Job Discussion Forums

thermal · Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 60

I have been in Japan for about 10 months on a working holiday visa (I'm Australian). Intend to stay until the limit (1.5 years) and the move to a student visa. I don't have a degree and only have 1 year of teaching experience so a working visa is out of the question, so I believe a student visa is the next best option. Plus I really enjoy learning Japanese so it suits me nicely.

I am doubly keen to stay in Japan as I have found an amazing girlfriend.

Is it hard to get a student visa? I have been studying Japanese for about 2.5 years now (1.5 years before I came to Japan) so I guess I can show that I haven't just suddenly decided to study Japanese to stay in Japan.

My other concern is about the requirements to prove you can support yourself. I plan to work as a freelance programmer (work for companies not based in Japan purely via the internet). This will be contract work. Since these companies are likely to have no presence in Japan and it is contract so perhaps seen as not reliable, will have I trouble presenting this as evidence?

In actual fact I can make a lot of money doing this and I am pretty experienced so I am not very worried, just worried about convincing the Japanese government of this.

Also, is it hard to get a working permit? My understanding is that this is up to 20 hours. I shouldn't need it, but it is an option for me.

Lastly, how much study at school is required and can anyone give me a rough idea of fees? Whilst I would like to benefit from this study, I have pretty solid self study techniques and speak Japanese with my girlfriend, so I don't need the study so much. I am generally looking to minimize the fees I have to pay whilst still qualify for the visa.

Oh not sure if it is too relevant, but I will be living in Nagoya, so I should have access to a range of schools.

I have searched the forum and google and read what I can about the student visa.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

If you read the FAQ and Google, then you found this on the MOFA site:

College Student visa
* 2 years or 1 year
Activities to receive education at colleges or equivalent educational institutions, specialized courses of study at miscellaneous schools (senshu gakko), educational institutions designated for preparing persons who have completed 12 years of education at schools in foreign countries to enter college, or technical colleges (koto senmon gakko). Applicants must fulfill certain conditions regarding ability to pay living expenses, etc.

Precollege Student
* 1 year or 6 months
Activities to receive education at high schools, high school courses of schools for the blind or of handicapped children's schools, higher or general courses of miscellaneous schools (kakushu gakko and senshu gakko), or of other educational institutions that are equivalent to kakushu gakko schools in facilities and curriculum. Applicants must fulfill certain conditions regarding ability to pay living expenses, etc.

And this further description:

College Student visa
College student applicants are to study at a college or an equivalent educational institution, a specialized course of study at an advanced vocational school ("Senshugakko"), an educational institution designated for preparing persons who have completed 12 years of education at schools in foreign countries to enter college or "Kotosenmongakko", excluding cases where he or she is planning to study solely at night school or through correspondence courses.
The applicant must have sufficient assets, scholarship, or other means of support to meet his or her expenses while in Japan, unless someone else will pay the applicant's expenses.
In cases where the applicant is to attend courses as an auditor or research student planning to study solely by auditing, he or she should be enrolled as such through some examination by the authorities of the educational institution concerned and should attend at least 10 hours a week.
In cases where the applicant is to enroll in a specialized course of study at an advanced vocational school ("Senshgakko") (excluding solely Japanese language study), the following conditions are to be fulfilled.
The applicant must have studied the Japanese language for at least 6 months at one of the Japanese language institutions designated by the Minister of Justice in the Official Gazette and also found appropriate by the Minister of Education, have proved through some examination that he or she has the ability to understand the Japanese language for the purpose of studying at an advanced vocational school, or have studied for at least 1 year at one of the schools (excluding kindergartens) provided for by the provisions of Article 1 of School Act (Law No. 26 of 1947).
The advanced vocational school concerned should have a full-time foreign student adviser assisting foreign students with living in Japan.
In cases where the applicant is to study only the Japanese language in a specialized course of study at an advanced vocational school, the school concerned should be one of the Japanese language institutions designated by the Minister of Justice in the Official Gazette and also found appropriate by the Minister of Education.
In cases where the applicant is to study at an educational institution designated for preparing persons who have completed 12 years of education at schools in foreign countries to enter college, the educational institution concerned should be designated as such by the Minister of Justice in the Official Gazette.

