Hired a foreign worker? Notify Hello Work

In short: both when you hire a foreign worker and when one leaves, a notification to Hello Work is required (Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labour Measures, Article 28, paragraph 1). You confirm the name, residence status and period of stay, then file. The form and deadline change with employment insurance status. Failing to file, or filing falsely, carries a fine of up to 300,000 yen (Article 40, paragraph 1, item 2).

This page is for owners and back-office staff of companies that have hired a foreign worker, or whose foreign employee has left. It is the textbook example of an obligation that is not well known — and it applies even to part-timers who are not in employment insurance.

About whom, and by when, do you file?

Every employer files, at every hire and every separation of a foreign worker (special permanent residents, and those with "Diplomat" or "Official" status, are outside the system). The basis is Article 28, paragraph 1 of the Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labour Measures (労働施策総合推進法), which obliges the employer to confirm the name, residence status, period of stay and other matters, and notify the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare (in practice, Hello Work).

The form and deadline split by employment insurance status (per Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare materials, viewed 14 August 2026).

Category	Form	Deadline
A person who becomes an employment insurance insured	The employment insurance acquisition notification (with the residence-status fields completed)	By the 10th of the month following the month of hire
Same, on separation	The employment insurance loss notification	Within 10 days from the day after separation
A person who does not become insured (a part-timer under 20 hours a week, etc.)	Form 3 (the foreign worker employment status notification)	By the end of the month following the hire or separation

For insured workers, the notification is integrated with the employment insurance procedure: complete the acquisition notification correctly and the notification is done. The trap is the non-insured. With no employment insurance procedure to prompt it, Form 3 itself gets forgotten.

What differs between those in and out of employment insurance?

The enrolment tests are the same as for Japanese workers (20 hours a week or more, an expected employment of 31 days or more, and so on) — there is no separate rule for foreign workers. What differs is only the paperwork route; either way, the employment status notification itself is always required. "No employment insurance, so no procedure" is exactly the mistake this notification punishes. For student part-timers, read this together with the 28-hour limit.

How do you confirm the residence status?

Against the original residence card: name, residence status, period of stay, and whether permission for activities outside the status is held — and you file exactly as recorded. An important line runs here. Obtaining or changing a residence status is the work of 四葉行政書士事務所 (a separate business, engaged separately). Notifying after the hire is the employer's own obligation, and a shakai hoken roumushi handles it on the employer's behalf. The same words "residence status" — but entrance and operation belong to different licences.

What if you realise you never filed?

File as soon as you notice, after consulting Hello Work. Non-filing and false filing carry a fine of up to 300,000 yen (Article 40, paragraph 1, item 2). Left alone, the unfiled cases pile up. This office helps by taking stock of your current workforce — who is filed, who is not.

What can 四葉社会保険労務士事務所 do?

四葉社会保険労務士事務所, in Kohinata, Bunkyo City, files the foreign worker employment status notifications on your behalf, handles employment and social insurance acquisitions and losses, and covers labour and social insurance for foreign employment generally. Consultation is free of charge. Fees are in the fee schedule. The whole flow of foreign employment is mapped in Hire one foreign employee — how many counters do you need?.

Whom to consult

Residence-status applications, changes and renewals go to 四葉行政書士事務所 (a separate business from this office, engaged under a separate contract). Payroll taxation and the year-end adjustment are for a tax accountant, registration for a judicial scrivener, matters in dispute for an attorney. No referral fees change hands.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Is the notification needed even for a few hours of part-time work a week?
A. Yes. Where the worker does not become an employment insurance insured, you file Form 3 with Hello Work by the end of the month following the hire or separation. It is the type most often forgotten, precisely because no employment insurance procedure prompts it (special permanent residents and "Diplomat"/"Official" status holders are outside the system).

Q. Is filing the employment insurance acquisition notification enough?
A. For workers who become insured, yes — complete the residence-status fields correctly and file by the deadline (the 10th of the following month), and it doubles as the employment status notification. Incomplete fields mean the notification has not been made; check against the original residence card.

Q. We forgot to file. Are there penalties?
A. Non-filing and false filing carry a fine of up to 300,000 yen (Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labour Measures, Article 40, paragraph 1, item 2). File as soon as you notice, after consulting Hello Work. This office helps with the stocktake of unfiled cases.

Q. An employee's period of stay is expiring soon. Can you handle the renewal too?
A. Residence-status applications, changes and renewals are gyoseishoshi work, so this office cannot take them. 四葉行政書士事務所 (a separate business, a separate contract) does. No referral fees change hands. This office covers the employment-contract side — see the period of stay and the contract term.

Sources for this article

• Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labour Measures and Stabilisation of Employment of Workers etc. (労働施策の総合的な推進並びに労働者の雇用の安定及び職業生活の充実等に関する法律, Act No. 132 of 1966), Article 28, paragraph 1 (the foreign worker employment status notification) and Article 40, paragraph 1, item 2 (fine of up to 300,000 yen) — current text confirmed on e-Gov on 14 August 2026
• The form and deadline categories (insured: acquisition notification by the 10th of the following month / loss notification within 10 days; non-insured: Form 3 by the end of the following month) — Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, "On the foreign worker employment status notification" (viewed 14 August 2026)

This article is general information. Judgments that fit your particular circumstances are made by a qualified professional after a meeting. Written by Joji Uramatsu (Shakai Hoken Roumushi (Certified Social Insurance and Labor Consultant), Gyoseishoshi (Certified Administrative Procedures Legal Specialist), Registered Real Estate Transaction Specialist).