Hi everyone, outgoing JET here who has an urgent immigration situation and I am desperately hoping someone has experience with this and can help me find a solution.
The short story is, I had a job offer that suddenly fell through. I have only until 8/1 on my Zairyu card and am trying to find other ways to legally be in the country. I have been to my local immigration office and spoken on the phone with other immigration offices for help, but have had no luck.
I have heard from other people on Reddit that you can change your status to "Designated Activities" for job searching, this sounded like a great idea but no one was able to tell me exactly how to tailor my application to this status. I attempted an application, but when I went to Immigration, I was told that this was reserved to recent graduates, which echoes what I found on the MoFA website.
I am in contact with a local language school and other schools based in Tokyo (I'm outside of Tokyo) about the possibility of quickly changing to a Student visa. Waiting to hear back.
I have spoken to a local Eikaiwa that a friend has worked at, but it doesn't look promising.
I was even told at Immigration that I could possibly change my status to "Short Term Stay" if I could come up with a reason, but not for Tourism, when I asked why, I was told "Why would we do that?" (I kid you not)
My first hope was to keep my 5 years working in good standing toward Permanent Residency, but now I'm worried about flat out being in the country illegally. So my questions, if anyone is familiar or can direct me to someone who may be, are:
1) Is there any way I can switch to Designated Activities to job hunt? If so, please help me understand exactly how.
2) In your experience, is any sort of Student visa possible in this time frame?
3) Do you know of any schools who offer remote/Zoom/online lessons with visa support?
4) Is there a way to change to "Short Term Stay" while I am still in the country?
5) Or do I just have to book an emergency flight to the nearest country and come back to reenter on a "Short Term Stay" after my Zairyu expires to settle my affairs or job hunt as a tourist?
6) Do you have any resources you would recommend that I can inquire to? I have called an Immigration office in Tokyo a handful of times and they have been helpful so far, but any references are appreciated.
Thanks very much for any help you can offer
by DanRSL