I am a prospective student in a phd program in Tokyo who just passed the examination on Feb. 28th.
However, the opening ceremony is on April 1st, and school just started applying for COE (在留資格認定証明書) today.
I called the school, and they are aware of the situation but did not guarantee that I would be able to start school on time.
Question 1: Is it really possible to attend the opening ceremony (and orientation!) in time? Does this mean that all international students who came to Japan to take the test won’t be able to start school on time? Since according to my knowledge, COE takes like a month, and visa took anther week!
Question 2: Without a COE, can I get a visa using the admission notification or other documents? If so, what kind of visa should I apply for? Or is it possible to apply for a tourist/family visit visa to attend classes?
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Some additional information: the program is a Japanese phd program in philosophy and the Uni is Keio.
by ShiroiAsa