For foreign students who are affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic: “The treatment of foreign students under the spread of novel coronavirus, etc.”

1. Support measures for foreign students (1) (in case of continuing to receive education at educational institution)

Extension of period of stay will be permitted to those who have status of residence of “student,” so they can continue to receive education.
⇒Such extension will be permitted even if a student transfers or otherwise changes from the educational institution where he/she is currently enrolled to another educational institution to receive education or even if a student studies at an educational institution which is different from the educational institution where he/she has studied up to this point.
⇒In case of receiving education solely on Japanese language, 2 years of period of stay is normally granted, but extension after expiration of such 2 years will be possible.
⇒Part-time job will be permitted within 28 hours per hour after obtaining the permission to engage in activity other than that permitted under the status of residence previously granted.

(Quoted from “The treatment of foreign students under the spread of novel coronavirus, etc.” published by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan in October 19, 2020)

The main difference from the previous rule is that:

– In case of receiving education solely on Japanese language, 2 years of period of stay is normally granted, but extension after expiration of such 2 years will be possible.

Until recently, 2 years of stay was granted as the period of education at Japanese language school. Nevertheless, as a remedy for foreign students whose study are behind or who had to change their future plan due to the current novel coronavirus situation, the rule was changed, so students can continue to study at Japanese language school for more than 2 years.

2. Support measures for foreign students (2) (in case of not receiving any education)

(1) In case that it is approved by authority that those who had status of residence of “student” have difficulty securing a flight ticket to return to home country or transfering to the area of residence within home country, they will be permitted to change their status of residence to the status of residence of “designated activities (for 6 months).”
⇒If they wish to work, they will be permitted to have a part-time job within 28 hours per week without applying for the permission to engage in activity other than that permitted under the status of residence previously granted.
Note: Since 19 October, 2020, the date of graduation and whether the school has the system of graduation are not questioned.
(2) In case that it is approved by authority that foreign students who graduated from educational institution in 2020, have status of residence of “student,” and have obtained permission to engage in activity other than that permitted under the status of residence previously granted have difficulty securing a flight ticket to return to home country or transfering to the area of residence within home country,
⇒part-time job within 28 hours per week will be permitted even after graduation.

(Quoted from “The treatment of foreign students under the spread of novel coronavirus, etc.” published by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan in October 19, 2020)

We will explain mainly about the following changed point.

– (1) If they wish to work, they are permitted to have a part-time job within 28 hours per week without applying for the permission to engage in activity other than that permitted under the status of residence previously granted.

Until recently, the way of handling was different depending on graduation dates, but since the modification dated 19 October 2020, designated activities visa (for 6 months) has been granted regardless of graduation date, as long as it is approved that the student has difficulty securing a flight ticket to return to home country or transfering to the area of residence within home country.
It is a big change for foreign students.

In addition, for judgement concerning the “difficulty securing a flight ticket to return to home country” mentioned in (1) above, rising price of flight tickets, etc. will be considered. Accordingly, even if there are flights to your home country, you have a chance to be evaluated as having difficulty securing a flight ticket to return to home country as long as you can explain that the prince of flight tickets have been soaring.

Next is a point to be paid attention, regarding (1) above.
In the case of (1), permission for part-time job is not necessary for holders of designated activities visa, which is different from the case of student visa.

A designated activities visa allows to conduct activities designated for each foreigner by the Mister of Justice. Foreigners are permitted to have a part-time job by a designated activities visa which is given to those who are regarded to have difficulty securing flights to home countries or transferring to places of residence within the home countries. It is because the Minister of Justice decides working part-time as the designated activity. Consequently, they do not need any other permission for working part-time.

However, you need to be careful if you have a student visa.
If you are on a student visa, you will need a permission for part-time job.
Please do not misunderstand that.

3．Support measures for foreign students (3) (in case that a job after graduation is already found)

If requirements are met, change of status of residence to the status of residence of “engineer/specialist in humanities/international services” etc. is possible.

(Quoted from “The treatment of foreign students under the spread of novel coronavirus, etc.” published by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan in October 19, 2020)

The content above has not been changed.
Please also note that there is no treatment such as relax of requirements for a work visa regardless of the pandemic situation.

For details as to requirements for changing from a student visa to a work visa, please read, “Procedure to change from a student visa to a work visa.”

4. Support measures for foreign students (4) (in case of intending to stay in Japan for job hunting after graduation)

Foreign students may stay in Japan for 1 year after graduation for job hunting after changing status of residence to the status of residence of “designated activity.”
⇒Normally, for job hunting, students can stay for 1 year since graduation, but such period of stay will be subject to extension.
⇒Part-time job is permitted within 28 hours per week with permission to engage in activity other than that permitted under the status of residence previously granted.

(Quoted from “The treatment of foreign students under the spread of novel coronavirus, etc.” published by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan in October 19, 2020)

The change mentioned here is:

– Normally, for job hunting, students can stay for 1 year since graduation, but such period of stay will be subject to extension.

Until recently, foreign students were permitted to stay in Japan for 1 year for job hunting after graduating from educational institutions.
For previous practice, please read “【Case Study】designated activities visa for job hunting.”
However, on 18 August, 2020, the Immigration Services Agency made an announcement, considering the influence of novel coronavirus to foreign students.

By such announcement, those who are trying to find a job after graduating from educational institutions are permitted to stay in Japan for more than 1 year, while under the previous practice it was limited to 1 year since graduation. It also states that in order to stay in Japan for more than 1 year for job hunting, it is not required to submit a recommendation letter from educational institutions, which used to be required when changing to a visa of continuous job hunting (a designated activities visa) or extending period of stay of such visa.

They are both big changes in policies for foreign students, so please refer to them if you are a foreign student having difficulty finding a job under the situation of novel coronavirus.

5. Summary

We hope the explanation above is of use to you.
In this article, we focused on “The treatment of foreign students under the spread of novel coronavirus, etc.” published by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan in October 19, 2020.

For the foreign students graduating in 2021, job hunting must be very tough, but information as to remedies for foreign students has been published little by little like the one mentioned above, which was announced by the Immigration Services Agency.
As long as you don’t give up, we will be grateful to support you.
If your job hunting is not going well, but returning to home country is also not an option, please feel free to contact us.