What happens if you haven’t secured a job offer before graduating from university or vocational school? The Ministry of Justice is preparing a system that allows foreign students to continue to look for a job even after graduation. Here, we will introduce some details about post-graduation job hunting.
Job hunting in the first year after graduation
After graduating from university or vocational school, if you want to remain in Japan after your student visa has expired to continue looking for a job, providing there are no other problems surrounding your status of residence in Japan, and your educational institution can provide you with an official recommendation notice for finding a job in Japan, a change of visa status to “Specific Activity 9” for job hunting activities can be approved. Your visa can then be extended under this new status for up to six months and you can then renew this to another six months if needed. This has made it possible to continue searching for a job for up to one year after graduating from university or college. You can find out more and see a list of the exact documents that need to be submitted here:
Ministry of Justice: Specific Activity 9
Job hunting in the second year after graduation
International students who are actively looking for employment a year after initially changing their status of residence to the new Specific Activity 9, can apply to join local government operated employment support projects (limited to those that meet the requirements set by the government). If you wish to participate in this kind of program that lets you continue searching for a job, including participating in internships, you can apply to your local public body for a special certificate that shows you are a member of this program. This would then allow you to stay up to a further one year after your Specific Activity 9 visa extension has expired.
About part-time jobs during this job hunting period
In any of the first or second years mentioned above, you can obtain permission to work outside of your official visa status and engage in part-time work for up to 28 hours a week, as long as certain requirements are met. In addition, for work that is actually part of your active job seeking process, like in internships, it is possible to obtain permission to exceed these 28 hours per week.
【Reference site】 For those who wish to stay in Japan to look for employment after graduating from university/vocational college
Read articles of Job Hunting Guide for International Students
- Features of job-hunting in Japan
- Japanese hiring culture
- Job-hunting schedule in Japan
- The advantages and disadvantages of working at different types of companies
- Finding employment for international students
- Why do Japanese firms employ international students?
- Self-Analysis
- Industry research
- How to write a good resume
- Entry sheets
- Written exams
- Interview
- The steps for receiving a job offer and joining a company
- The procedure to change a visa status
- About job hunting after graduation
