Your Japanese Visa

Please be sure to check the expiration date and verify the status of your Japanese visa.

First and Second Year ALTs

1st and 2nd year JETs with a valid 3-year visa can generally remain in Japan for short-term sightseeing or packing without having to change visa status, provided that you DO NOT work.  For people who wish to work, please see the section on the following page.  Note that if you stay longer than one month, you will be responsible for paying your own return trip home.  

Third Year ALTs

The standard JET visa is valid for 3 years so your visa will likely expire on (or within several days of) the end of your contract.  If your visa will expire BEFORE your contract ends, you must extend your current working visas in order to fulfill your contract.  If your visa will expire ON or a few days AFTER your contract ends and you want to have time to pack, say farewells, or travel, you will need to apply for a 90-day “Temporary Visitor” visa.  You should not risk being in Japan for even a day on an expired visa!  See the section below if you plan to stay and work. 

Getting a Temporary Visitor Visa

Go to the Immigration Office well in advance of the expiration date of your current visa.  Bring:

ü         Passport

ü         Inkan

ü         Alien Registration Card

ü         4000\

ü         Documentation showing the last day of your contract

Fill in the application for permission to Change the Status of Residence (tanki shikaku henko kyoka shinseisho). Confirm that the change will not go into effect until after your last day of work.  Although this visa change can usually be processed in one day, it may take longer if the offices are busy and you may have to return on another day to pick up your passport.

The Kumamoto Immigration Office advises calling ahead of time before applying for any type of visa change.

Please note that if you try to leave the country after your visa has expired then you will be classified as an illegal alien and probably detained and interrogated at the airport - which will then mean that you will need to pay for your own flight home when you are deported and you may not be allowed to come back to Japan.

Continuing Work in Japan

When you finish your contract with the JET Programme, if you would like to continue working in Japan, you will need to apply for a new visa status with your new place of employment if your new position does not fall under the same status of residence that is on your current visa.  Earning money in any way other than what is allowed by your status of residence is illegal. This is true even if your JET visa has not yet expired.

Your status of residence should read “Instructor” if an ALT or “Specialist in Humanities/ International Services” if a CIR.  For example, t in order for an ALT to continue working on the JET visa, the ALT must be employed in a public school or certified private school. Teaching at an eikaiwa school does not qualify under the “Instructor” status.

For more information, go straight to the source:

Immigration Office in Kumamoto:

(Japanese Only)

Tel: (096) 362-1721

Hours: Monday through Friday, 9:00AM – 12:00PM, open again from 1:00PM – 4:00PM.

Directions:  see map below; contact PAs

For English help, call:

Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau:  (03) 5796-7112

Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau:  (06) 6774-3409

Yokohama Regional Immigration Bureau:  (045) 651-2851

additional notes:

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..