Visas After JET

3rd Years Leaving Japan

Your 3-year visa expires on the same numerical date that you entered Japan. The information is written on the Foreign Registration Card, labeled “Period of Stay.” Please confirm the exact date by looking there. This should correspond exactly to the end date of your contract for almost everyone (contracts end one numerical date before they began. People attending A or B orientations entered the country one numerical date before their contract started.)

If you plan to take nenkyu and leave before the end of your contract and period of stay, you only need to present your visa and turn in your Gaijin card at the airport as you leave. There should be no trouble at all. (Just make sure it`s ok with your contracting organization for you not to be there on your last day).

If you plan to leave on the exact date of the end of your contract (and the end of your period of stay), you also should be able to leave without worry. If there is a typhoon or your plane is delayed overnight for some reason, you may run into a problem. Hopefully the authorities would be understanding, but it’s a risk.

If you plan to leave even one day after your contract and period of stay expire, you must follow procedures to convert your status of residence to “temporary visitor” for the remaining time. This procedure should be done at the Immigration Office. The process requires documents, a fee, and multiple trips to the office. Please see the leavers packet for more information.

Status of Residence:

If you are found to be in Japan doing any other work than that allowed by your status of residence, you are considered an illegal alien. You may face fines, lengthy legal processes, deportation, and even a ban from returning to Japan for some period of time.

Current ALTs are “Instructors” because they teach at standard educational institutions. Current CIRs are “specialists in humanities/international service.”

Only standard education institutions (public and qualified private primary, middle, and high schools and universities) can sponsor “instructor” visas. You may NOT work at an Eikaiwa school, kindergarten/pre-school, and other such institution with an ALT (“instructor”) visa!

Staying in Japan on a JET visa.

It is not possible if your visa is expired (ie – third year JETs)

It is not possible if you have secured a new job. Your visa must be changed to reflect your new employment.

If you do not have employment secured in Japan after JET, but you would like to stay and look for another job, it is technically possible to do so. You must be looking for a job that matches your current status of residence and you must not be earning money elsewhere during the job hunt. The Immigration Office in Kumamoto says that people who have been in Japan for 3 months without a job will become “a target for cancellation of status.” If discovered, the Immigration authorities will review the case to “determine if the person’s purpose for stay has changed.” It is not clear how or why that determination would be made. Especially if you are found to be earning money in some other way, your visa will be revoked and you will face penalties immediately..