RResidents in Japan

Temporary residence with a friend while on a working visa then switching to visitor visa

  • January 20, 2026

I am planning to move back to my home country at the end of this year. My apartment contract ends at the end of October and I am planning to stay through to the new year to celebrate with friends in Japan, then leave shortly after. However, I do not want to renew my apartment contract just to cancel it right after as that would incur some fees.

My plan is to move out of my apartment in October, keep working my job through to the end of November (possibly part of December), but to stay with my co-worker/friend while doing so. I am not sure if this is allowed/legal? I assume I would need to do the 提出届 (moving notification) from my current city to my friends, although temporarily and then once I quit my job, to then switch to a visitor visa until I leave in early January, all while still staying with my friend.

Has anyone done something like this before? Or know the legal implications of doing this and what paperwork would be necessary?

by tokyogyal5864

3 comments

  1. Some WHV status of residence (SOR) have a restriction that they *cannot* convert to any other SOR, and the holder is required to leave japan following that. This depends entirely on the current agreements between Japan and your home country.

    You should check with immigration directly, or only compare experiences with someone else with the same nationality that you have; any other nationality could have a different answer and may not apply to you.

  2. Simply changing apartments is absolutely no problem. you just need to go to the City Hall of the town you moved to and register the new residence. As for changing your status of residence, that’s a whole separate question so you should probably divide this into two questions or maybe just get rid of the first question because as I’m explaining to you now it’s really a non-issue.

  3. Whether or not you can move into your friends apartment, depends if his contract allows additional people to stay. It’s fine if it does, or his landlord gives permission to. But most contacts do not, and he risks getting evicted if that is the case.

    Also, if you plan to leave Japan, you really should do it on or before 31 December – doing so will save you having to pay residence taxes on your income for that year. If you leave on or after 1 January, you will have to pay residence taxes (~10%) on your entire income from the previous year.

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