I am engaged in a recruitment process for a Japanese company, outside of my home country (EU). Interviews lined up for next week, but the recruiter mentioned that I *may* have to go back home to apply for the CoE. Currently living in China.
Is this accurate or will I be able to do it where I’m right now? If so, I may have to drop the opportunity, as it’s not really an option right now.
TIA
3 comments
As long as you’re a legal resident of the country you’re in you should be fine.
You do not apply for COE, your future employer apply for it insider Japan, doesn’t matter where you are
You do need to apply for a visa once you have your COe, you should be able to do it at the Japanese embassy in China as long as you are a resident of China i.e. you have a Chinese student visa or work visa
You don’t apply for the CoE; your company does that for you and Japan doesn’t care where you are while that application is happening (sometimes they get cranky if you are already in Japan, but besides that). Once you have the CoE, you take it to the Japanese Consulate **where you legally reside** and they’ll exchange it for a visa.
You probably don’t need to go back to your home country as long as you legally live in China. The caveat there is that each embassy or consulate kind of sets their own rules for who they’ll deal with, so it’s possible that the one in China is different and will only deal with Chinese nationals.
Even if you do need to go back to your home country, it’s just for a week or so, as that part of the process (exchanging the CoE for a visa) isn’t what takes the long time.
EDIT: [The Japanese Embassy in China](https://www.cn.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_ja/visa_daili.html) say that you must apply through an agency in China; that page lists all the approved agencies. [This sub-page](https://www.cn.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_ja/visa_foreigner.html) lists those agencies who will work with people who don’t have Chinese nationality.