Notifying Immigration of the Employer Change

Notifying Immigration of the Employer Change is the 14-day filing that work-status holders owe the Immigration Services Agency (ISA) every time their employer changes.¹² Miss it and the gap sits on your residence record until the next renewal, where an officer will ask about it.³⁴

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Immigration Services Agency site. This article is general information, not legal or immigration advice; for your specific case, consult a licensed gyoseishoshi (行政書士, administrative scrivener specializing in immigration) or immigration lawyer.

Overview

This article is for mid- to long-term residents on an employer-tied work status who are leaving a job, starting a new one, or both.¹ It covers the two filings (leaving and joining), the three filing routes with the online path first, the lighter in-group cases, and the test of whether the new role still fits the existing status.¹³

The rule is national. Immigration notification duties apply identically in every prefecture; only the receiving counter varies with your registered address.¹ Each event carries its own 14-day clock running from the day the event occurred.¹³

Who must file and what counts as a change

The duty falls on the resident himself or herself, not the employer.¹ It covers holders of Highly Skilled Professional 1(a) or 1(b), Highly Skilled Professional 2(a) or 2(b), Researcher, Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services, Nursing Care, Entertainer (only persons working under a contract with an organization), Skilled Labor, and Specified Skilled Worker status.¹

Reportable matters are a change to the contracting organization's name or address, its dissolution, the end of a contract, and the conclusion of a new contract.¹ A typical job change under Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services is checked under this contracting-organization notification.¹³

Leaving the old employer counts as its own filing

Ending a contract with a contracting organization through resignation, retirement, expiry, or dismissal is reportable within 14 days of the day the contract ended.¹³ The ISA Q&A names the trigger plainly as leaving the company, with the clock counted from the event date.³

A person who resigns with no next job lined up still files the leaving notification within 14 days.³⁴ The joining notification follows later, only when a new contract is actually concluded.³⁴

Even a renewal granted at the same time as the move does not remove the duty; the job-change notification is still required.³ Where a change-of-status permission was granted together with the move instead, the job-change notification is not required.³

Joining the new employer counts as a second filing

Concluding a contract with a new contracting organization is reportable within 14 days of the day the new contract was concluded.¹³ A future event cannot be reported in advance, so the filing waits until the change has actually occurred.³

Where the new activity still falls within the currently held status, the holder keeps residing under that status after filing; no separate permission is needed for the move itself.³ The combined leaving-plus-joining reference form exists for filing both events together when timing allows.¹

Terminology

• 所属（契約）機関に関する届出 (shozoku (keiyaku) kikan ni kansuru todokede, "notification concerning the affiliated (contracting) organization")¹
• 契約機関 (keiyaku kikan, "contracting organization," the employer or other organization that is the other party to the contract)¹³
• 出入国在留管理庁 (shutsunyūkoku zairyū kanri chō, "Immigration Services Agency, ISA")¹
• 在留カード (zairyū kādo, "residence card")¹

How to file the notification

ISA offers three routes, and the online one is the most convenient (as of 2026-09; confirm current details with the Immigration Services Agency).¹ Whichever route you use, keep the facts and dates consistent across both filings, and have the separation certificate, employment contract, and working-conditions notice at hand.⁴

Online via the Foreign Resident Information System

The electronic notification system accepts filings 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and lets the filer check filing history and processing status (as of 2026-09).¹ First-time users complete user registration and a use application for new registration, following the ISA operation manual published in Japanese and English (as of 2026-09).¹

No supporting documents evidencing the notified matters are required for the electronic filing.¹³ When using the electronic system, the paper reference forms are not needed.¹

A new version of the electronic notification system has been in use since 2026-01-05, and practitioner sources note that online filing preserves the history most useful at extension time (as of 2026-08).⁴

In person at the regional bureau counter

At the nearest regional immigration bureau, present the residence card and submit the notification form.¹³ Reception days and hours can vary by procedure, so confirm with the regional bureau or the Foreign Resident General Information Center on 0570-013904 before visiting (as of 2026-09).¹

By mail to the Tokyo bureau notification desk

Mailed filings enclose the notification form plus a copy of the residence card, in an envelope marked in red ink with "届出書在中" or "NOTIFICATION ENCLOSED" (as of 2026-09).¹³ The single receiving address is the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau, Residence Inspection Division, Notification Desk, Yotsuya Tower 14F, Yotsuya 1-6-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0004 (as of 2026-09).¹³

No receipt confirmation is sent for mailed notifications, so ISA recommends a traceable sending method that leaves a delivery record.¹ Keep a copy of the completed form and the dispatch record; both help explain the history at a later extension.⁴

The reference forms below apply to counter and mail filings as a group (as of 2026-09; confirm current forms with the Immigration Services Agency).¹

Form	Use
参考様式1の4	Contract ended (as of 2026-09)1
参考様式1の5	New contract concluded (as of 2026-09)1
参考様式1の7	Contract ended and new contract concluded, combined (as of 2026-09)1
参考様式1の1	Organization name change, address change, or dissolution (as of 2026-09)1

Same-group moves vs cross-employer moves

The standard cross-employer move means the full pair: an end-of-contract filing and a new-contract filing.¹³ In-group events follow finer lines, and the lighter outcome depends on whether the contracting party actually changed.³

Moving to a different branch office of the same company is not reportable, because the other party to the employment contract has not changed.³ A mere change in contract terms with the same organization unchanged is likewise not reportable.³

