TOKYO >> When the COVID-19 pandemic decimated her family’s cattle farming business in Vietnam earlier this year, a 23-year-old foreign student who had spent 18 months in Japan was soon left without the funds her family usually sent to cover her college and living expenses.

With Hanoi under a complete lockdown from February through April, she couldn’t return home. Forced out of the university and no longer considered a student, she couldn’t work legally in Japan, either. By September, she couldn’t afford rent and was forced to move to a shelter.

A decision Oct. 19 by immigration authorities to allow such foreigners to work didn’t make big headlines, but it was a moment of jubilation for the Vietnamese woman and others who share her predicament.

Under the new measures, all former international students unable to return home are permitted to work up to 28 hours each week for six months, with the possibility of an extension.

Over the past eight years, the number of foreign students in Japan has nearly doubled; in May 2019, they totaled more than 310,000. Many of them work part time, providing an essential workforce in convenience stores and restaurant chains as Japan’s own population rapidly grays and shrinks.

“I’d like to work part time again in Japan,” said the Vietnamese woman, who wanted to remain anonymous.

For Jiho Yoshimizu, who oversees the shelter where she now lives, the new rules marked a major victory. Yoshimizu runs the nonprofit Japan Vietnam Mutual Support Association in central Tokyo and had been lobbying immigration authorities for over a month.

“This is a big deal,” Yoshimizu said. “Foreign students who quit school but are unable to return to their countries can now survive in Japan.

“There are countless numbers of such students in distress.”

The only financial aid former international students had received from the government is the 100,000 yen ($957) cash handout distributed to all residents, including the foreign nationals, earlier this year.

After flight restrictions were imposed worldwide amid the pandemic, the government had until last week authorized former students to work part time only on a case-by-case basis.