My contract for my job ends in a few weeks. I thought it’d be a formality extending it to the end of March but that may not happen now.
I was wondering if I could legally stay in Japan and look for another job until my sponsored visa ends on the 31st of March?
3 comments
If you’re in a standard work status, yes. Looking for work counts as fulfilling the requirements of the status. Be sure to inform immigration about your job status change within 14 days.
yes but not because you still have time left on your visa. Your visa (technically “status of residence”) becomes invalid as soon as your job ends and it’s no longer sponsored, but you have a grace period of usually 3 months (I heard it was 4 during the pandemic but don’t quote me) before you actually have to leave or start another job. I would assume that if your visa ends before that then the grace period ends then even if it’s less than 3 months.
Submit the form to immigration notifying them your job ended, then if/when you find another one submit the form with your new company’s information, or apply to change your visa category if your new job isn’t in the same one as your old one.
Just adding on to the very good information already here – once you get a new job, you may need to change your visa status, and your employer will need to be willing to sponsor you, especially in the case that your new job extends beyond the end date of your current visa.
Eg., if you are currently on a Humanities visa and came over with an eikaiwa, then take a job with an ALT dispatch agency, you’ll need to change to an Instructor visa, even though you might be under the impression that the job is the same.