can work visa be cancelled?

If the company who sponsored my visa suddenly decided to not proceed anymore and I already have the COE plus the work visa affixed in my passport, can I still use it to go to Japan, get the residence card and find a new employer instead?

I find it hard to believe that they can really cancel my visa since it�fs already given to me, but I wanted to know insights about this before flying to Japan to save myself from any hurdles with Immigration.

As far as I know, the first time you use your work visa to enter Japan you also need to show the CoE with it, which has written on it the organization that you intend to work for. So at that point, the visa can only be used to work for that specific organization and no other, meaning that it is not a sort of free pass to become employable by any other company (yet).

So these are the possible outcomes that I see:

- You tell the true at immigration: pretty sure they will invalidate your work visa right there.
- You lie and they buy it: Maybe ok for a few days, but when you notify immigration within 15 days that you no longer work at that company it will raise some red flags. They will investigate and find out that actually you never worked for that company at all, and you can guess what the outcome will be.
- You lie at immigration but they check and find out: No work visa, and maybe even get penalized for lying.

In conclusion: It's risky and I would not do it if I cared about not being banned in Japan.

But I'm no expert in these topics so maybe a lawyer or someone here with more knowledge can tell you better.

See Q4-2 http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/faq.html

Thank you for the link, I have checked it:
�gQ2: I have decided not to invite a foreign national to Japan after all. Could you cancel that person's visa?

A2: Describe in a statement to the effect that you have cancelled the invitation and send it by Fax or mail together with the personal identification information of the visa applicant, to the Embassy / Consulate General that issues the visa or the Foreign Nationals' Affairs Division, Consular Affairs Bureau, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition, tell the visa applicant to bring his/her passport to the Japanese Embassy / Consulate General that issued the visa for cancellation of it. Note that visa fees will not be refunded even if the visa is cancelled before being used.�h

They didn�ft instruct me to bring my passport in the nearest Japanese Embassy though. But I guess if they have informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs already then it�fs very risky for me to really try to use it.

Having said that, can I still at least try to use it for tour/sightseeing purposes? My tourist visa has been cancelled already because of the work visa and I do have plans to visit some friends there in the future.

You can't use a cancelled visa; you must obtain a new tourist visa.