This article is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails. Read the Japanese original（日本語版を読む）
Even if the person supporting you leaves a job for reasons on the employer's side, your family's 「家族滞在」 is not automatically revoked or made invalid at that moment. However, if the time for an 在留期間更新許可申請 (Application for Extension of Period of Stay) falls during the period without work, how the household is supported is examined carefully. It is important to disclose the actual situation, attaching the 離職票 (separation notice), the employment insurance documents, and proof of your savings.
This explains what happens to a family's 家族滞在 visa when the person supporting them, who works under a status of residence for employment, leaves that job for reasons on the employer's side.
It does not lapse. As long as the person supporting you lawfully keeps their status of residence, 家族滞在 remains in effect.
The most important point first. If the person supporting you holds a status of residence for employment and becomes unemployed for reasons on the employer's side, your family's 「家族滞在」 is not automatically revoked or made invalid at that moment.
家族滞在 remains in effect for as long as the person supporting you lawfully keeps a status of residence in Japan. After a sudden dismissal or a bankruptcy, that person is allowed to stay in Japan to look for their next job (job-hunting while keeping the status of residence for employment, or, depending on the situation, changing to 在留資格「特定活動」 (Designated Activities)). Because of that, the family can also continue to stay in Japan.
However, if the supporting person's status of residence changes, by way of 「特定活動」, to 在留資格「特定技能1号」 (Specified Skilled Worker (i)), family members are not allowed to accompany them. The family would then no longer be able to stay in Japan under 「家族滞在」.
Staying in Japan is possible in itself, but the renewal application needs very careful handling.
Staying in Japan is possible in itself. But if the renewal deadline for a spouse's or child's 家族滞在 (the 在留期間更新許可申請) arrives "during a period without work for reasons on the employer's side", the situation needs careful handling.
When the 地方出入国在留管理局 (Regional Immigration Services Bureau) decides whether to permit a renewal of 家族滞在, what it weighs most heavily is the requirement that the household can support itself. This is the test of whether the household can live steadily and independently on the earning power of the person supporting you, without relying on public assistance in Japan.
Even where the reason for leaving was on the employer's side (bankruptcy or dismissal), the standard applied in screening does not change. If you file an ordinary renewal application with no income, and give no explanation and no extra documents, there is a higher risk that the household will be seen as lacking the ability to support itself, and that the application will be denied.
3 points are checked: a record of job-hunting, where the living costs during the period without work came from, and the hours worked under 資格外活動.
Even where the job was lost suddenly, if there is a record of active job-hunting through Hello Work (the public employment office) or similar in order to find the next job, screening may be expected to be flexible and to treat this as an unavoidable transition period. That said, it rests entirely on the person genuinely looking for work.
You need objective evidence of how the family is living in Japan during a period with no income. Where the reason for leaving was on the employer's side, employment insurance (unemployment benefit) is paid after a waiting period of 7 days, once the procedure has been carried out at Hello Work. You are asked to show, through this unemployment benefit and through savings built up so far, the grounds for saying that the household is not in financial hardship.
Even where money is tight, a spouse on 家族滞在 is not allowed to work full-time to earn the living costs. You need to keep to the rule attached to 資格外活動許可 (Permission to Engage in Activity Other Than That Permitted), which is in principle up to 28 hours in any 1 week. Working beyond this amounts to 不法就労 (illegal work), and it affects your family's extension of period of stay and any future 永住許可申請 (Application for Permanent Residence).
A set of material showing that the job was lost for reasons on the employer's side, that daily life is stable, and that the person is moving towards new work.
If the renewal falls during a period without work, you apply with material added to the usual documents. That material should show objectively that "the job was lost unexpectedly for reasons on the employer's side, but daily life is stable thanks to unemployment insurance and so on, and the person is moving promptly towards new work".
The person supporting you must file a notification within 14 days of leaving the job. No notification is needed from the family members on 家族滞在.
Someone who holds a status of residence for employment must, within 14 days of the day the job ended (including by dismissal or bankruptcy), file the 「所属機関に関する届出（契約終了）」 (Notification of the Accepting Organization, for the end of the contract) with the 出入国在留管理庁 (Immigration Services Agency of Japan), either online (through the electronic notification system) or by post. Leaving this undone is a breach of that duty, even where the reason was on the employer's side, and it leads to a negative assessment at the next renewal.
The family members being supported (a spouse or children) do not themselves need to file a separate notification each time the person supporting them leaves a job. Whether the family can be supported is examined together at the time of the next extension of the period of stay.
What you most want to avoid is an application that hides the fact of being out of work and states something different from the facts, or an incomplete application that simply leaves out proof of unemployment insurance and savings. Gathering the 離職票 and the Hello Work documents, and disclosing the situation exactly as it is, is what leads to a result.
It is not revoked. As long as the person supporting you lawfully keeps a status of residence in Japan, 家族滞在 remains in effect. Whether the family can be supported is examined at the time of the next extension of the period of stay.
The 離職票 or similar showing that the job ended for reasons on the employer's side, records of job-hunting such as the 雇用保険受給資格者証, copies of savings passbooks, a copy of any notice of informal job offer you have, and a written statement setting out how this came about and what the outlook is.
Someone who holds a status of residence for employment must file the 「所属機関に関する届出（契約終了）」 with the 出入国在留管理庁 within 14 days of the day the job ended. No notification is needed from the family members on 家族滞在.
No. Even with 資格外活動許可, you need to keep within the scope of, in principle, up to 28 hours in any 1 week. Going beyond this amounts to 不法就労.
Tell us your situation and we will answer it directly. Available in Japanese and English.
Get a free consultationThis article provides general information. Immigration rules change, and outcomes depend on individual circumstances. Please check the Immigration Services Agency website or consult a qualified specialist.
This page is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails.