I went to the immigration office (outside of tokyo) to ask whether if i can continue staying in Japan. The office advised me to leave since I still couldn’t find a job after jobless for 3 months. I am holding engineering & humanities visa and previously worked in IT company and quit because of toxic environment. The officer told me if i still remain here, the immigration will send a letter in the next 3 months to instruct me to report myself to immigration office and provide reason (if i still couldn’t find a job). If they are not satisfied with my reasons, i will be forced to leave Japan.
I am glad if anyone could provide advise for below questions:-
1. am i able to extend my stay if i get a IT part time job? my visa expires May next year.
2. if i continue staying here until i am being called to go to immigration and worse case scenario, i will be force to leave Japan. Am i going to get blacklisted?
Before I get any backlash from you guys, maybe i am trying to bend the rules, but I am trying to be sincere now, i am constantly applying for jobs, recently passed an AWS certification exam, taking JLPT N4 exam this weekend, constantly improving my japanese, i am not doing any illegal activities here. I worked my a\*\* day and night to acquire new skills hoping to land another job. I am genuinely interested to expand my career here in Japan. Last time it took me more than 3 months to get the COE and I think I wont stand a chance coming back here while applying job from my home country.
32 comments
Not sure what advice would be helpful. You need to either find a job in the next 3 months or leave Japan.
Many companies hire by the end of the year, so I would not give up hope just yet.
I assume you are:
-> Contacting at least 5 recruiters at the same time.
-> Using Hello work
-> Use Linkedin with updated profile
-> Use Indeed and other platform to reach out
-> Contacting companies directly
-> Asking for help from friends and acquaintances
-> Make sure your appearance is in order so you do not miss out on chances
You don’t just need any job, you need a job that will sponsor your visa. It’s unlikely that part-time will do it.
You also do NOT want to stay long enough to be thrown out. Basically every country in the world has a “have you ever been deported” question on their visa application form. This would not just make things difficult for you in Japan, it would make things difficult for you everywhere.
I’m sorry I don’t have anything more optimistic to say.
My advice is to do what immigration suggests you do. They don’t mess around and the next thing you know, your status will be revoked and you’ll be in immigration hold until they give you a trial/kick you out.
While you keep searching for a job I would highly recommend to improve your japanese. Even if we all know japanese is not necessary to live and work in here, it increases the chances A LOT to get a job.
Bring employed is a requirement to holding an SOR. Immigration is letting you job search until the end of your SOR on the condition that you continue to report to them on your status which is fair.
Part time isn’t enough to qualify for a work SOR. Humanities engineering typically needs to be a full time job with regular tax, nenkin payments.
I think the only thing you can do is try to find a job while reporting to immigration before the time runs out in May next year.
You can try hello work or Haken jobs which typically have a lower bar for getting hired.
It’d leave a bad taste in your mouth to just leave at this point. Don’t listen to the naysayers, just find any job that’ll sponsor your visa, then you can look for the job you want. If you’re looking for IT jobs, I believe datacenter jobs are the easiest to get. Good luck 🤞
Are you a native English speaker? If so, I’m gonna give you the best worst advice i can give. If not just ignore the rest of this reply lol.
Apply for and take whatever shitty English-teaching job you can get. IMO, if you really wanna stay even though you’re already at the point where immigration suggests you leave Japan, you really don’t have the luxury to be picky about jobs and salary. (Especially since the hiring process for some companies can take up to a month due to multiple interviews etc)
You just need to find any job that’ll hire you full-time ASAP and hopefully that job will sponsor your visa and then you’ll have to micro-budget and do side hustles to survive til you can find a better suiting job.
Since you’re on a engineer/humanities visa, i suggest you go for eikaiwa work as i believe that’s the visa required since you can only do ALT work and unless you’re a licensed teacher, i mean, only, ALT work, on an Instructor visa (somebody correct me if I’m wrong or if something’s changed). Once your employment status issue is settled with Immigration you can then try again to look for a job in your qualified field, which is the reason why i suggest you go for eikaiwa, so you can keep your current visa type.
That’s all i got, really.
If your current visa is valid until May next year, you can stay until May. Make sure to find another job within your field before it expires and you’re good.
You can always apply for permission to engage in activities outside your visa and get a job at a factory to give you some time while you look for a job in your field. That way immigration would be satisfied and you would have money coming in .
My advice would be to land another job before quitting.
If you have some money saved, you can enroll in language school and get up to two years of student visa. If you’re <N4, sounds like it’s something you should do anyway, to boost your chances to building a career here. As it turns out, not being illiterate is pretty great for job prospects.
I’m sorry to hear about your situation, but to be honest, with only N4 level it will be very hard for you to find jobs here (regardless of other certification). Did you apply to your previous jobs from overseas?
Some international companies hires foreign engineers but the competition is fierce. Have you tried contacting recruiting agency (Robert Walters, JAC, etc). They might be able to help you find a suitable position and give you better advice.
Speak to an immigration lawyer, not reddit, for immigration related questions
Even if it’s toxic you really shouldn’t have quit your job. Quitting is often what they want you to do, because it’s actually quite difficult to be fired by a Japanese company. It’s also wiser to go job hunting and try finding another prospect before you quit a company, that way you don’t land in a lurch like your current situation. Just advice for next time.