Merger paperwork follows the contract, not the company name

Where the current company merges into another company under a new name, check whether your labor contract was succeeded. If it was, file the organization-dissolution plus name and address-change notification; if it was not, file the contract-ended plus new-contract pair.³ The same succession logic applies when only a division is spun off or absorbed: no end-plus-new filing where your affiliation is unchanged, and an end-plus-new filing where it moves to another company.³

A secondment to another organization is reportable as a new-contract conclusion with the host, because a labor-contract relationship arises there; for a transfer-type secondment, the contract-ended notification is also required.³ Where the dispatching company is unchanged and only the dispatch destination changes, no notification is required, because the reportable entity is the contracting dispatch company.³

Long-term dual work or founding another company, so that affiliated organizations become two or more, is reportable as a new-contract conclusion with the additional company, noting the existing company as the prior organization with "(二重契約)" after its name; brief concurrent work of about three days is not reportable.³

Terminology

• 出向 (shukkō, "secondment," a temporary assignment to another organization)³
• 二重契約 (nijū keiyaku, "dual contract," noted after the existing organization name when a second affiliation is added)³

Does the new role still fit your existing status

The notification alone never authorizes out-of-scope work.³⁴ Whether the new duties fall within the permitted activities of the current status is a separate test from whether the notification was filed.³⁴

An Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services holder moving from one tech firm to another in the same professional line normally needs notification only, with no change of status, provided the duties remain within the status.³⁴

Notification never cures a status mismatch

An Engineer holder moving to a customer-service-only role consisting mainly of simple labor likely falls outside the status and may need a change-of-status permission before starting the new activity.⁴ Filing the notification does not make that work lawful. Where status fit is genuinely unclear, treat the doubt as the trigger to seek professional confirmation, not as a detail to resolve at the next renewal.

Where fit is unclear, the holder may apply for a Certificate of Authorized Employment, which states the remunerative activities the person may lawfully perform and helps the holder and the new employer confirm scope before the next extension; it is optional, not mandatory (as of 2026-08; confirm current details with the Immigration Services Agency).⁴

Highly Skilled Professional 1 holders whose organization is designated by the Minister of Justice generally need a change-of-status application when a job change alters the designated organization, in addition to any notification.³ Operating a side venture using research results or expertise while continuing the main activity needs no notification.³

Specified Skilled Worker holders changing accepting organization normally need a change-of-status application, since the support plan, employment terms, and sector requirements are not settled by notification alone.³⁴

Terminology

• 就労資格証明書 (shūrō shikaku shōmeisho, "Certificate of Authorized Employment," stating the remunerative activities the holder may perform)⁴
• 在留資格変更許可申請 (zairyū shikaku henkō kyoka shinsei, "application for change of status of residence")³

What filing does and does not do for your next renewal

Filing keeps the residence record consistent but does not replace renewal evidence.⁴ At the next extension the officer may review employment history, contract periods, social insurance, tax, and notification-record consistency.⁴

Keep the online completion record, a copy of the filed form, or the postal dispatch record for the next renewal.⁴ Renewal preparation uses the new employer's documents, and a detailed job description showing activity alignment helps where duties changed.⁴

The deep ISA-procedure treatment lives in the visas-immigration procedures article, which this article cross-links per the category visa-coupling rule. That deep version carries the full procedural reference; this article owns the job-change notification sequence.

Good to know

File late rather than not at all, and never backdate

ISA instructs persons who missed the deadline to file promptly with the true facts and dates.³ A future-dated advance filing is not accepted, and late discovery still calls for immediate filing rather than silence.³

Your employer's Hello Work filing does not cover you

The employer-side foreign-employment-status report to Hello Work and your own affiliation notification to immigration are separate duties on separate parties.⁴ Confirm the employer's procedure with HR while retaining your own immigration filing record separately.⁴

A same-company promotion with unchanged duties needs no filing

Where neither the activity organization nor the contracting organization changes, including a pure contract-terms change, no notification is owed.³ Save the paperwork energy for the events that actually move the contracting party.³

Missed or false filings carry penalties and renewal consequences

The ISA Q&A states that penalties are prescribed for failure to notify or false notification, and that later residence applications may be disadvantaged.³ Keeping the filing record is the cheapest insurance against that outcome.³⁴

See also

• Engineer/Humanities/International Services Visa
• Resignation in Japan: The Employee-Side Notice and the Hold-Up Patterns
• Final Pay and Documents on Exit in Japan
• Japan Job Offer Letter and Work Rules (Shugyo Kisoku)
• Tenshoku Procedure: The Job-Change Sequence
• The 3-Month-Unemployment Renewal Risk

References

Footnotes

1. Immigration Services Agency. "所属（契約）機関に関する届出（高度専門職1号イ又はロ、高度専門職2号（イ又はロ）、研究、技術・人文知識・国際業務、介護、興行、技能、特定技能）" (Notification concerning a contracting organization). https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/applications/procedures/nyuukokukanri10_00015.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³²

2. Japanese Law Translation (Ministry of Justice). "Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act," Cabinet Order No. 319 of 1951, Act No. 63 of 2019 version, Article 19-16 (Notification Relating to the Organization of Affiliation). https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3624/en ↩

3. Immigration Services Agency. "所属機関等に関する届出・所属機関による届出Q&A" (Q&A on notifications regarding affiliated organizations and notifications by organizations). https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/applications/procedures/shozokunikansuru_00001.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹ ↩⁴⁰ ↩⁴¹ ↩⁴²

4. Yixin International Legal Affairs Gyoseishoshi Lawyer Office. "Changed or Left a Job in Japan? The 14-Day Immigration Notification and What to Check." Reviewed 2026-08-27. https://yx-law.com/en/column/job-change-immigration-notification ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