Q: What will my legal status be in Japan during the program?
A: You will stay in Japan with a resident status of student for two years. Please note that you will not travel to Japan with “refugee” status.
Q: What will my legal status be in Japan after the program?
A: If you are a high school graduate, by entering university or a vocational school, you can extend your student until graduation. If you find employment after graduating from university/vocational school, you can apply for a resident status with work perm. The Japanese government does not issue work permits to foreigners without university or vocational school certificate (except for some designated skills status defined by the government.)
If you are a university graduate and you find employment after finishing the language school program, you can apply for a work permit. Alternatively, if you enter graduate school, you can extend your student status until graduation.
Q: What will happen if I am not able to attend university or vocational school, nor find employment?
A: If you are unable to enter a university or a school, nor find employment, you can apply for temporary protection status given to Syrians to continue your stay in Japan. PJ can give technical assistance but each student has to be responsible for one’s own legal status as the decision will be made by the government.
Q:Can I work with a student status?
A: As a student, you are legally allowed to work part-time up to 28 hours a week while school is in session, and 40 hours during school holidays. It will be necessary for you to work to pay your rent and living expenses, but your work will be also beneficial to improve your language skills and get accustomed to the local culture and people.
Q: What types of scholarships are there to attend university?
A: The tuition fee for universities and vocational schools in Japan normally costs USD50,000-150,000 per year, so it will be necessary to prepare and apply for a scholarship to make an access for higher education. Make some savings while being a language student is also important to partially cover the cost for higher education.The following are some scholarships that you can apply for.
a) Japan Education Pathways Program (JEP)
JEP offers scholarship opportunities for refugee-background youth living in Japan through its network of universities, Japan Education Pathways Network (JEPN). Previously, JEP offered scholarships of 5-6 universities per year with the full-support of tuition fee, accommodation and monthly stipend support.
https://www.reedjapan.org/jep
b)UNHCR Refugee Higher Education Programme (RHEP)
UNHCR Japan provides a programme called Refugee Higher Education Programme (RHEP) for refugees determined by GoJ or those who has a refugee-background living in Japan. After your arrival in Japan, you will be eligible to apply for some of the member universities in RHEP. RHEP is a full scholarship programme.
https://rhepalliance.org/en_home
c) Philoxenia Scholarship by JELA
Japan Lutheran Evangelical Association (JELA) offers a refugee assistance scholarship for those people with refugee backgrounds residing in Japan. After your arrival in Japan, you will be eligible to apply. A student will need to apply and pass the exam of any university in Japan on one’s own choice to get the scholarship. It is a partial scholarship to cover the tuition fee.
https://www.jela.or.jp/refugees/philoxenia/
d) Toshizo Watanabe International Scholarship (TWIS)
PJ offers its own scholarship programme for refugee-background youth living in Japan to attain higher education since 2022, based on a generous donation by Mr. Toshizo Watanabe. An applicant can study at any universities in Japan by passing the exams on their own and winning a full scholarship of TWIS. Although TWIS targets all the refugee populations in Japan, Language School Pathways students can also apply for this program.
https://pathways-j.org/en/twis
e) Other scholarship opportunities
There are other organizations which provide scholarships to international students in Japan. It can be referred to in the site of Study in Japan below.
https://www.studyinjapan.go.jp/ja/planning/scholarships/
If you have any questions, please contact us here.