On my acceptance letter is says period of study April 1st – September 30st. On my CoE and VISA however it says 1 year. Can I stay for a year? I can’t stay in my dorm of course, but if I find a different place to live, would it be possible? Or is my VISA not valid anymore on October 1st? I need to fix some things if it is, so I would like to know what to expect.
3 comments
You are allowed to stay 2 week after you leave the school.
Generally speaking you are meant to leave or acquire a new status of residence within two weeks of finishing classes. Your school will notify immigration when you are no longer a student.
Additionally you’re meant to arrive no more than two weeks before the start of school activities.
In Japanese immigration terms, in the typical case a Visa (not VISA, that’s a credit card), is only used to enter the country. Once you arrive at immigration your Visa is replaced with a status of residency as represented by your residence card, and the Visa in your passport is no longer valid.
So the dates on the Visa in your passport state the validity of the Visa – i.e. the period that you can enter Japan and get your Visa changed into a status of residency. The validity date of the status of residency will be different from the visa (either longer or shorter). Other people have covered when a student residency stops being valid.
This is confusing because even on the Japan subreddits people (even me) talk about “renewing their visa” which is technically incorrect.