If English is your native language then it’s relatively easy to get a job as an English teacher at either an ALT dispatch company or an Eikaiwa. Both options will be for companies that will sponsor your visa. Such a job will give you leeway and time to find a better job somewhere else and also give you time to study.
If you’re not a native English speaker then there still may be some language schools looking for your native language and teachers to teach it — so keep trying that, if need be.
That’s honestly the best advice I have for you.
You are getting some good advice here. If you want to stay and avoid teaching then there is worse than haken. At least it will motivate you to keep looking and you won’t feel guilty quitting a haken role.
Also. No promises but focus on this date. “ my visa expires May next year.”..
if still looking for work when called to immigration bring a load of docs showing your are still applying/interviewing and I suspect you won’t be told to pack..
the procedure to cancel a visa request you leave isn’t something taken lightly. Them flexing with you isn’t the same thing. But yeah. You make it go away once you get a job..
also, are you paying your pension and health insurance whilst out of work.. paying residence tax. Bring all that evidence too..
I know it’s probably not what you wanna hear but going back to your home country until you have a job lined up in Japan that can sponsor you is better than risking deportation. Also as someone else mentioned you could try getting a student visa for language school if you have the money for it. Best of luck to you! Sending you positivity
Next time, find a job before you quit. You need to maintain your visa through your new full time employer. If you don’t find one now, you better get packing.
You have an engineering / humanities visa, if your desperate, just teach English. I hear Gaba is always hiring!
1) Use major recruitment agencies (register and have meetings with all of the big ones).
2) if you are really desperate, you can also tell those agencies you’d be open to contract and haken jobs (the two are not exactly the same). Even if you take a contract job, it would most likely help extend your visa for one year and you’ll have more time to figure things out.
It is easier to renew your visa than trying to get it from scratch, so move fast
Just grab an english teaching job asap. They’re plentiful, and typical contracts end in April, so you don’t have much of a commitment.
There are many jobs that are labeled “part time” but have “full time” hours of 32 – 40 hrs a week and they can and will provide sponsorship if you need it.
To renew your visa, you just need the company to stamp and fill in one thing, you fill out the rest.
Not sure why you went to immigration.
I’ve worked many toxic jobs that have left me depressed and unhealthy. I don’t recommend doing that, but if you want to stay in Japan, it’s best to get some job and not quit until you have another lined up or you are fired. If you’re fired you can at least go to Hello Work and get a bit of unemployment while you search for a new job.
I had this same issue happen to me, still looking for a job, immigration actually told me to change my visa status to designated activities, (job hunting,) waiting on the postcard so I can get my new visa.
Work eikaiwa and keep applying for work in your field.
It sounds like you’re a dev, from your comments. Have you checked out [https://www.tokyodev.com/](https://www.tokyodev.com/) and [https://japan-dev.com/](https://japan-dev.com/)? Edit: Though your AWS stuff seems to be ops so maybe I’m wrong.
If you are in IT, you can try many of the startups, smaller companies that often hire people without J language skills. Check out Tokyodev, Japandev and other small website specialized on dev jobs. Many of those jobs are ready to sponsor visas, as they expect foreigners applying
Why on earth do you want to continue working here in Japan? If you’re an American, I think it’s better to go back and start a career in an English speaking country. Been working here for
20yrs, if I could only go back in time, I’ll choose living elsewhere.
Maybe you’re conducting your job search the wrong way. Did you apply at Japanese companies as well? Did you register at Hello Work? How many job applications were you submitting per day? You said you have an AWS certificate which means you have some potential. Maybe you need to change your method.
Also, why would you quit if you had no alternative plan?
How much time do you have left? We might help
Just a note regarding your residence status, when people say “teach english”, eikaiwa is on the same status so no need to do anything other than a change of job notification online. ALT work (ie in an actual school with kids) is on an Instructor visa so needs a whole change of status.
You couldn’t be picky, just try to apply in hakken gaisha and once you joined you can try to search for better job again.
May I know how you manage to life in japan without salary for now as you need to pay a tax?
I think your visa is a Specialist in Humanities one – which covers jobs from engineering to English teaching and translation etc. If I`m right you can find an English teaching job to tide yourself over and my advice is to do it until you find something better.
Make sure you get interviews with companies that will sponsor your visa. Unluckily there are some chain schools like Gaba and English Village that will sponsor teachers but aren`t the kind of schools I`d recommend. And be careful to ask before you even get an interview whether there is a set salary per month.
The standards of English schools have dropped so low that some claiming to want `teachers who are passionate about teaching`, `teachers who are diverse` etc are just suckering applicants into working with no salary in mind – you only get paid if you get booked by students. But you have to make yourself available at times when you could be earning money at another job even if you don`t get enough students. Stay away from those kinds of schools and don`t even interview with them if they can`t give you a fixed salary each month but tell you that you can make enough money each month.
So it is IS A GOOD IDEA TO GET N3 IN ORDER TO GET AN IT JOB FASTER. N4 can only do so much.
Dunno if n4, will make you attractive to the job market. Have you considered applying online instead ? Less toxic people.
Get any English teaching job that sponsors your visa. Once you get your new visa, apply for jobs you really want then quit the English teaching job. Lots of people do that, I’ve seen people quit even during like the first week training, specially at those well known “black” companies. Screwing them over means nothing since they also screw other people over so it’s all good.