In late May, the Japanese government enacted a bill raising the maximum fee for changing residency status or extending a period of stay tenfold from the current 10,000 yen to 100,000 yen by the end of March 2027. Srijana's husband, Spandan Sunar, who has worked in Japan since 2016 at a transportation company and a Japanese language school, told DW his long-term efforts have "not been rewarded" by Japanese society.
"We are not newcomers. We have proper visa status, we follow the rules and we pay taxes, but our freedom to choose jobs and working conditions is very limited," he said in fluent Japanese.