Hi all, asking on behalf of a fellow JET who is due to finish his 5-year contract next year. He wants to stay and work in Japan after JET but the BoE is telling him that he’d have to fly back to his home country once.
Has anyone had similar experience where you started a new job straight after JET without going back to your home country? And without breaking the JET contract.
Thanks. 🙂
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You are entirely able to stay in Japan without having to fly home, as long as your Visa is still valid. There is no requirement to fly home.
The only thing close that they might be confusing is that if you don’t fly home within 30 days, or plan to fly back to Japan shortly after returning home, they won’t pay for your flight.
EDIT: Source – Jet documents, and a handful of now-former ALTs I know from my prefecture who are still in and working in Japan.
You do not need to fly home. Get your visa status right and you’re fine to stay.
There is no law/rule that they have to go back home after JET, as long as, their visa is valid. Just make sure they let immigration know they will be unemployed from x-date. But preferably find a job that starts right after to make things easier.
That being said, your friend should be applying for jobs. People are more likely to hire them if they still have a valid visa versus an expired one. And if they go home, they will lose their visa and companies will be reluctant to help them get a new one.
When I finished JET, I applied for a job and started working right away. No need to fly back home.
You just don’t get those free flight tickets. You forfeit them by staying in Japan.
He can stay. Just tell him to get said job lined up quickly. And to take all his information from the immigration office, not the BoE, for goodness sake.
It’s weird because BoE should be happy they saving some yennies lol
He doesn’t have to do anything. He would be smart to let the BOE think that he is flying home so that they will give him travel expenses which are usually handed over in an envelope. As far as what he does, it is his choice and not the BoEs.
Tell your friend to read the handbook because it’s all in there.
You decide if you’re staying in Japan after JET or going home. When you choose to stay…
You lose your free flight home allowance
You gotta find a place to live
You gotta find a new job
Adjust your visa accordingly
RTFM. 🙂
He should read the terms and conditions if employment. That will say what everyone else said here.
Don’t have to go home. Personal experience.
You have to see why they are telling you that though as there might be a reason they are alluding to but not saying, yet can be worked out easily.
Personal experience. I didn’t return home after finishing JET. The only thing I can think of is your friend said they would (because JET pays for the flight) then they changed their mind but the BOE is very “I did the paperwork carry it out” ya know?
But no. Not required to fly back
You don’t have to accept the flight. I turned it down as I wanted to stay in Japan (and did). Found a job. Moved. New work place helped sort stuff. Sorted.
They will need to get the visa sorted. But there is a bit of leeway generally.
You don’t have to go home but you probably need to have already started looking for work by now to get any real chance of getting a job by the fall. Having a permanent address after moving out but before moving into your next place is an issue I’ve been having to deal with lately.
He doesn’t have to fly back, but you don’t get the airfare back, most likely.
JET is just a job. There is nothing special about the contract or VISA. There is no “JET PROGRAMME” special provisions for anything.
Former 5-year JET here(contract ended July 2021).
He does not have to return home. But if he chooses not to, he will lose his air-fare privilege.
But his chances of getting another job other than teaching are slim to none since the major Japanese companies don’t typically hire people outside of college job hunting season(March to April).
INTERAC and AEON tend to snatch people up pretty quick. I went with INTERAC and got a job offer from AEON as well. But I applied 2 weeks before my contract was up because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay or not. Got an interview offer from INTERAC within 5 mins of applying on gaijin jobs for the same day that evening. Got hired about 2-3 weeks later, but wasn’t able to get set up and move and stuff after the job offer as they had to set things up.
Some things your friend should be aware of is that no English teaching job even comes close to the JET salary. At best he would start out getting about half of what he is used to getting before taxes.
He will also need funds for food and a place to stay for a month if he goes the ALT route. If he does the English conversation route like AEON or any other private Japanese company where he won’t be an ALT, it will take maybe 2-3 months to get his visa changed to something else, not including the recruiting processes. Lastly, if his visa expires within the next month or so and he doesn’t have a solid job offer it will be tricky for him to stay in Japan while trying to get new work. But he can shoot his shot and ask immigration for an extension so he can job hunt. They will probably give it to him.
He can also be a direct hire teacher at a private school or international school, but he would need to have some recommendations and connections for that.
There’s some private businesses that hire foreigners and hire year round, such as positions in the IT and marketing fields, but he’d most likely need strong business level Japanese and a few years experience working in the field.
Assuming he built himself up pretty well during his JET time (passed JLPT, worked a side hustle, studied a marketable skill, went to grad school on the side, etc.) his best bet would be to get another ALT gig, budget like crazy, save money, and apply for higher paying jobs and try to get in a good company when all the big wigs start mass hiring in the spring.
I’m going to try join Rakuten which is a good paying job that is popular with foreigners next spring if I don’t manage to get a branch office staff promotion this fall.
tl;dr, INTERAC is probably his best, most realistic bet. He’s already in Japan so they will probably hire him within a week. They will pay to move him, and help with start up costs if he needs a new apartment. And he can easily terminate your contract with INTERAC at any time as long as he gives them a month’s notice.