Hello everyone. After months and months of waiting, I finally received my COE from my school of choice and have a couple of questions.
A little background: I am an American student. Aside from embassy/consulate issue, I am not looking for advice specific to the US. I have been using gainjinpot as the intermediary between myself and the language school. When we were going through the process months ago, everything was kinda vague in many aspects such as: timing of receipt, what to do when I got it my COE (there was some vagueness regarding what to do with the embassy/consulate as they mentioned they were doing something and for me “not to worry”), when classes start (never specified what the actual start date was aside from “in April”), and the timing of getting an apartment (was told “wait for COE” to investigate).
My questions are:
1. Should I still go to them embassy/consulate? I have a copy of all of the documents I provided to the school, but nothing “finalized” (I.e.: the school’s specific parts filled out)
2. Apartment hunting: I was told to reach out once the COE was received, and I have not heard back in several days. I would be going to school in Akihabara/Taito City area. How far should I be looking from the area for “reasonable” for commute for schooling?
3. If the timeframe from now to April does not seem reasonable, has anyone had experience asking to push it back to another month (i.e.: June) is that acceptable?
Thank you all in advance for your help!
Edit: Thank you everyone for the advice this has been extremely helpful! I appreciate everyone on here for their help!
I was able to get through to someone at the intermediary’s office (finally) and based on my third question, it may be possible to extend to the July session (in case of issues with finding an apartment and getting the VISA as the physical documents are still in transit).
I will give another update as matters start settling.
9 comments
1. Once you received the original, physical COE you have to bring it and your passport to embassy to make your entry visa to Japan.
2. Depends on what’s your standard of “reasonable”. If you don’t mind a 30-40 minute one-way commute, Funabashi in Chiba is pretty good as it has cheaper rent (50-60k) than Akiba (60k-80k) for 1K rooms.
3. Depends on when are you going to receive your physical COE. Entry visa (step 1 above) generally takes 1-2 weeks to process and without it you can’t enter Japan, so while early April might be too tight, mid-late April should be fine.
Regarding getting your visa, assuming you are in the US (You stated you are American, but where you are also matters)
1. Find out which consulate/embassy you should be dealing with: [https://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/jicc/consulate-guide.html](https://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/jicc/consulate-guide.html)
2. Check their website for how to convert your COE into a Visa. I did this in the Before Times, so I would contact them to be sure if I were doing this now — unless the website tells you not to.
3. You’ll need passport pictures (check the consulate website for exact size) for your visa. You’ll also need them in Japan for your gaijin card, and probably your student ID, so you may as well get several made while you’re at it.
I was able to mail my application, passport and COE and have my passport returned to me with the visa attached, but I may have used a different consulate/embassy than you will and it was in the Before Times.
One thing to be aware of is that if I had lived in the counties around the consulate that I used (Chicago), I would not have been able to mail my application; I would have had to visit in person twice: once to drop everything off, and once to pick up again on a another day. Depending on where you live and which consulate/embassy you use, YMMV.
2. I can imagine that with all their prospective students being that closer to being actually able to come over, the people in these positions (likely not as many as you’d imagine) are in the process of being run over by all the requests at once. Try waiting several weeks.
As for “reasonable commute”, it depends what you’re willing to deal with. In the Taito area, you could get a share house for reasonably cheap if you’d like, but if you want a place of your own, think about how long you’d be comfortable riding a train and look for areas around there. I hate the train, especially now, so I’d be looking at something in the immediate area.
Fellow Intercultural student maybe? Going to school in the same area otherwise.
1. I’ll be starting in April and awaiting the physical COE to send in to my embassy with the following: The original COE sent to me, Passport, newly taken photo, Visa application form, my school’s guarantor info, Moushitatesho+ERFS which is new stuff that the school should be filling out and sending you. I’ll receive it this week likely, send in to Embassy and then pick it up and catch a flight at the same time somewhat early April (got a flight booked but can freely change date forward, albeit at possible fare increase).
2. As others have said, likely they’ll get back to you during the work week now. It’s normally not an issue to get one, unless you are very specific etc. I’ll be trying to get a place that is 45-50-ish in the top end away. You’ll also have to consider if you want proximity to your nearest train stop etc. I figured I don’t mind an hour-ish door/door if it leads to a better place, since it’s only 4 hours of planned classes.
3. See my note in 1. but it depends on flexibility with flights, school etc. as well. I think I could have put a later date even, as my school seems open about starting with zoom to accommodate a gradual influx of people coming in and filling the classroom.
