If you are on “FOR WORK” type visa and are thinking of quitting your current job but you wish to keep staying in Japan, you must have worried about your visa.
On this page, we are explaining visa issues only. For legal advice on taxes and pension or any other employment-related matters, you should consult your employer or professionals who specialized in taxes or employment/labor issues.
Your visa will not be invalid right after you quit your job in case you have several months or more by the date of expiry of your current visa status and you are thinking of starting job-hunting.
Possible cases:
- You wish to quit your job but want to find another company/employer to engage in the same type of work or related to soon.
- You wish to quit your job and want to find different type of work which is not allowed to engage in under your current visa status.
- You wish to quit your job but want to look for a job for a while since you don’t know what you want to do now.
However, you should be aware of the remaining period of stay.
It would be possible you cannot do anything for your visa status if you only have a week or so by the date of expiry. You should plan for it with time to spare.
In addition, you have to be careful if you want to change your job to different type of work, not applicable to your current visa status. You need to sign the employment agreement before you apply for Change of Visa status, but you cannot actually start working there until you get approved of the new visa status and receive the new Residence Card.
You need to be aware of the period for job-hunting as well. You may do job-hunting for 2 – 3 months after quitting your job if your current visa status will not expire soon. However, you are subject to “revocation of visa status” if you are in the status “not engaging in the activity allowed under the visa status for at least 3 months” >> REVOCATION of VISA STATUS
After you quit your job, you need to submit a notification to the Immigration Office within 14 days >> NOTIFICATION REGARDING ORGANIZATION
| For those who have graduated from a distinguished university in the last 5 years… There is a possibility you would be applicable to J-FIND visa which allows you to come to Japan for job-hunting (6 months/extendable, 2 years in maximum). >> DESIGNATED ACTIVITIES for J-FIND |
IF YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH VISA PROCEDURES IN JAPAN, JUMP TO INTRODUCTORY PAGES BELOW FIRST:
IN CASE YOU KEEP ENGAGING IN THE SAME/RELATED TYPE of JOB
In case you will keep engaging in the same or related type of job after you quit your current job, you can do it under your current visa status without applying for Change of Visa Status.
EXAMPLE SITUATION
- Engineer holding ENGINEER/HUMANITIES visa status leaves his/her current company and enters into a new employment contract with a different company.
- Language teacher holding ENGINEER/HUMANITIES visa status leaves his/her current language school and starts working as a freelance language teacher.
- Chef holding SKILLED WORKER visa status quits his/her job at current restaurant and starts working at a different restaurant.
In that case, you need to submit NOTIFICATION REGARDING ORGANIZATION to inform both your leaving from the company and joining a new company within 14 days. You can work at the new company right away after making the employment contract.
At the time of the first application for EXTENSION of PERIOD of STAY (VISA RENEWAL) after you start working for the new company/employer, you need to provide documents to prove your job responsibility at the new company and the contracting company/organization in addition to the basic documents required for the Visa Renewal Application.
NOTE: If you are a HSP visa holder, you need to apply for Change of Visa Status even if you are in the situation of the above.
IN CASE YOU START ENGAGING IN THE DIFFERENT TYPE OF WORK
In case you start engaging in the different type of work which is not allowed to work under your current visa status, you need to apply for CHANGE of VISA STATUS before you actually start working for the new company/employer.
EXAMPLE SITUATION
- Marketing consultant holding ENGINEER/HUMANITIES visa status leaves his/her current company and starts his/her own company as a business manager.
- Engineer holding ENGINEER/HUMANITIES visa status leaves his/her current company and enters into a new employment contract as an engineer with a different company – he wants to try application for HSP since the new circumstances should satisfy the HSP requirements.
You can apply for CHANGE of VISA STATUS after you and the new employer agree on the employment. You can quit your current job either before or after the application, but you have to quit it when you get approved of the CHANGE of VISA STATUS and receives the new Residence Card issued under the new visa status.
You need to submit NOTIFICATION REGARDING ORGANIZATION to inform leaving from the company within 14 days.
IN CASE YOU WANT TO DO JOB-HUNTING FOR A WHILE
As stated above, you can do job-hunting for 2 or 3 months after you quit your current job if you have enough time until your current visa expires.
However, you are subject to “revocation of visa status” if you are in the status “not engaging in the activity allowed under the visa status for at least 3 months”
After you find a new job, you will process 01 or 02 above.