Well my question is I’m unsure how to go about this now that this issue has arisen. I’m now hearing in order to obtain my COE I need proof of 150 hours of Japanese study from an institution, tutor or passing of an n5 equivalent test. I’ve tried reading up on it, but I haven’t found much. Some people said there is a white list of countries that can bypass this rule. Is this true? I’m applying from the U.S.
if not is there any chance I could change my status from a 90 day visa to a student visa while in Japan? The way I was thinking of doing this is applying for the language schools short term 90 day course. Which in around a month would put me at the 150 hour requirement and I’d have two months left at the school in which I would go to immigration to see if I could change my visa status so that I could enroll in the long term course. Either that or try and find a n5 testing site right away and take that which may be quicker than waiting the first month. I could prove this by buying the entire year of the course up front if that would help.
Thank you so much in advance for reading this far if you have.
3 comments
So Akamonkai offer a 3 month 150 hour course for N5 equivalent, however it depends on what school you are applying for, the school I recently started at didn’t require the 150 hour rule. So I assume this is your sponsor specific rule
https://gogonihon.com/en/blog/150-hour-study-requirement/
I panicked about that too, but I was told Australians don’t need it. It might be the case for the US as well, just ask your school.
Talk to the school and see what they say. If you’re an American citizen (currently living in the US, but having a nationality that is on the risk list means you must have the proof of previous study) it shouldn’t apply to you, but some schools might have the rules apply to all students. Basically if they say no you must have 150 hours or N5 then just look for another school. Typically rules are rules in Japan (although sometimes people interpret them differently).
I don’t know about the 90 day tourist visa to student visa. I would advise against going that route. Some people got a work visa or spouse visa while in Japan, but it sounds like Japan prefers you to get your long term visa before coming to Japan. There’s a risk of rejection or you won’t get approved before your 90 day visa runs out. Plus right now I haven’t heard of any tourist visas being issued for studying at Japanese language schools. Best just to go to a school that will accept you knowing 0 Japanese. There are so many schools out there, it doesn’t make sense to go any extra effort for a specific one that isn’t going to be far superior to others.