I know Reddit isn’t the best place to come in the middle of a mental breakdown, but I don’t know what to do.
To make it short, I’ve lived here for 10 years, working for 3. I guess I ignored some big red flags in my company and ended up with a 50,000 salary per month for up to 90 hours of work time a week, and a boss threatening that I’ll have to leave the country if I quit. However a few months ago I just came to a breaking point and quit- I know, it’s a horrible idea to quit before having something else lined up. I know. I’m an idiot. I have been trying to find something else for months now, half a year actually, with no luck.
I’m getting to a point where I’ve been unemployed for almost 3 months and I have heard that the immigration might come after you at this point. In addition I need to find a new company ASAP because I have to start renewing my visa soon.
I don’t have anything outside of Japan, this is all I have. How screwed am I? Can I just find a new company to renew my visa and hope it works out, and the immigration won’t look at what I’ve been doing?
Please if you have literally any advice, from hiring a lawyer to ending it all, or if you have had a similar experience, please help me. Or feel free to tell me how big of a moron I am
Edit: thank you all for your support and kindness
Edit 2: just to make it clear, I KNOW what my company did was illegal and my salary was way below minimum wage. My concern is how it will affect my future in Japan
36 comments
You do have to worry about finding a company before the hard end date on your visa, but immigration isn’t going to literally knock down your down when the 3 unemployed months are up. They technically have the right to start asking questions or revoke your visa at that point, but in practice it’s almost never enforced. And they do give you leeway if you can show you’ve been making genuine efforts to find a job.
Ive had 5+ month gaps and they never said anything.
You are not a moron. We all have ups and downs in life.
What is your educational background? Are you a native English speaker? What are your Japanese language skills? Based on these, you could find companies to sponsor your visa.
Start by going to HelloWork. Even if you quit your job you are entitled to unemployment although there is a waiting period if you quit you still should enrol and get the paperwork going.
Secondly, you have a limit to find work of the end of your current visa. However, it is possible to switch to a designated activities visa, with the activity being job seeking. That would be valid for 6 months with ability to renew up to a year. The first six months are pretty easy to get the second six months not as easy.
You will have to make an application to immigration and taking them paperwork that shows you are actively job hunting will help, which is why you should start with HelloWork as it shows you are doing things properly. Also things like records of your job search and interviews you are doing etc.
There is work out there, you haven’t screwed up your life hwre. But it does take time and effort to get a job even when everything goes perfectly. So just keep at it and remember to take the weekend off otherwise you’ll burn out from worrying and doing job applications.
As others have said, immigration isn’t going to come after you. For starters, they rarely do enforce that rule, but mainly, it’s not 3 months of unemployment, it’s 3 months of not engaging in the activities of your status of residence. And guess what, looking for work counts as engaging in said activities. So you’re completely fine.
You do have to have a job to extend your current status, but they do not care if it’s a brand new job or an old one. It may affect the number of years they give you, but it’s not grounds for a rejection.
Am I reading 50.000 a mont right?
I dont think you have destroyed your life or anything, but to get any good advice you are going to have to give us more information and actually answer people’s questions.
The advice for someone here on a student visa who was working at a combini is very different for the advice of someone who teachers English on an instructor visa, which is very different from an IT worker on a spouse visa.
I am also confused at what job has 90 hour work weeks and only pays 50,000 a month, as that would mean you were getting less than 150 yen an hour?
First of all, chill out.
You are not any where near as screwed or stupid as you think
Actually, your case is somewhat common. Lot’s of people quit their black company jobs suddenly. While not ideal, it is hardly the end of the world.
Lots of people misinterpret the 3 months unemployment thing. After 3 months, immigration can start the process of checking in on you and deciding if you should be deported. However, if you can show that you are still currently actively job hunting there is a 99.9% chance they will say Ok and let you stay longer while you keep looking for a job.
For the job itself, need a bit more info. What field are you looking for? Are you talking to a recruitment agent? Have you been getting interviews at least?
Lastly, I don’t know how serious your “ending it all” comment was, but if you are seriously considering that option then please PLEASE seek help. Reach out to someone. I can promise you, your situation is nowhere near as dire as you feel that it is, and to end your life over something like this would be an absolute travesty.
How old are you? I highly doubt you have screwed up your life in any sort of irreparable way. I had to declare bankruptcy in my 40s because of COVID-related f*ckery, you can’t be worse off than that!
If you were making 50k/month as you mentioned you should just start applying for ALT or eikaiwa jobs. You’ll be making 200k/month or a bit more, for 40 hours or less per week. It’s not great work but it will get you a visa and it will give you time to work things out.
You can then recover and decide your next move.
First of all you are not an idiot, no need to call yourself that. We all make mistakes in life, the important is that we learn from it.
