Re-employment Allowance in Japan: Conditions for Foreign Workers

Remaining benefit days means the smaller of unused Basic Allowance days after unemployment recognition through the day before employment and the number of days from the employment date through the benefit-period expiration date. When those remaining benefit days are at least two-thirds of scheduled benefit days, the amount is the Basic Allowance daily amount multiplied by the remaining benefit days and 70%. When those remaining benefit days are at least one-third but less than two-thirds of scheduled benefit days, the amount is the Basic Allowance daily amount multiplied by the remaining benefit days and 60%. The Basic Allowance daily cap is revised each August 1. For every self-employment route, whether or not a separation-reason benefit restriction applies, start a business only after the waiting period has ended. Only when a benefit restriction based on the reason for separation applies, self-employment must not start during the first month after the waiting period and a business may start only after one month has elapsed following the end of the waiting period, with the other conditions checked with Hello Work.

Who it is for

• The defined remaining benefit days must be at least one-third of scheduled benefit days, and employment must be expected to continue for more than one year. Employment must begin after the waiting period has ended.
• If a benefit restriction based on the reason for separation applies, employment during the first month after the waiting period must come through a referral from Hello Work or a licensed or notified employment-placement provider. The referral requirement still applies when education or training releases the benefit restriction.
• Employment must not be with the former employer or a closely related employer. The applicant must not have received either the Re-employment Allowance or the Regular Employment Preparation Allowance for an employment during the three years before the current employment date.
• The job offer must not have been made before benefit-eligibility determination or job-seeker registration. A foreign worker must in principle meet the employment-insurance insured-status acquisition conditions of at least 20 scheduled hours per week and expected employment for at least 31 days.

Points to note

• Release of the benefit restriction through education or training does not remove the first-month referral requirement for the people to whom that requirement applies.
• A licensed or notified employment-placement provider is only a referral route, does not make the final eligibility decision, and does not accept applications.

Submit the application in principle within one month beginning on the day after employment or business start. After the ordinary one-month period, a late claim may still be possible before the two-year limitation period expires, but that is not the ordinary application deadline.

How it works

1. Read the MHLW official sources and compare the defined remaining benefit days with the official eligibility requirements.
2. Check the referral route, self-employment timing, and foreign-worker employment-insurance conditions against the official material.
3. Ask Hello Work for the final eligibility decision and submit the application there.