How bad would it be to back out of a job sponsoring your visa a week before starting for a better offer? Has anyone ever done this? They already paid for a plane ticket and accommodations. I’m guessing I would have to reimburse them but are there any other consequences? I feel a sense of shame for leading them on, but on the other hand it’s a corporation with tons of money so do they really care? What makes it worse is that I was given an offer by this company a while ago but declined due to a death in the family. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
4 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
—
**Backing out of a job sponsoring your visa a week before starting**
How bad would it be to back out of a job sponsoring your visa a week before starting for a better offer? Has anyone ever done this? They already paid for a plane ticket and accommodations. I’m guessing I would have to reimburse them but are there any other consequences? I feel a sense of shame for leading them on.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
you’d be burning your bridges with the company, but that’s about it. They may ask you to reimburse for any non-refundable expenses (the flight, maybe a deposit at the hotel) but there isn’t much they could do if you refuse (although I suppose if you did come to Japan later on they could sue you, assuming they found out somehow).
Just remember that the CoE and associated visa that you’ve gotten would no longer be valid. You’d need to return them to immigration (or your local embassy/consulate) before starting the process all over again with the new company.
>it’s a corporation with tons of money so do they really care
This is not a really great attitude to go into the workforce with.
Sure the upper management will not care specifically about you, but the people who decided to hire you and sponsor you will, and backing out on a whim leaves a bad impression for hiring people from overseas. Be professional.
It’s a dick move since they’ve spent the time and resources to prepare for you to come over, but ultimately you have to make the decision to switch to the other job if it will be that much more beneficial to you.
There’s no graceful way of backing out. They’re not going to go out of their way to understand your situation. But, it’s not like contracts and promises are shackles – you can and will do things that go against your word sometimes and that’s okay. On the flip side, you’re going to have to be okay with that burning bridges and pissing people off. They’re not going to like you. But then again, you’re probably never going to interact with them again.
These kind of decisions are sometimes required, and it’s your job to weight the differences and make sure you don’t piss off so many people you have nothing to fall back on.