Hi all, I received my COE today for the Designated activities (Long stay for sightseeing and recreation) visa. There wasn’t a lot of information I could find online about this visa type so I thought I would document my experiences with the application process.
**Background/Personal circumstances**
Always wanted to try living for a year in Japan. Ideally would like to have still earned an income while there but as a doctor there was not really a viable option I could find. Looked into potentially doing research or attending a language school or a university course, but in the end decided the cons outweighed the pros for those options and I would rather enjoy myself while here.
**About the visa**
All the requirements are listed on the mofa website (https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/page22e\_000738.html). The main requirement is that you need to have proof of savings more than 30 million yen. Fortunately because I live in Australia and had an offset account (transactional account linked to home loan where all our payments go but we can deposit/withdraw freely), this was not as difficult of a task as might be in other countries.
It is a 6 month visa that is renewable up to 1 year. I got a bit of conflicting information initially about what happens afterwards but the consensus seemed to be that I could always submit the application again if I want to stay longer as long as I still met the requirements. Being a tourism visa, no work is permitted.
What I didn’t realize until later was that apparently most people who apply for this visa go there on the short term tourism visa and then get their status changed while in Japan to the long term sightseeing visa once the application has been processed and approved. For me personally, I wanted to make sure I would be approved before uprooting my life in my home country so the COE application still made more sense.
**Application process and document preparation**
While I did get advice from an immigration lawyer / gyousei shoshi, I decided to submit the application independently. I was quoted around 150k yen for the application and was told to my surprise that I would need to be physically in Japan to apply for the COE even with their assistance.
Contacting the Tokyo Immigration Bureau for clarification was truly quite difficult. The international number on the website is always engaged and doesn’t have a caller queue so you have to keep calling the number to get through. The other numbers (Navi dial) can only be called internally within Japan. From what I gather after physically going to the bureau, their email seems to be the best method of correspondence for foreigners.
As for the documents:
– Website states you need Japanese translations for all your submitted documents but there is actually no need if submitting to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau
– Proof of bank balance – just downloaded and printed my bank statements in past 6 months and asked the bank for a digital Proof of Balance letter via their online help desk. Did not need anything notarized or anything
– Schedule of Stay: just wrote a few paragraphs in English as a supplementary document about what I intended to do. Did not have concrete plans at that stage.
– Insurance: I went with my own medical insurance company that also offered long term travel insurance (12 months). Figured dealing with our insurance system in Australia would probably be better than those American companies that have products for digital nomads. Just printed the certificate and product disclosure statement (they need to see coverage of death, injury and illness).
**Experience at Tokyo Immigration Bureau**
Huge number of people there even though it was from what I gather a less busy time. The staff were a mix of helpful and unhelpful people. Sometimes I would get conflicting information because some of staff were not familiar with certain processes for my application.
There were speakers there for most languages at the front desk and station for inquiries. One particular English speaker named Julian at the front desk was extremely helpful and kind to me even though I was an idiot and didn’t follow his instruction at one point and ended up making a mess of things.
You get directed to certain counters relevant to what you need to do there and those counters seemed to be staffed by Japanese people only. I had enough Japanese ability to communicate with the staff albeit not very fluently. I saw some people use google translate in their exchanges.
One thing I recall was that the 4G/5G there was incredibly slow on my travel SIM so you might want to have things downloaded already on your electronic device. Photo booths and photocopiers and things had massive queues and so it pays to be prepared.
**Processing time**
They told me you will usually get a response within 2-3 months. I received my COE approval in 3 weeks which I suspect is because it is not a working visa. You need to have a Japanese friend and address to post the COE or contact if there is any further documents they need. There was a question about whether I could receive it via their digital COE system but it was not clear even after discussion with quite a few staff there (the system doesn’t seem to be accessible from outside Japan).
**Conclusion**
Hopefully this information will be helpful for anyone looking into this visa or needing to submit a COE application themselves. Note that while this has been my recent experience and it is accurate to the best of my knowledge, you should definitely clarify with immigration staff especially on important matters as procedures might change in the future.
by DrTonberry
1 comment
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
—
**Long Stay for Sightseeing Visa Application – Outline of Personal Experience**
Hi all, I received my COE today for the Designated activities (Long stay for sightseeing and recreation) visa. There wasn’t a lot of information I could find online about this visa type so I thought I would document my experiences with the application process.
