Quitting company before starting?

Hello all

I will just get to the point

I was hired by a company who has supported my work visa (engineer in humanities) and gave me a COE. I have got my work visa approved on my passport and due to fly to Japan soon to get a residency card.

However, the company has not been honest with me and tried to impose things not on my contract.

I have spoken to another company (same type of work) who will hire me if I left my current company.

My question is whether this is legal? Once I enter Japan and get my residency card can I leave the company that sponsored my work visa before even starting with them?

As long as you already have gotten your COE and your visa, you can switch to whatever company you want, just as long as you are contracted with the new company. There are plenty of people who come into Japan to work and then change their job soon after.

If you're really worried about it, you could always ask immigration about it or the consulate as to where you're getting your visa before going to Japan. Good luck my friend.

I tend to give answers on the “cautious” side. If you intend to really do that, I would still check the following:

- What does your contract say about giving notice to quit? (You haven’t actually “started working,” but if you’ve signed a contract, you are covered by the contract. Since they went ahead with the CoE process, you must have said “yes” to the contract somewhere.)

- Do you have proof concerning the other conditions they tried to impose on you? (Any e-mail, message, letter, anything written about what your work entails. This is in case you need to show it to any officials to justify your decision not to follow through with your employer. There is a chance that the employer, upon hearing that you want to go somewhere else, might badmouth you to the immigration authorities, since they’ve taken the trouble to sponsor you for the visa. You’d want to be prepared to be able to show what they tried to impose on you.)

- Do you also have the commitment from the next employer (in writing)?

- Would you feel OK entering Japan and getting the resident card upon entry, with the “current” employer’s name on it, and you knowing that you will not be working for them? You got sponsored by a company and you have the visa so that you can come to Japan to work for them, (the initial visa is tied to that sponsor), but now you won’t be.
Best wishes.