Pre-college student visa
Pre-college student applicants are to study at a high school (here and below taken to include the latter half of unified secondary school), its equivalent for the blind or other handicapped persons, a higher or general course of study at an advanced vocational school ("Senshugakko") or a vocational school ("Kakushugakko") or another educational institution equivalent to a vocational school in its facilities and curriculum, excluding cases where he or she studies only at night school or through correspondence courses.
The applicant should have sufficient assets, scholarship money, or other means of support to meet his or her expenses while in Japan, unless someone else will pay the applicant's expenses.
In cases where the applicant is to study at a high school, he or she should be at the age of 20 years or less and should have studied the Japanese language for at least 1 year at an educational institution, unless he or she is accepted for study through a student exchange program or other equivalent international exchange program of the national government, a local government, an educational foundation or a non-profit foundation.
In cases where the applicant is to study at a higher or general course of study at an advanced vocational school, or at a vocational school (excluding the study of solely the Japanese language), the following conditions are to be fulfilled.
The applicant must have studied the Japanese language for at least 6 months at one of the Japanese language institutions designated by the Minister of Justice in the Official Gazette and also found appropriate by the Minister of Education, have proved through some examination that he or she has the ability to understand the Japanese language for the purpose of studying at an advanced vocational school or other vocational school or have studied for at least 1 year at one of the schools (excluding kindergartens) provided for by the provisions of Article 1 of the School Act (Law No. 26 of 1947).
The advanced vocational school or other vocational school concerned should have a full-time adviser assisting foreign students with living in Japan.
In cases where the applicant is to study at an educational institution equivalent to a vocational school in its facilities and curriculum (excluding the study of solely the Japanese language), the institution concerned should be designated as such by the Minister of Justice in the Official Gazette.
In cases where the applicant is to study only Japanese language in a higher or general course of study at an advanced vocational school, at a vocational school, or at an educational institution equivalent to a vocational school in its facilities and curriculum, the educational institution concerned should be one of the Japanese language institutions designated by the Minister of Justice in the Official Gazette and also found appropriate by the Minister of Education.

And, this list of documents to be submitted:

College Student visa
A copy of a certificate of admission from the educational institution where the person concerned intends to study. In the case where he or she intends to study as a research student or an auditor, documents certifying the substance of the research or the subjects and the number of lessons from the educational institution concerned.
Documents certifying that the person concerned can defray all expenses incurred during the stay in Japan. In cases where the expenses incurred during the stay in Japan are defrayed by another person, documents certifying the income of the person who intends to defray all expenses and documents showing why he or she intends to defray all expenses for the person concerned are required.

Precollege Student visa
A copy of the certificate of admission from the educational institution where the person concerned intends to study.
A diploma and documentation certifying the career of the person concerned.
Documents certifying that the person concerned can defray all expenses incurred during the stay in Japan. In cases where the expenses incurred during the stay in Japan are defrayed by another person, documents certifying the income of the person who intends to defray all expenses and documents showing why he or she intends to defray all expenses for the person concerned are required.

thermal · Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 60

Thank you so much.

To be honest I searched the site but forgot to check the FAQ again. Sorry about that.

The requirements certainly are pretty vague. It's English but the sentences don't convey much meaning to me.

Is anyone on a student visa or have experience with getting one?

thermal · Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 60

I'm going to answer some of my own questions. I found a lot better information on the actual schools websites. Here are some of the better explained ones (albeit in Tokyo so I can't go to them).

http://www.jpss.jp/eng/life/hazime/main6.html
http://www.jp-sjs.ac.jp/english/visa.html
http://www.nihongo-center.com/en/visa/vis1a.html

The information on these pages is more less the same, but some areas are explained better than others so I'm including them all.

It looks like fees are around 600,000 yen for a year. Not sure if you have to pay it all upfront.