**Background/Personal circumstances**
Always wanted to try living for a year in Japan. Ideally would like to have still earned an income while there but as a doctor there was not really a viable option I could find. Looked into potentially doing research or attending a language school or a university course, but in the end decided the cons outweighed the pros for those options and I would rather enjoy myself while here.
**About the visa**
All the requirements are listed on the mofa website (https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/page22e_000738.html). The main requirement is that you need to have proof of savings more than 30 million yen. Fortunately because I live in Australia and had an offset account (transactional account linked to home loan where all our payments go but we can deposit/withdraw freely), this was not as difficult of a task as might be in other countries.
It is a 6 month visa that is renewable up to 1 year. I got a bit of conflicting information initially about what happens afterwards but the consensus seemed to be that I could always submit the application again if I want to stay longer as long as I still met the requirements. Being a tourism visa, no work is permitted.
What I didn’t realize until later was that apparently most people who apply for this visa go there on the short term tourism visa and then get their status changed while in Japan to the long term sightseeing visa once the application has been processed and approved. For me personally, I wanted to make sure I would be approved before uprooting my life in my home country so the COE application still made more sense.
**Application process and document preparation**
While I did get advice from an immigration lawyer / gyousei shoshi, I decided to submit the application independently. I was quoted around 150k yen for the application and was told to my surprise that I would need to be physically in Japan to apply for the COE even with their assistance.
Contacting the Tokyo Immigration Bureau for clarification was truly quite difficult. The international number on the website is always engaged and doesn’t have a caller queue so you have to keep calling the number to get through. The other numbers (Navi dial) can only be called internally within Japan. From what I gather after physically going to the bureau, their email seems to be the best method of correspondence for foreigners.
As for the documents:
– Website states you need Japanese translations for all your submitted documents but there is actually no need if submitting to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau
– Proof of bank balance – just downloaded and printed my bank statements in past 6 months and asked the bank for a digital Proof of Balance letter via their online help desk. Did not need anything notarized or anything
– Schedule of Stay: just wrote a few paragraphs in English as a supplementary document about what I intended to do. Did not have concrete plans at that stage.
– Insurance: I went with my own medical insurance company that also offered long term travel insurance (12 months). Figured dealing with our insurance system in Australia would probably be better than those American companies that have products for digital nomads. Just printed the certificate and product disclosure statement (they need to see coverage of death, injury and illness).
**Experience at Tokyo Immigration Bureau**
Huge number of people there even though it was from what I gather a less busy time. The staff were a mix of helpful and unhelpful people. Sometimes I would get conflicting information because some of staff were not familiar with certain processes for my application.
There were speakers there for most languages at the front desk and station for inquiries. One particular English speaker named Julian at the front desk was extremely helpful and kind to me even though I was an idiot and didn’t follow his instruction at one point and ended up making a mess of things.
You get directed to certain counters relevant to what you need to do there and those counters seemed to be staffed by Japanese people only. I had enough Japanese ability to communicate with the staff albeit not very fluently. I saw some people use google translate in their exchanges.
One thing I recall was that the 4G/5G there was incredibly slow on my travel SIM so you might want to have things downloaded already on your electronic device. Photo booths and photocopiers and things had massive queues and so it pays to be prepared.
**Processing time**
They told me you will usually get a response within 2-3 months. I received my COE approval in 3 weeks which I suspect is because it is not a working visa. You need to have a Japanese friend and address to post the COE or contact if there is any further documents they need. There was a question about whether I could receive it via their digital COE system but it was not clear even after discussion with quite a few staff there (the system doesn’t seem to be accessible from outside Japan).
**Conclusion**
Hopefully this information will be helpful for anyone looking into this visa or needing to submit a COE application themselves. Note that while this has been my recent experience and it is accurate to the best of my knowledge, you should definitely clarify with immigration staff especially on important matters as procedures might change in the future.
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