Job Discussion Forums

Albright · Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 39

I made the five-hour (with constant speeding) drive to the Japanese consulate to submit my paperwork for my work visa today, and was rejected. Why?

1. My signature did not match the signature in my passport, in which I signed my middle name as well. That wouldn't have been a big deal; I would have just had to re-fill out the form and sign it with my full name. Except...

2. The form asks me for the "name of ship or airline," so I wrote in the name of the airline. Turns out they needed the flight number too. Well, gee, don't mention that on the form or anything; that'd be too easy. Anyway, still, no biggie; I just had to find an internet caf� or library or something, access my email account, find the itinerary the agent sent me, and get the flight number off of that. EXCEPT...

3. The form asks for the "address of hotels or names and addresses of persons with whom the applicant intends to stay." When I first saw this question on the form, I contacted my ECC contact as well as the housing-finder-guy to inquire what to put there. As of ten minutes before I left for SF (as well as as of now), only the ECC lady has got back to me; she told me "most teachers simply write: 'ECC arranged housing'." However, this turned out to not be an acceptable answer; the woman at the counter wanted specific addresses.

Needless to say, I'm a bit infuriated about this right now; you would think the people at ECC in charge of getting our sorry butts over there would be more informed about such things, and I've got to wonder how those "most teachers" got their visas approved. My day, not to mention my gas money, was wasted because of this frankly stupid error on ECC's part.

Just a bit of warning; if you live a good distance away from an embassy or consulate, as I do, make sure your application has the real stuff before you make the trip...

JimDunlop2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan

BUMP...

Good info for others to know... Sorry you had to find it all out the hard way! Sad

Big John Stud · Joined: 07 Oct 2004 Posts: 513

Yea! That is really cool of you to let others learn from your mistakes! Way to go!!!!! Exclamation

kitano · Joined: 18 Nov 2004 Posts: 86

Ecc should help you out more but it is hard for them or anybody to predict what stupid thing immigration will take offence to, it changes with the wind. That is the real problem. Welcome to Japan, and you haven't even got here yet.

Albright · Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 39

Oh, brother, kitano, don't say such things... yeah, according to this post, "ECC arranged housing" was perfectly acceptable at Vancouver's consulate.

Anyway, as I say in that thread, I've just received an address from ECC's housing coordinator, so I'll fill out another application form and give it another try tomorrow. Here goes...

Willy_In_Japan · Joined: 20 Jul 2004 Posts: 329

That bit about 'signature not matching' is really infuriating to me.

Not only do you have to make sure that you include or not include your middle name consistently, BUT you can have trouble if the name is stacked one name on top of each other or side to side. And, of course you have the idiots who compare signatures and if they arent EXACT reject them as not the same.

I have found it impossible to get my bank to do automatic withdrawls as they always reject the forms on the basis that the signatures dont match. It makes me want to go to the bank and strangle someone, but what can you do.......

katk · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Posts: 52 Location: Atlanta, Ga

Yikes you have me scared! I hope things go over better for me, atleast the consulet is right down the rd from me. but thanks for the info it should help me out some, no one wants to make several trips short or long.

worldwidealive · Joined: 03 Mar 2004 Posts: 84

Signatures? What are signatures? The Japanese solve that problem with stupid stamps that many of them buy in the 100 Yen shop. Apparently, a photo ID makes no sense to them. The "hanko" has to be the most ancient piece of nonsense in this country. Sometimes it is very hard to believe that Japan is a developed nation.

WWA

Albright · Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 39

Long story short, I managed to get an address from ECC and get my paperwork in acceptably Tuesday afternoon, and they say they'll have the paperwork back to me (via Express Mail) by the weekend, so... crisis averted. Apparently, ECC is not used to teachers receiving this level of scrutiny from consulates... Ah well. It's done with.

Ditto the exact signatures thing. I never write in cursive under normal circumstances, so my cursive signature is simply a hand movement I've memorized at this point. Trying to sign my middle name, I had to try to remember how to write each letter... In the end, I don't think they came out all that similar to my passport, but I guess it was close enough for the lady at the counter to accept it.

A weight off my shoulders...

falleneagle · Joined: 12 Jan 2004 Posts: 5 Location: Vancouver, BC

Congrats!

inkansai · Joined: 18 Jan 2005 Posts: 39

ECC is well-known for not being very supportive. Many other teachers have been through similiar situations like you.

ECC doesn't tell you a lot of things. If you are going to be working in the Kinki or Chubu areas you should check out www.generalunion.org/ecc/

Good luck at training it should be a lot of fun

gogolucky26 · Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 16

i did not have a problem in the new york office, but i was not taking any chances, i brought extra id, extra passport photos, ecc and my flight info with me. ECC did give me a paper to help to fill out some of the application. I know what you mean about the visa application though it is worded a little weird, the more information you put the better