Anyway, I'll keep this thread updated with my progress so it will become a good resources for others. My next step is to speak to the schools with some of my own specific questions.

thermal · Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 60

Further updates:

I have contacted immigration about getting the visa and the permit for work. You can get the visa (and the permit) once the school has accepted your enrollment and you have the piece of paper to prove it.

This was an issue for me as my working holiday visa runs out in September, but school starts in October so I was facing a period with no visa. Added to this is the fact that I want to work in Japan now, so options such as leaving and coming back to the country on a tourist visa aren't viable.

This contains some of the processes involved.

http://www.tijs.jp/english/visa/index.html

Anyway, fingers crossed. Now I'm going to apply for work at peppy kids and see if they will take me

thermal · Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 60

Ok I have gotten a student visa and am going to yamasa in Okazaki. I am going to detail my experience to help others. If anyone thinks it is worthy, please add some/all of it to the FAQ.

Step 1 - Apply for the visa at a school

You cannot directly apply for a student visa, it is done through the school, so you must gather everything they require. The more notable stuff is:

- Diploma/Degree originals

- Health check showing you are healthy (and can study I guess). This cost me 8000 yen, but apparently I got too extensive a blood test which bumped up the price. Supposedly you can get them for 3000 if you choose the right tests and its a cheap hospital (clinics tend to be more expensive).

- Japanese study history and if possible proof of 150 hours of study in a classroom. Basically you need to prove to them that you didn't suddenly decided to study Japanese to stay in Japan. I actually had this amount of study, but couldn't prove it because the school I went to had closed. I got by talking about all the materials I had used in the past and so forth. If you don't have this and are thinking of applying for a student visa in the future, I would get to a (volunteer) school so you can have some proof of some hours of study.

- proof that you have enough money to support yourself throughout your study (something like 2,000,000 per year, part of which would pay for your study). Or you need a guarantor. The guarantor needs to sign saying that they will support you and explain how they will get money to you. They will need to show that they have enough money to support you. If they are working part of this is also proof of their work. You also need proof of your relationship to your guarantor, my Mum was my guarantor so for me this was a birth certificate. Not sure what you would do if they aren't family. I actually will work part time and support myself, but it was just easier pretending she will support me fully.

There is other stuff, but these are the main things you need that might be a problem to get. Once you application is complete, you need to pay 21,000 or so. I had to apply by May 4th for the semester starting from October, so you really do need to get in early. I was waiting on some stuff to come from Australia, which ended up being about a week late, so at least in my case it wasn't such a strict deadline.

Step 2 - Visa is approved by immigration.

Approval for me came on the 29th of August. I was in Japan on a Working Holiday Visa. I was given the following advice from the school:

"Regarding changing from a Working Holiday to a Student Visa, Student Services has informed me that for this type of change, under the current management of Nagoya Immigration, you would apparently need to fill out a specific request form stating your reasons for requesting this change of status without leaving and re-entering the country - it seems that rules regarding Working Holiday visas vary from country to country, and each Immigration Bureau is able to interpret the rules as they please. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that the Immigration will accept such a request, and we cannot say for certain whether or not they might penalize you if the request were deemed frivolous. For this reason, the official position of the school would be to suggest the safest course of action, which would be to leave and re-enter the country with the new visa status."

I decided to take the safe course and go to Korea to apply for my visa. The school and imigration website advised that the application process in Korea would take 2 to 7 days. I didn't have much money and didn't want to be in korea too long, so I took a gamble and booked my flight to arrive on Sunday and leave on Saturday. This way I could apply first thing on Monday morning. In the end it only took 4 hours to get my visa, so I think it's a pretty safe bet to do it this way.

Step 3 - School, working and beyond.

So I am now in Japan waiting to start school. On a student visa you are not officially allowed to work, however you can "apply to engage in a extra activity outside of those allowed by your visa" or some such. This means you can work up to 4 hours a day, 28 hours a week as long as you don't work in an "entertainment establishment". More information: http://www.yamasa.org/acjs/ENGLISH/programs/ptwork.html

One thing though, to apply for the work permit you need a certificate that says you are sudying now. You get this when you actually start your classes, so you can't start working before then.