Second I think you should contact the labor bureau about your previous job. If they really paid you 50,000 yen for a up to 90 hours work contract per week there is definitely something REALLY fishy behind that, and they probably owe you money.
Third even if you’re three months without work, you should still be fine visa wise as long as you can prove that you are actively looking for work. Go to Hello Work, apply for jobs, you said you are about N2 / Can handle an interview in Japanese so it should not be that difficult to find a company that would sponsor renewing your visa.
All the best of luck to you. I know it is a stressful situation, but do your best and everything will turn out fine!
You are entitled to the salary that was promised to be paid to you. I sent you a private message about taking a legal action.
Even if you already quit, we can argue the working condition was so unbearable you had no choice but to quit.
If we don’t do anything now, more innocent people will be in your shoes for foreseeable future.
50,000 yen a month?? Please tell me that’s a typo
It might also be helpful to explain what you’ve been doing for the other 7 years
If you have a contract that states your salary was 250,000 and they’ve withheld 80% of your pay for 3 years, you should seriously consider inquiring about legal advice. So incredibly illegal and you could be entitled to back/pay. Perhaps when you go to hellowork, they will be able to help you here, but that is insanely illegal and exploitative of your former employer.
I dont want you to feel ashamed of the situation and try to “put it behind you,” as that’s what your boss is trying to do.
Also, i must ask.. how can you possibly live on 50,000/month? Is your employer deducting rent/utilities/other stuff from your pay first, before giving it over? The amount is so low i am genuinely struggling to believe you survived off that for 3 years… but i’m going to answer as though it’s true, just in case
You can be an ALT for a dispatch company
You have until the expiration of your work visa so long as you can pay your way and don’t cause any trouble.
It is *theoretically* possible that the immigration authorities could come looking for you three months after leaving your sponsor, but in practice it is rare to the point of presuming it never happens.
Try to find work in the same field if you can stomach it. This will help with the difficult conversation you are going to have with immigration at your next renewal. You will absolutely be having a difficult conversation with immigration, by the way.
When you leave your sponsor, regardless of the circumstances, you are supposed to inform immigration in a timely manner. This does not invalidate your visa, but they are likely to tell you to leave the country if you don’t have something in the same field lined up.
Should you come in for a renewal under a different sponsor than your last, they are going to want to know what happened, when, and why. None of those things actually matter to them, they just have to write it down. What matters to them is that *you* did not follow procedure, and they will be upset with *you*, disregarding your circumstances entirely.
I have been through this once myself, and it downgraded me from a three year visa to single year renewals for over a decade.
tl;dr: completely, no; more like you’re going have to pay for it in paperwork for the next fifteen years unless you do some impressive stuff.
Sorry to hear this. If you have proof, talk to the labour board and also a lawyer. You should likely be able to claim back compensation for 3 year of backpay 20万、which is 720万.
> 50,000 salary per month for up to 90 hours of work time a week
> 5 hours to 15 hours a day
That is significantly below minimum wage. Even 90 hours a MONTH would be below minimum wage for 50K yen. If we assume you averaged 10 hours a day 5 days a week, that’s 210 hours a month on average…. working out to 238 yen an hour.
You need to go to the labour standards bureau (NOT Hello Work) and lodge a complaint. They’ll have the Labour Standards Investigation Office look into it, paying under minimum wage is a criminal offense. [List of offices here](https://www.check-roudou.mhlw.go.jp/soudan/foreigner_eng.html). Your former employer is highly likely to pay you any outstanding wages to avoid potential criminal charges.
> If it helps, my contract said 250,000 yen per month, which I never got; during my training I got 150,000 and then it just kept going down with a promise that it will eventually go up to 300,000, but it stayed at about 50,000
Any records you have of your working hours and salary paid will help. Bring your contract as well. You’ll need to bring them that, and ideally your bank records for the entire time you were employed there to show your actual paid wages. You can claim unpaid wages going back two years, so with the sub-minimum wage conditions giving leverage, you might be able to get those outstanding wages fairly quickly.
And you’re not a moron, you’re an exploited worker – companies like that are surprisingly clever at gaslighting people into tolerating horrible working conditions.
Go get a lawyer. Your salary was not legal you are probably able to get compensated for it. (Nor legal advisor).
Don’t leave the situation behind as you say, prevent others from falling in that trap.
I know you’re very hesitant to get legal advice or go to the Labor Board for this for your own benefit. But, consider this. What if they do the same to the next person? And the person after?
You have the power to help stop this, and there’s almost nothing that can happen to you in retaliation. You already quit, you stand to get the money you earned, and you may be saving their future victims the horrible experience you went through.
Something isn’t adding up. You’ve been here for 10 years..working for 3, what were you doing for 7 years? Also, 90 hours a week for ¥50,000 a month? Where’s the rest of your wages? For 90 hours, you’d be rolling in money….
