I lost my job due to company bankruptcy, and my last day at work was 2 weeks ago.
I am interviewing other companies now, but not sure how the job hunting will go. The expiration date of my engineering visa is in 2028, however I have read that after staying unemployment for more than 3 months, the visa status would be fragile and subject to cancellation.
Now I am thinking to acquire a student visa through a Japanese language school. Based on their timeline I can apply for the next July semester, but my 3-month period will be finished in February.
What are my options now, can I go for the student visa? Or just hope my current visa will stay intact?
In case of student visa, what will happen to my residency from Feb to July?
Thanks
by TheEng68
5 comments
have you checked with immigration directly? they might give you an extension for job hunting. student visa seems like a big switch from engineering work
As long as you are looking for work, immigration temselves state they will generally not begin any sort of revocation procedures.
Also if you haven’t yet, get down to hello work to get the unemployment benefits process rolling.
No need to switch to a student status unless you want to study full time.
First, you did go to Hello Work and register for unemployment benefits?
If so, you should be in search for work and the 3months rule should not apply, if there is a 正当な理由 (seito na riyu, legitimate reason) for you, in your case the company got bankrupt so
It says it is question 72 here: [https://visa-sos.com/16246157779491](https://visa-sos.com/16246157779491)
But the actual document has it changed to question 77: [https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/immigration/faq/kanri_qa.html](https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/immigration/faq/kanri_qa.html)
First thing first. Tell the immigration office that you’re currently unemployed. You can do it online.
After that, you don’t have to worry so much. The three months for being unemployed is just a guideline. As long as your actually looking for work, you’ll be fine.
I was unemployed twice. The first time was for like 7 months and the second time was for 5 months. Immigration did ask me about it when I went to renew my visa, so I just showed them all the records, documents, emails that I had to prove that I was actually doing everything I can to get a job. They understood and everything was fine.
Just keep records of everything so you can show the immigration office when the time comes and everything will be fine.
On a side note, you also need to take care of your insurance and pension payments even though you’re unemployed. If money is tight, you can go your local city ward and ask for a discount on the insurance premiums. For the pension payments, you can ask for a temporary exemption (免除 menjyo). These two things need to be taken care of right away, especially now with the new administration.
There already great answers that will help you, but let me share my own experience. I lost my job and was unemployed for almost 5 months until I finally landed a new job. I submitted the notice of unemployment and notice of employment separately to immigration, because of the 5 months gap.
There was no problem at all. I was asked about the gap when I was renewing my visa, I told them the truth that I was looking for jobs and that I had interviews at that time. Showed the immigration staff emails of interview schedules (not a must, but I did it anyway) and some letter of acceptance (I was accepted to 2 companies and picked one of them – again, not a must). I was able to renew my visa, granted they gave me 1 year extension only, but after that I got 3 years then 5 years.
So, speaking from my experience, you should be fine as long as you keep on looking for a job and don’t do other things that your visa does not allow you to do.
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