Changing to Student Visa in Japan

3 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

   —

   **Changing to Student Visa in Japan**

   This might be an odd question, but I was wondering if anyone has experience or advice.

   I will be studying in Japan on an exchange through my university, where I would be starting in the Fall semester and my visa starting at the end of August or early September. I am planning on going to Japan (I’m from the US so visa exempt) after my spring semester ends here at my home university, and was hoping to stay until my student visa would start. I have called my local embassy and they said it’s possible and people have done it before, but couldn’t give me any details on how.

   If I apply for my visa after getting my COE I would have to mail my passport to the US while I’m in Japan, which is risky so I’m unsure of that. Has anybody done this before?

   *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*

2. In general you cannot apply for a change of status from tourist to Student. Sometimes exceptions are made for folks with exceptional circumstances. But don’t plan on it.

   So, your school can apply for your CoE while you’re here on holiday… you can pick up your CoE in person from the school. But then you’d need to travel to a country where you are a citizen or legal resident to apply for the visa and then use that visa to enter Japan and get your student status of residence.

   Visa applications typically take around a week, so plan on being home for that long at least.

3. >I’m from the US so visa exempt

   Is there some visa exemption for US citizens entering Japan that I’m not aware of?

   Or was this referring to a visitor/tourist visa?