Regardless, hello work generally only pay out to those who have paid into unemployment insurance. I doubt you did so you probably won’t get much there. But you will get advice on job seeking I assume. Good luck.
You haven’t screwed up your life!! We are all here (I mean the collective, not Japan) to experience challenges that hopefully we will come out of stronger (and dare I say,more evolved spiritually). I know as I’ve had my own share, and it’s so hard trying to figure out how to work and keep a job or find a job. It’s hard not to go down a spiral of depression when you keep trying and you don’t get the results you want. Just came here to say don’t give up and you’re not a moron! Others are giving great practical advice. We are all students on earth doing our best. You have a place on this planet!! This too shall pass!!!
I’m so sorry you have to going through all of this, this company definitely violate the law, and you have to fight for your rights.
You should do what everyone would advice in this comment, contact the labor bureau and explain all of the detail, also search for a lawyer. you’d easily win if you have any proof
Everyone is right, the immigration wouldn’t come after you, if you actively looking for job.
Wish you a very good luck on this.
You can also find advice by calling a consultation center for residents from abroad. CLAIR has a list for the whole country, it seems.
https://www.clair.or.jp/j/multiculture/association/consultation_list.html
50k a month?
This has to be a troll post.
Hi there, I hope this helps but if you have experience in hospitality, we are looking for more hotel staff at the Park Hyatt hotel in Niseko, Hokkaido.
We provide staff accommodation for our staff so that maybe if you are successful with a job you can save money as we heavily subsidize housing and staff meals for our staff.
Let me know. You can reach me at roberto.hutchinson
@hyatt.com
I hope this helps.
Other people have given good advice, so I just want to say that you made the right choice to quit. You were working for an exploitative “company” and they have no right to keep you held hostage. Based on your comments, you seem very qualified and are going to find a better job soon enough. Good luck and keep moving forward 🙂
FWIW I had a very similar situation to you where I went about 4 months without a job. Eventually I got one and it was fine no one ever checked.
best of luck; once you’ve stabilized and i know you will, please do follow what many have said here and go after this company, they blatantly committed crimes if what you said is true
I know it seems dark now but there is always a way forward.If you’re at rock bottom, the only way is up.Learn from how horrible this situation is, the decisions or lack of skills that led to it, how you can improve and become the best version of yourself. You can’t change the past or guarantee the future. You only have control of what you do in this moment.
Stay in it, hermano. It’s never easy, but a life worth living rarely is.
Is this going to be a case of something similar to human trafficking or contract slavery? These numbers and hours don’t add up. As others have said, if you have your paperwork and bank records, you are definitely in the right direction to getting compensated for your illegal wages.
50,000 yen per month…that won’t even cover rent and utilities in most places… it isn’t a typo?
Or do you live in company apartment and the 50,000 is your net after rent, utilities, taxes, and insurance… ??
No way your gross salary is (for every day use purposes) 500 bucks…
And, as so many others suggested, HelloWork.
Daijob and gaijinpot are also places with potential
Looking at what you have posted, it sounds like anything would be an improvement, and you need someone to sponsor a visa. My recommendation would be INTERAC or one of the other ALT companies. They are always desperate for workers. You’d get 4x your current salary, and they sponsor visas. They aren’t the world’s greatest, but they’d get you what you needed. The contracts only last a year, so once you are stable, you can look for a better place.
Also, please take it to these guys. If what you are saying is true, they are criminals who have been breaking a bunch of laws. They owe you a lot of money and should definitely not be in business anymore. Don’t let anyone else get caught like you did.
You were earning 50k a month and doing up to 90hrs a week? That’s hard to believe. That’d be like ¥140 an hour, while minimum wage is like ¥800-900.
Do package sorting in yamoto company , do it temporarily until you find a better job
It pays 1300 yen per hour and you can do part time so it’ll be great for you now
And you’ll make lot more than 50,000 yen per month
This can’t be true can it?
50,000 per month
Your rent is 100,000
Paying health insurance and pension by yourself which is likely to be around 50,000.
Then you say utilities and food equal around 15,000 a month. Surely your phone and internet is there somewhere.
If you’re paying 100,000 per month, you must have a pretty nice place? Or a small place in a big city?
Don’t you family question what’s going on?
How have you lived here for 10 years and haven’t smelled the wind yet?
This feels like a troll post.
Please go to the labour bureau with your original contract and a bank statement showing the wage that you are receiving. Not only does this company need driving into the ground, but you might be owed thousands of dollars.
I am sure you could even receive help with your visa in such a situation.
This has got to be a troll post. If after the first month I didn’t get my proper salary I’d be complaining and after the second looking for a new job. I also can’t believe they haven’t been able to get another (even shitty) job. Especially since as long as you can speak English and breathe, you can work at Eikaiwas like Nova and Gaba which although pay badly, pay more than that