company after coming back.

why not ?

if I say the worst example, if you become sick and you want to go home to your country, you can do it. if you get a re-entry permit when you go out, you can get in with re-entry permit after you recover.

I think you don't need to say any reason for going back and forth at the boarder. don't forget to get re-entry permit.

when they say "no", then apply the change of the status or apply for the spouse visa.

also, you can apply a temporary visiting visa as a spouse of Japanese national at Japanese embassy of your country. this system has been working even under the pandemic.

I called the immigration and they said that if I'm going to continue working in Japan at the same company, I can come back to Japan with my current status of residence.
But if I were to quit, I would lose the status

uSo is it safe to say that I can re-enter with my current status of residence? My employer seems to have no problem with me leaving for a longer period and I can continue working at this company after coming back.v

If you're looking for something as certain as "It's safe to say that...", then you're probably best off asking someone at your local immigration bureau office. All of us here are speculating, and can't be held responsible for any future immigration problems you may run into.

That said, a work visa is issued, of course, because someone is working in Japan, and the sponsoring employer needs someone to do that job. If you're going to be gone for two years, immigration may judge that that's a long enough time that you're not really "working" for you Japanese employer anymore, and so immigration may decide not to allow you to reenter Japan on your current work visa.

œuIsn't the purpose of re-entry permit to allow foreign residents to come and continue their activities indicated on their residence cards after coming back to Japan?v
Yes, that is the point of re-entry permits, but they're usually supposed to be for shorter-term breaks in the activities indicated on their residence cards. Two years is much longer than most employers allow their workers to take a break, and it's long enough that the company will most likely have to hire and/or train someone else to do the work that you are currently doing while you're gone. So in the eyes of immigration, they may see your two-year absence as you effectively having left your position and having been replaced with another worker. Because of that, they may judge that what you are planning to do is not "continue the activities indicated on your residence card," but instead finished those activities when you left your job, and then looking to restart a second stint, which would require a new, separate visa.

œu In my case, my employer is willing to give me a leave and gladly welcomes me back to the company when I return. I may also be able to work remotely.v
œuMy employer seems to have no problem with me leaving for a longer period and I can continue working at this company after coming back.v

I would recommend discussing these issues thoroughly with your employer beyond "may" and "seems," and you may need to have their pledges documented as well.

From the immigration bureau's perspective, there's a big difference between a verbal promise of "Oh, sure, if/when you come back to Japan, we'd be happy to have you work for us again!" and a formal declaration of "This person is taking a leave of absence, but is still considered an employee and we have made a legally binding commitment to reinstate her at her current position upon her return."