The allowance is split into two parts:

Allowance A: General Education/Training
Allowance B: Professional Education/Training (to obtain formal qualifications)

The requirements and the amount of the allowance vary depending what course you take.

Category A includes certain computer courses (such as Microsoft Office Specialist and JAVA Programming) and some language courses (including TOEIC, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Thai, Russian, Indonesian, and German).

While there is also an allowance for a Japanese course, it is not a course aimed at foreigners but for Japanese nationals. This Japanese course is a rather high level and includes very formal structures, unusual grammar, and Kanji (Chinese characters).

Category B includes qualifications in the area of nursing, teaching, and even a color coordinating qualification!

For information on the full range of courses please refer to the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare.

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How Long Do You Have To Be Enrolled In Unemployment Insurance To Qualify?

For Type A allowance:

a) If you are currently employed, you need to have been enrolled in Unemployment Insurance for more than a year.

b) If you are currently unemployed, you need to have been enrolled in Unemployment Insurance for more than a year and you must start your education/training within a certain period of time after losing your job.

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How Much Is The Allowance You Can Receive?

The allowance is 20% of the tuition, within a range of 4,000 to 100,000 yen.

Let’s use the Microsoft Office Specialist 2013 course as an example, and see how much the allowance would be, and how long it could be received.

(1) You can search and check the courses via the internet at (only in Japanese): Click here

(2) Suppose you want to check the course of “Microsoft Office Specialist 2013” on a business day after work in Osaka City.

(3) Check “通学（夜間）”, select “大阪府” and “大阪市”, select “一般教育訓練”, “Microsoft Office Specialist 2013”, and then click on “検索”.

(4) You will get several results.

(5) As an example, choose “資格とキャリアのスクールノア”, and then click “資格とキャリアのスクールノア”

(6) Then, you will see three courses and you can check the detailed information by clicking “詳細情報”

If you have the language abilities and time, you might want to consider studying something new.

However, this is a very basic guide for provided for information purposes only. People who are interested should seek more in-depth information from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare.

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