unemployment insurance

hi. i resigned from my job almost 3 months ago and haven't been able to find a new one.

i was recently told that after 3 months i can claim unemployment benefit for 3 months.

i was told that it was compulsory for my employer to have paid this insurance. unfortunately i am quite sure he didn't. i didn't even know about it so i certainly didn't pay anything - nothing was deducted from my salary.

so my question is am i out of luck?

What is your visa status?

When you apply for unemployment in Japan you are required to go to Hello Work (job placement facilities and seminars) for 3 months, and only after that will you start to draw unemployment insurance. I'm not sure on the timeline, but assuming you qualify for unemployment on your visa, you may have to register and wait another 3 months before you can receive payments.

If nothing is deducted from your salary, I think your ex-emplyer didn't pay for insurance and you are not qualified to get money, I'm sorry. (Visa and unemployment insurance are two different things.) If they didn't pay, then you are out of luck.

Anyway, I think you should contact your ex-employer about this and ask if they can give you `Rishoku-Hyo` that is needed for applying for unemployment insurance. Then you will find out if they paid or not ... .

My non-Japanese spouse was hired as a full-time contract employee for a Japanese company on an annual basis for several years, after which the employer decided not to renew the contract.

Then we found out the employer had not paid the insurance premium at all during those years, assuming that all non-Japanese staff would go back to their country after the contract expires (oh well).

Anyway, upon hearing that we were planning to stay in Japan, the former employer hurriedly paid in whatever they could into the unemployment insurance scheme; I think they could pay in only one year or two-years' worth of it. So. After some visits to the unemployment office (and some waiting time), he was given some benefits.

So you could ask them if they could do something similar, meaning, to pay in "after the fact" and see what they say. You need a piece of paper from your former employer if you want to collect these benefits ("rishoku-hyo" mentioned by the above poster).
Or, since it is compulsory for employers to place their employees into this insurance scheme, you could quietly (and maybe at a bit later time) inform the labor standard office about their violation.

Considering that you resigned (not that the company terminated your contract), the maximum amount you will get is 90 days worth of a daily amount, which is: on a per-day basis 50 - 80% of the salary you received in the past six months, but there is a limit of 6,330 per day if you are under 30, and 7,000 yen if you are between 30 - 45 years old.

Yes I'm aware that visa and unemployment benefits are different things, but the resources I've checked are unclear on if people on a work visa qualify to withdraw unemployment payments. As employment is a requirement of a work visa, what effect will applying for unemployment have on your visa? The OP may need to check and see how this affects them.

Anyway, paraphrasing from a book regarding foreigner's rights, unemployment has the following rules to withdraw:

1. As a full time worker you need to have paid into the insurance scheme for at least six months before you quit.

2. To obtain unemployment benefit, you need a seperation notice from your employer including the following info:

period insured
amount of wages
reason for leaving

and take it to the public employment security office in your area to register as unemployed

4. Benefits are determined by age, insured period, reason for leaving.

Your contributions to the insurance scheme is 7/1000th of your gross salary, so is it possible that it was being deducted as it was such a small amount?

Anyway, good luck. Unfortunately, since its been so long since you left your job it may be difficult to get cooperation from your previous employer which will definitely be necessary to receive any benefits.