I’m in the process of changing mine. I was originally supposed to depart in April, but this point Summee semester makes more sense.
>they mentioned they were doing something and for me “not to worry”)
My guess is that this is them applying to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for a “Certificate of Registration to ERFS System” which I think you will need to bring with you when you apply for a visa at your local consulate. You will need as well as the visa application form (available on the consulate website), your ID docs, passport photo, passport, CoE original and photocopy (check with you consulate for other docs). Once you submit the visa should take approx. 5 days (may be longer depending on the current situation or your location)
​
>ever specified what the actual start date was aside from “in April”
(Maybe you did this already) I assume you will start the semester at a regular time, can you google the academic calendar for your school? I’m guessing you’ll start with everyone else or there will be a special schedule for exchange or foreign students, but the info should be available.
>Should I still go to them embassy/consulate? I have a copy of all of the documents I provided to the school, but nothing “finalized” (I.e.: the school’s specific parts filled out)
If you don’t have the Cert. of Reg. ERFS then I don’t think you have all the docs yet, if you have confirmed that you have everything you need to apply (including some info on your visa app from the uni (i think), I see no reason not to cos you have three months to enter Japan once its issued.
If you haven’t already, get your international vax certificate showing three vaccinations (make sure it meets the specs laid out by the Japanese gov) as well, it will allow you to enter Japan without quarantine (provided you test negative 72 hrs before).
​
>Apartment hunting
The usual rules apply here, further away from the city will be cheaper and bigger, but less convenient for obv reasons. If available I would stay in a dorm, they’re usually way cheaper and often really fun. If not, figure out your budget, how long you’re willing to travel on the train to the city/uni, look at train lines that your university station is on, filter for these stations and other conditions on athomes or suumo and go from there.
Remember that renting Japanese apartments as a foreigner can be hard sometimes, not everyone wants to rent to foreigners, you’re moving at a highly competitive period and there is usually around three months rent upfront cost (key money, deposit, first month rent, contract fees, management fees, lock change fees). Personally, I would never rent a place without seeing it in person, especially if youre going to be there for any good length of time, but perhaps thats a luxury that you cant afford to be taking right now, that depends on you and your situation.
Personally, I am renting a furnished place for the first month (via airbnb/expedia etc) and looking from there.
​
>If the timeframe from now to April does not seem reasonable, has anyone had experience asking to push it back to another month (i.e.: June) is that acceptable?
If youre this close to getting all the documents, whether or not you can get there by April 1 is dependent only on if you can get tickets, accomodation and yourself (moving arrangements and stuff) sorted in time, getting there at some point during April is very doable.
Whether or not you can push your entry back is dependent only on your uni, do they allow remote learning, are there requirements on your offer to be in Japan by a certain date? You just need to ask them.
Hope this helps and good luck
>what to do when I got it my COE
Contact the school and say you got it. Because of the current situation, they are probably a bit in the unknown as well regarding to timing of things (how long it takes to send the COE, getting visa appointment etc) and probably want to take it step by step, rather than giving you the instructions to search for an apartment, and end up being delayed 3 months.
So, contact them, and they give you the next steps.
In general, you will go to the Embassy with a filled out visa application and all necessary documents and apply for the visa.
Search for somewhere to live (sharehouse or apartment).
Get tickets.
Pick up your visa.
Fly away.
Study.
1. I would imagine that unless you have some very unusual circumstances, you would have to bring all your paperwork and passport to the embassy/consulate to apply for your visa.
2. It’s really up to you, some people have no issues commuting 1 hour one way every day. The distance is less of a concern than the time, since nearly everywhere in Tokyo is extremely well serviced by public transportation. Personally, if I were in Tokyo, I’d worry more about living in a neighborhood I actually like, and be less concerned about actually being super close to the school.
3. I’m in the same situation at the moment, so I can answer this better. At least for my school, new terms start every 3 months (Jan/Apr/Jul/Oct), so they have offered to accommodate me in the case that I am not able to enter in time for the April term. The COE validity has also been extended to the point that you would no longer need a new one if you switched to July (beyond that, I believe you’d need a new one).
About the COE : I don’t know about the US but they aren’t sending them to my country,so instead of the original COE,it’s possible to apply using the PDF + a letter explaining why you don’t have it and also saying that you will give the originak COE to the Embassy as soon as you enter Japan.