Japanese government offers to pay travel expenses of unemployed foreigners who want to leave Japan
The Asahi reports (in Japanese) that the government has decided to provide travel expenses to unemployed foreigners of Japanese descent who want to leave Japan:
厚生労働省は31日、失業した日系人に、母国への帰国旅費として1人30万円(扶養家族には20万円)を支給すると発表した。雇用情勢の悪化で仕事を失い、日本語が話せないために再就職が難しい日系人が急増しているため。4月1日から全国のハローワークなどで申請を受け付ける。
失業手当の受給期間が30日以上残っている人には10万円(60日以上なら20万円)を上積みする。ただし、旅費を受け取って帰国した場合、日系人の身分に基づく在留資格での再入国はできない。
The offer will apparently only apply to foreigners living in the country on Nikkei visas who already live in Japan and became unemployed before April 1st. 300,000 yen will be paid to the head of the household (200,000 for each dependents) to cover the cost of purchasing plane tickets back to their home country. Those who are eligible for unemployment insurance benefits will be given lump sum payments before they leave. Those who accept the payments sacrifice their right to use their Japanese heritage as a means of obtaining visas when entering Japan in the future. It will be, in effect, a ban on re-entering Japan for those who lack the qualifications for other types of visas.
Jiji Press is reporting that unemployed foreigners who want to stay in Japan will be offered job training and Japanese language courses.
Further details are available on the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare website: 1, 2.
[hat tip to Darin]
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