Getting a home loan with a 1 year visa

[ExpatScot]

Hi all,

First time poster here. I've lived in Japan since 2002 and in the last few years have been saving to buy a house with my wife, the long-term plan being to get a house then start investing for our retirement.

Anyway, a year and a half ago I changed jobs and moved to a new prefecture but when next renewing my work visa they kicked me down to a 1 year visa (I've been getting 3-year visas for the past 18 years), putting on hold my plan to get PR. My visa was just renewed this month and they've given me another 1 year visa, which means another year of kicking my heels and unable to buy a house. Of course, a lot of this is my fault as I should probably have gotten PR years ago, but it is what it is. Waiting another year to apply for PR wouldn't be a disaster, I'm just worried that I get a 1 year visa again next year!

As far as I can tell it's pretty much impossible to get a home loan on a 1-year visa, or apply for PR without a 3-year visa, even with a Japanese spouse, but thought I'd ask the group just in case anyone has any advice. Has anyone been in a similarish situation?

On the upside, maybe this is an opportunity to change focus and start investing now, then revisit buying a house a couple of years down the line once the visa situation is sorted.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks.

[Moneymatters]

I'm no expert this is just from reading reddit for several years.

If you get repeated work visas of 1 year that's odd and usually indicative of a "Challenge" elsewhere.

Is your employer a decent sized company? History of employing well behaved foreigners? Salary over 5 mil?(Last one isn't documented anywhere but does have a bearing.)

Personally I'd recommend switching to a spouse visa now. I'm assuming you've been married for a couple of years already.

Benefit You can take action now.
Negative You might get a one year visa intially but getting repeated one year spouse visas is very unlikely.
And let's face it. You don't seem to be doing well with the work visas.

But for something this important a consultatoin with an immigration lawyer is the way to go.

[Beaglehound]

Plus one for switching to a spouse visa next time. The requirements for PR approval from a spouse visa are less onerous.

[ExpatScot]

Thanks for the reply.

My company has an immigration lawyer who deals with visa applications and it was assumed I'd get a 3-year visa this year after the 1-year visa last time, but no such luck. He even explained to the immigration staff that I wanted the longer one so that I could buy a house. The consensus was that I just got a govt office worker who wasn't in the mood for handing out 3-year visas that day.

My salary is coming in just under 5mil, which could be an issue. Then again, I was making far less than that for 9 years as an eikaiwa teacher and still got granted the 3-year visa each time.

I was thinking about getting a spouse visa, but of course that would be another 1-year visa straight off the bat, and again no guarantee that it would be renewed as a 3-year one. I read on one forum that it's quite normal to get only get a 3-year spouse visa only after 3 x 1-year visas. If I did go to the trouble of getting a spouse visa, and was again given a 1-year extension, I'd probably be second-guessing myself and wondering what would have happened if I'd stayed on my regular visa. But then again, as you said, it's nice to take action instead of just passively waiting.

A meeting with an immigration lawyer might be a good shout though, thanks.

[ExpatScot]

I'm no expert this is just from reading reddit for several years.

If you get repeated work visas of 1 year that's odd and usually indicative of a "Challenge" elsewhere.

Is your employer a decent sized company? History of employing well behaved foreigners? Salary over 5 mil?(Last one isn't documented anywhere but does have a bearing.)

Personally I'd recommend switching to a spouse visa now. I'm assuming you've been married for a couple of years already.

Benefit You can take action now.
Negative You might get a one year visa intially but getting repeated one year spouse visas is very unlikely.
And let's face it. You don't seem to be doing well with the work visas.

But for something this important a consultatoin with an immigration lawyer is the way to go.

Thanks for the reply.

My company has an immigration lawyer who deals with visa applications and it was assumed I'd get a 3-year visa this year after the 1-year visa last time, but no such luck. He even explained to the immigration staff that I wanted the longer one so that I could buy a house. The consensus was that I just got a govt office worker who wasn't in the mood for handing out 3-year visas that day.

My salary is coming in just under 5mil, which could be an issue. Then again, I was making far less than that for 9 years as an eikaiwa teacher and still got granted the 3-year visa each time.

