Visa & residencyVisas and renewals
Divorce on a spouse visa in Japan: the 14-day notice, the 6-month rule, changing to long-term resident (定住者) and what it means for permanent residency.
As of October 2026, if you divorce while on a Japanese spouse visa (日本人の配偶者等), you must notify immigration within 14 days, online with no documents. Not living as a spouse for 6 months or more without a justifiable reason is a ground for cancelling your status, but immigration is to consider letting you apply for another status or permanent residency first. A common route is a change to long-term resident (定住者), decided case by case. That status leads to permanent residency after 5 years.
If you divorce while on a Japan spouse visa, you must tell immigration within 14 days of the divorce, as of October 2026. Your status, Spouse or Child of Japanese National (日本人の配偶者等), depends on being a spouse. If you want to stay, you may need to apply for a new status, often long-term resident (定住者). This page covers the visa side only. For the divorce itself, see divorce in Japan for foreigners.
Holders of 日本人の配偶者等 (as a spouse), 永住者の配偶者等 (as a spouse) and 家族滞在 (spouse-type activities) must file a notification regarding spouse (配偶者に関する届出) within 14 days of the divorce or the spouse’s death. The legal basis is Article 19-16 of the Immigration Act. ISA says notifications for a future date are not accepted, so file after the divorce is final.
You can file in three ways:
The form can be written in Japanese or English. ISA’s page does not state a penalty for filing late, and we haven’t confirmed one.
ISA’s pages don’t give a fixed grace period. What the law does say is this: if you have not carried on activities as a spouse for 6 months or more and have no justifiable reason, your status can be cancelled (Immigration Act Article 22-4). Before doing that, ISA is to consider giving you a chance to apply for a change of status or for permanent residency (Article 22-5).
So the 6 months is the point at which cancellation becomes possible, not a safe period. ISA’s notification guidance also says that if you want to keep living in Japan after a divorce, a status change application may be needed promptly. A change of status is granted only when there are reasonable grounds (Article 20). Ask your bureau which application you need and by when.
Sometimes. ISA decides each change from a spouse status to 定住者 case by case. The periods of stay for 定住者 are 5 years, 3 years, 1 year, 6 months, or a period set individually of up to 5 years. For the full status, see long-term resident visa in Japan.
ISA publishes examples of changes it approved and refused. It says it decides on the planned activities, how you have lived in Japan and your need to stay, and that similar cases can end differently.
| Approved examples | Refused examples |
|---|---|
| Divorced, about 6.5 years married, parental authority over a Japanese child, childcare record, regular income | A criminal conviction (fraud and injury) |
| Separated because of domestic violence, about 3 years married, regular income | About 1 year 6 months or 1 year 9 months spent alone outside Japan |
| Divorced, about 7.75 years married, paying ¥30,000 a month in child support for a Japanese child, salaried | Marriage with under 3 months of living together |
| Divorced because of domestic violence, about 4.4 years married, raising a Japanese child | Short marriages combined with other factors, such as work at an adult entertainment shop while separated |
The list is from ISA’s 2012 document, revised in 2017, and ISA may add cases. We found no official minimum marriage length. Do not read the table as a rule.
If you qualify for a work status, such as a job under an engineer or humanities visa, you can apply to change to it instead. The change rules are in change of status of residence in Japan. If you hold 永住者の配偶者等 (spouse of a permanent resident), ISA says a spouse who loses eligibility for that status has to change to a status such as 定住者.
If you hold 永住者 (permanent residency) yourself, a divorce does not change your status.
ISA’s guideline (revised February 2026) has a spouse exception to the usual 10 years: 3 years or more of real married life and 1 year or more in Japan. It is written for a spouse of a Japanese national, permanent resident or special permanent resident. After a divorce, ISA’s page doesn’t say how it treats time already married, so ask the bureau.
The routes that stay open are:
From applications on or after 1 April 2027, the spouse exception becomes 5 years of real marriage and 3 years in Japan. The 5-year 定住者 route stays. Details are in permanent residency requirements.
If your card is close to expiry when the divorce happens, ask your bureau whether to renew or change status. The general renewal process is in visa renewal in Japan. If you married recently or are still on the original spouse visa, see the spouse visa guide.
ISA doesn’t publish a divorce-specific checklist on the pages we checked. Bring your passport and residence card, and ask the bureau for the exact list for your case. The approved examples above turned on income, a Japanese child and a record of raising the child, so a 行政書士 can tell you which papers show that.
More guides: spouse visa in Japan · long-term resident visa · divorce in Japan for foreigners · permanent residency requirements
You must notify immigration within 14 days. The status is based on being a spouse, so if you want to stay you may need to apply to change it. Ask your regional immigration bureau which application fits your case.
The law lets immigration cancel the status after 6 months or more without living as a spouse, unless there is a justifiable reason. Before cancelling, it is to consider letting you apply for a change of status or permanent residency. Don't treat 6 months as a guaranteed grace period.
Possibly. Immigration publishes cases where a status change to long-term resident (定住者) was approved or refused, and says similar cases can end differently. A work status is another route if you meet that status's requirements.
Not through the spouse exception, which is written for a spouse. The general rule is 10 years in Japan, and 定住者 holders can apply after 5 years on that status. From 1 April 2027 the spouse exception itself becomes 5 years of marriage and 3 years in Japan.
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