Hi, everyone. So, I was accepted into the doctoral program at University of Tsukuba in April. I applied for two scholarships, one I got rejected into and I am waiting for the result of the second one. The professor kindly offered me to hire me as a research assistant for upto 3 years or till I get some other scholarship. The stipend will be 100,000 Yen/month. The University have already assigned me a single dorm room which is of 19,840 Yen/month.
Now, while applying for the CoE, will this suffice as my proof of funds or do I have to show more for tuition fees too. I am planning to apply for tuition fee exemption from next semester onwards as honestly paying them is way beyond my parent’s means.
I am quite confused what should I do and how should I proceed. Any kind of suggestions will be most helpful. Should I just reject the offer or should I take it and apply for a loan to show proof of funds?
1 comment
Your stipend *should* count for part of your financial support, but you should still expect to be required to show some savings.
100,000 yen x 12 months is 1,200,000. Immigration generally requires 1.5 million yen, so you’re still short. You should also assume that you’ll need more than just 300,000 in savings.
My opinion is always planning for the worst case. In this instance, that means saving the full 1.5 million. If immigration accepts your stipend… Great! You’ve got a lot of savings you don’t need to spend. On the other hand, if you assume they will accept the stipend, and they *don’t*… You’re screwed.
>I am planning to apply for tuition fee exemption from next semester onwards as honestly paying them is way beyond my parent’s means.
This will have no bearing on the financial requirements for the visa.
Also: If you can’t afford to study in Japan… Maybe you should be looking closer to home? I’m not saying this to be dismissive, but between the visa, travel costs, and cost of living you’re looking at a fairly substantial outlay.
If you’re relying on scholarships you might not get and/or loans to convince immigration you have the money you might want to go back and reevaluate whether this plan is actually financially feasible.
Speaking of loans:
>should I take it and apply for a loan to show proof of funds?
You should ***never*** take a loan for the proof of funds. Immigration frequently asks for multiple months of bank statements for exactly this reason. They’re looking for people who take out loans, or just shuffle money around to make up the required money.
The financial requirement is to prove that you can survive while studying in Japan. Taking out loans or borrowing money purely for the purposes of the visa means you won’t have enough money to survive the year.