I was thinking about getting a spouse visa, but of course that would be another 1-year visa straight off the bat, and again no guarantee that it would be renewed as a 3-year one. I read on one forum that it's quite normal to get only get a 3-year spouse visa only after 3 x 1-year visas. If I did go to the trouble of getting a spouse visa, and was again given a 1-year extension, I'd probably be second-guessing myself and wondering what would have happened if I'd stayed on my regular visa. But then again, as you said, it's nice to take action instead of just passively waiting.

A meeting with an immigration lawyer might be a good shout though, thanks.

[goodandbadjapan]

I'm no expert this is just from reading reddit for several years.

If you get repeated work visas of 1 year that's odd and usually indicative of a "Challenge" elsewhere.

Is your employer a decent sized company? History of employing well behaved foreigners? Salary over 5 mil?(Last one isn't documented anywhere but does have a bearing.)

Personally I'd recommend switching to a spouse visa now. I'm assuming you've been married for a couple of years already.

Benefit You can take action now.
Negative You might get a one year visa intially but getting repeated one year spouse visas is very unlikely.
And let's face it. You don't seem to be doing well with the work visas.

But for something this important a consultatoin with an immigration lawyer is the way to go.

Thanks for the reply.

My company has an immigration lawyer who deals with visa applications and it was assumed I'd get a 3-year visa this year after the 1-year visa last time, but no such luck. He even explained to the immigration staff that I wanted the longer one so that I could buy a house. The consensus was that I just got a govt office worker who wasn't in the mood for handing out 3-year visas that day.

My salary is coming in just under 5mil, which could be an issue. Then again, I was making far less than that for 9 years as an eikaiwa teacher and still got granted the 3-year visa each time.

I was thinking about getting a spouse visa, but of course that would be another 1-year visa straight off the bat, and again no guarantee that it would be renewed as a 3-year one. I read on one forum that it's quite normal to get only get a 3-year spouse visa only after 3 x 1-year visas. If I did go to the trouble of getting a spouse visa, and was again given a 1-year extension, I'd probably be second-guessing myself and wondering what would have happened if I'd stayed on my regular visa. But then again, as you said, it's nice to take action instead of just passively waiting.

A meeting with an immigration lawyer might be a good shout though, thanks.

It's been a while but I am fairly sure my first spouse visa was a three-year one. I definitely got PR after only being married for three years and don't think I ever renewed a spouse visa. No real downside to going for the spouse visa. Also I did get a house loan on the spouse visa before PR (on the condition I apply for PR as soon as eligible).

[captainspoke]

... No real downside to going for the spouse visa. ...

The often stated one is potential for divorce before you've gotten PR.

[ExpatScot]

... No real downside to going for the spouse visa. ...

The often stated one is potential for divorce before you've gotten PR.

Haha I should be okay in that regard!

[ExpatScot]

Thanks everyone for the advice, it looks like going for a spouse visa might be a good idea, it's another roll of the dice at least.

In terms of actually getting a home loan on a 1-year visa, I presume that's just a no-go for all mortgage providers then?

[Moneymatters]

Thanks everyone for the advice, it looks like going for a spouse visa might be a good idea, it's another roll of the dice at least.

In terms of actually getting a home loan on a 1-year visa, I presume that's just a no-go for all mortgage providers then?

Never say never. Size of your employer and length of employment, deposit amount, salary in relation to amount of loan along with a spouse visa could be a winning combination. You’d be surprised what a motivated real estate agent can find out on your behalf. If you had a spouse visa you could explain that one year is normal when switching to a new visa type.

I got a mortgage on a work visa. Deposit was close to 30% I think. But was told to apply for PR to “make it look good”. This was years ago and rules have changed. But immigration told me to first apply for a spouse visa as PR application from spouse visa looked better. I basically had the spouse visa for the duration of my PR application. No memory if it was a one year one or not.

And in case it’s not clear you don’t need to wait for your visa to expire before applying for a spouse visa. Christ. Now I sound like a broken record. Ask an estate agent what your loan application chances might be with different visa statuses. They will know people in banks.