Hey !
I would like to do an internship in Japan from February 2023. A company is interested in taking me, but I have to apply for a CoE and a visa (because the internship is payed). I understand that I have to apply for a “designated activities” visa but I don’t know what this equates to on the CoE. Also, I don’t have an address in Japan yet.
I’m very lost about all the procedure, so thank you for your help!
3 comments
I’ve applied for a CoE for internship visa for a friend’s kid’s friend before. It was the fastest and most straightforward of all the visas I’ve ever done. The CoE came back in six days.
The company that is bringing you for the internship needs to apply for the CoE for you and then they’ll mail it to your address in whatever country you’re living. You take that to the nearest Japanese consulate and they’ll stamp a visa into your passport and you’ll fly into Japan using that visa. Your address in Japan is not relevant to the process until at least you arrive in Japan.
If I recall correctly, I needed a letter from the student’s university explaining that he was required to do an internship in order to graduate his program.
If the company that is bringing you is not familiar with the process, have them read this: https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/publications/materials/nyuukokukanri07_00109.html
Your employer should be applying for the CoE, not you.
An internship would typically be a cultural activities visa, although that’s supposed to be unpaid (I got paid for my internship while on a cultural activities visa though… They called it a stipend).
Hey! I was in the same boat as you and just came back from a 1 year internship in Japan. The COE is handled largely by the company who in my case contracted a visa company to help out with the application. You will receive a bunch of forms, passport, academic record etc that you will need to fill out and liase with both your company and the support visa company.
In my situation, I was handled a cultural activities: academic activities visa for my internship. For an address, I was told to put the address of the HR Building of my company and said it wasnt a problem. At that point in time, i didnt know where I would be staying so that was the best option.
I was paid for the internship as well but due to still being a student at my home uni in Australia, i was ineligible for a student visa (not enrolled in a Japanese uni, was just studying remote while working) , so a cultural visa / designated activities visa is the best bet.
The consulate general page has TONS of information that if you just take the time to read, will clarify all your doubts. The COE comes back almost instantly and you can literally fly out within a week of applying.