Working Visa, job never started

Hello everyone,

My name is Francesco and I'll try to get right to the point.

I was supposed to fly to Japan for joining a company about a week ago.

Unfortunately, due to some last minute misunderstanding on the working conditions, which I did not agree on, the company decided to terminate my contract before me leaving for Japan.

As such, I am left with a 5 years working visa (category E) printed on my passport as well a stapled COE on the back.

Right now, I am trying to get a job from another company in Japan and my questions are:
- What would happen, should they agree on hiring me, with the current Visa?
- Would the new company know of such a situation or my current Visa got actually canceled right away, the moment the previous company terminated my contract?
- Would I still be able to get to work in Japan with this new company without any troubles?

Just for clarifying: I haven't entered Japan yet.

Sorry for typos, if any, but I am pretty tense.
Thanks a lot for helping, guys.

Fra

You can actually enter Japan and get a residence card with the visa on your passport and the COE, if I'm not mistaken, and also work for any company who would hire you as long as it falls under the type of work your visa allows.

Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe your residence status is not tied to the company that sponsored your visa, it is not automatically cancelled because they won't hire you.

In short, if you got to the point of getting the visa on your passport, you are free to enter Japan, get a residence card, and look for any job your residence status allows.

Getting a resident visa is another process.

Thank you for your answer, ruby.

I believe what you says is correct, as I have read many posts in this regard.

However, my new potential employer knows that I am still in Europe and, as such, in need of a COE for applying for a Working Visa.
They do not (and should not) know what happened between me and my previous employer.

If I travel to Japan and get a residence card the new COE that this new company would be applying for would be of no use at all, forcing me to explain them what happened with the previous company.
This is something I would definitely avoid as It would seem like I kind of misbehave, professionally speaking, or, worse, that something went so wrong with my previous employer that I am now trying to settle for my "second best" option (i.e. after being turned down at the very last minute by the first company, I am now trying to get back to Japan with whatever is left).

Ideally, it would be best if my current Visa and COE get somehow "cancelled" so that my new potential employer would not run into any weird situation while applying for a new one.

As I said, It is crucial that this new company will not know anything of what happened between me and the first one.

Also: am I supposed to contact the Immigration Office myself and explain what happened? I have read somewhere that I have got 14 days for notifying them of any major change regarding my employment status.

Thank you.

I have never seen this explicitly written anywhere and it seems to fall on gray area, but as far as I know, you cannot use your current visa and COE to enter Japan with the intention to work. The reason is that, only the first time that you enter Japan, the visa and COE you are carrying are exclusively for working at the company that you stated in the application, which is no longer the case. (it would not matter if you were already in Japan, then quit the company, then move to another one....)

If a new company wishes to hire you, they need to repeat the process again (get a COE and new visa).

I would advice you to be honest with your new potential employer in case they need to clarify the situation with immigration at the time of application.

But I'm only telling you what I was told a few years ago when i was in a similar situation (trying to switch to another company before even entering Japan and working for the first company). I think I would ask the consulate first, and if they say you can use your current visa for the new employer, then I would ask them to give me some written proof to show upon entering Japan in case there are any issues.

So you are in Europe and have a work visa already in your passport with one employer, then the contract got cancelled, and you have a new potential employer who might be offering you a job that would fall in the same visa category?

If the new employer doesn't know of the current visa you have, you would eventually have to let them know and see what they make of it. If they decides to hire you and applies for a new COE for you without knowing about it, then immigration will have two visa applications (one visa already issued and not used) for the same person, you, who gets sponsored by two different companies for an overlapping time duration, which is impossible for you to fulfill so they get suspicious and might suspect you of some unethical or unlawful act.

In addition, the old employer might inform immigration right away that they terminated their contract, so that the visa you have now with that employer might get revoked. (I am not saying it will be, but it might be. In that case, you might not even be able to enter Japan on that work visa that you already have).

So to me it sounds more reasonable when the new one makes you an official offer, if you inform them of your current situation as honestly as you can, and ask them what they want to do.

Maybe they have a good immigration lawyer who is able to help you file for a change of employer without going through the whole COE application process from zero. Or maybe you could ask the consulate of Japan in your country what should be done in this case.

Practically speaking, there is a validity period for the visa, during which you need to enter Japan, so if the new potential employer takes long, it might expire.

This is just my view.

Ah, it's a more complicated situation than I thought. I think no one in this forum is going to be able to tell you the information you need. If I were you I would go to the Japanese consulate and ask there. Or give them a call or something....

Good luck!

This is something I would definitely avoid as It would seem like I kind of misbehave, professionally speaking,

I actually don't think you need to avoid this. You can say there was a complete misunderstanding about the terms of your employment contract, which unfortunately surfaced only after they sponsored and got you the visa, so you had no choice but to say no to the terms, and they had no choice but to cancel the contract, or something. No need to go into details.

In any case, even if you don't tell the new employer that you have/had a visa with someone else, if you use the current one to enter Japan (as mentioned earlier, I am not sure if this is possible though), they would get curious where they got it from, and if you manage to cancel the current visa (or wait till it expires) and ask them to start a new CoE application process from zero, the new employer, when they go to immigration and file an application, might be informed by immigration that you had another visa application with someone else. They can tell the individuals by the passport number. So... they would be curious what happened in any case.

Hello guys,

And thank you all for your replies along these months.

I just wanted to let you know that I am eventually going back to Japan, sponsored by another company!

Basically, what happened is that, right after terminating the contract with my previous employer, I have immediately sent a FedEx parcel to the Immigration Bureau in Tokyo containing the unused COE, a specific form (which I have downloaded from their website) and a letter of apologies to explain my reasons for ending the contract and not being able to come to Japan at that time.
COE assessment was extremely smooth and fast (less that 2 weeks).

I am taking off for Japan in about 2 weeks. Can't wait!!

Thank you all for the support and do feel free to ask me anything: I'd be glad to help!