The certificate of eligibility permits one an extended stay. Since I work for Interac, who applied for my certificate in lieu of myself, my 'extended stay' is only for one year. However, there is no problem getting extensions of your visa once you are here. I have heard those that work for JET might have a 5 year visa and I might assume any foreign national who is attending school in Japan might have an extended visa as well.
What you need for your COE:
- application form for the Certificate of Eligibility
- 2 passport sized photos
- a sponsor or organization who has agreed to hire you and sponsor your visa application
(there is paperwork that they must submit as well that details your position, such as your Certificate of Emplyment) - an addressed return envelope
- a copy of your passport
- your diploma or official transcripts
- possibly letters of recommendation?
- possibly a criminal background check?
(for US residents, a statewide background check is sufficient, though I believe it must be fingerprinted...not like the online things that South Carolina does!)
I believe that is all. I am not sure about the last two More or less it is everything that you should be obtaining to apply to your desired company. Though the minimum requirement is the application and two passport photos, I believe that the rest of these documents are either important to speed up the processing time or are specifically required for teachers. This information can be found at the Japanese immigration website. The cost of the COE is free. So please do not get scammed to pay money to someone who says they will sponsor you and that it costs to obtain one.
The COE takes about 22 working days to be returned via post. Working days means that weekends and holidays are not included. So essentially it is a little over a month. Mine was sent off the 7th of July and was expected to be received by August 9th; however luck was on my side, and it was received by Interac on August 2nd, and later by myself on August 5th. During this time I was super worried. What if my Certificate of Eligibility was rejected? What if something was wrong? What if it was weird that I was coming from Korea and I was teaching English? Well for anyone who has any worries, I have determined that as long as an organization is sponsoring you, I do not believe you have anything to fear.
Once you have the COE, you are clear to apply for your visa. At the time I was living in Korea and therefore went to the Japanese consulate in Seoul. The procedures here evidently take a lot less time than in America and if you apply before 11am I believe you should have you passport and accompanying visa back by 4pm that day. As for myself, I wanted no room for error and was there at 9am applying, (there is a sheet you must fill out here) and had my passport-visa combo back to me by 3pm. They also returned my COE, which is to be expected as they take it for keeps at the immigration counter.
If you want to bring a spouse or children over to Japan, you need everyone's photos, copies of their passports, your marriage certificate, and birth certificates for the children.
If you want to bring a spouse or children over to Japan, you need everyone's photos, copies of their passports, your marriage certificate, and birth certificates for the children.