One thing, if you are planning on working in some way that breaks these rules, be aware that schools generally work with immigration to stop illegal work. So you probably don't want to tell your school this.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

thermal,
Congratulations.

On behalf of anyone who wants to get a student visa like you did, thanks for the details. Just one question, though.

markle · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 1316 Location: Out of Japan

Ha, I know Yamasa in Okazaki, I used to live up the rail line in Toyota. Very nice little city. Summer fireworks are great.

thermal · Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 60

Yeah thanks. It wasn't so hard in the end. Turns out that everyone who applied for the visa at my school got the visa. (Although I think part of this is that they are quite stringent about getting solid applications).

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Well, thermal, I don't know if paying that fee is standard for student visas, but it certainly is not for work visas. Thanks.

Ichigo · Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 29 Location: Japan

@thermal: Wow thanks so much! This will be really helpful in the future as I plan to study at Yamasa in about 2 years when I hopefully have earned enough money to do so.

I'm a little bit concerned about the "prove that you've had classes before" thing.
I've studied Japanese at my university, but no prove for this apart from the textbooks.

By the time I'll apply I've already lived 2 years in Japan and right now my level is beyond 3kyu, by then it should be 2kyu level.
Isn't it enough to show them your Japanese ability in the tests they have set up?

thermal · Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 60

@Ichigo:

Really? Don't you have some results from your Japanese classes?

My advice is get as much evidence as you can. If you have nothing official, get your former teachers to write a letter stating that they taught you for so many hours. Get it with an official letterhead from the university and make it as official looking as possible.

As part of your application you will also state all the Japanese materials/stuff you have used. Be exaustive. I stated books, software, websites, everything and anything I could think of. I wrote a program to study Kanji which I also mentioned.

The detailing of my Japanese study history was also quite long. I wasn't exactly verbose, but I didn't leave much out. State dates, locations and aproximate hours.

In any case I got through with this and with 36 hours of proven study which I did in Japan. So it isn't an absolute requirement.

I think passing the JLPT would definitely help you. However, you can't show your ability as part of your application, if this is what you meant. As maybe you native Japanese friend wrote the letter demonstrating your ability.

Still, if you are going to study in about 2 years, you could always get 150 hours of study before then. I live in Nagoya and there are a lot of volunteer classes around me. They generally cost about 200yen and go for 1.5 hours. But even so, you will probably be ok as you are.

BTW, if you are studying Japanese, check out http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/about and http://kanji.koohii.com/ Smile

Oh and if anyone wants advice in about a month or so. You'd be better of sending me a PM as I don't check this forum so often.

Ichigo · Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 29 Location: Japan

Thanks for the input.
There are some crappy volunteer classes here, but to be honest I don't want to attend them just so I can show some prove to Yamasa.
Maybe I can get my former teacher to write a letter.
I can't imagine that they will reject you just because you can't completely prove that you've studied Japanese before?!
If I remember correctly they even say somewhere that it's okay if you don't know any Japanese and are a total beginner when you want to attend their school .... so how does this go together? o__O

I know those sites - they're my bible Very Happy

I just finished Heisig not too long ago Wink

I'll definitely ask how things are going after a while.
Thanks Wink

thermal · Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 60

Haha

Yeah basically they want evidence of former Japanese study as this demonstrates you haven't just suddenly decided to study Japanese to get the student visa. Some people do use it as a kind of substitute work visa and they want to protect against this.

I assume they also want to see that you actually care about learning Japanese. You won't just cruise through classes and not get anywhere.

Ichigo · Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 29 Location: Japan

Hm, maybe it'll help to contact them NOW and ask.
If they know that I contacted them 2 years BEFORE I actually came to study that also shows that I didn't just decide "yesterday" to study.
By the way that only goes if you apply for the student visa, right?
It MIGHT happen that I still have a work visa then (valid for a few months), so I can start with that and then change to a student visa.

Anyway thanks a lot Very Happy

May I ask how long you intend to stay and which program did you decide to join? Smile