Job Discussion Forums

[Xanthos]

Hi

Is it possible for UK or US citizens to apply for Japan work permits in Beijing once they have received their 'certificate of eligibility'?

Many thanks

[Glenski]

If you already have your COE, you can go to the Japanese embassy and have it processed into the visa. When you enter Japan, it gets canceled and replaced with what is called a status of residence. Then you are done.

[Xanthos]

Thanks Glenski,

So let me get this straight:

1) I receive my COE (certificate of eligibility)
2) I go to the Japanese Embassy in Beijing and apply for the Work Permit
3) The Japanese Embassy in Beijing gives me, a UK citizen on a Chinese Tourist Visa (for example), the necessary work permit to enter Japan.

Is this possible?

The reason I am asking is because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan website says the following:

"An application for visa is made by the applicant him/herself at the Japanese Embassy / Consulate General with jurisdiction over the area in which the applicant lives. In some cases the application may be made by an accredited travel agent that has been approved by the Japanese Embassy / Consulate General."

I have heard Chinese visa stipulations to this effect, but I am also aware there are, and have been, apparent exceptions to the rules in some cases. These days for a Chinese work permit, one must return to one's home country to apply.

[seklarwia]

If you have the paper work then you can apply for the visa at the embassy in Beijing.

Actually unless the rules have changed since 2008, you don't need to return to the UK to apply for a Chinese work visa either. I'm from the UK but only had to apply outside of mainland China so took the paper work supplied by my employer in Shaoxing down to HK and applied at the embassy in Wanchai... I had my work visa in a few days with no fuss.

[fluffyhamster]

If there was a regulation that actually stated you had to return to your country of birth (which is obviously not the same thing as wherever you might be living in later life) to receive and certainly to convert any COE, they'd hardly (have) post(ed) it so directly, and without any obvious attached disclaimers, to you living in China, would they now!

[Glenski]

Perhaps the confusion lies with an understanding of how the visa process works.

You get hired first.
You apply for the COE, first step in the visa process. The COE states which work visa you want.
After you get it, you "exchange it" for the visa.
The visa changes to a "status of residence", although everyone typically says they are on a "work visa".

So, you can't get a COE without a job in hand and without also applying (with your employer's paperwork) for the visa.

At what stage are you now? Sounds like you already have the COE. Good, now just go to the embassy.

[Xanthos]

[fluffyhamster]

Hi Xanthos, I can appreciate how the inconvenient Chinese regs are making you wonder about the Japanese ones, but I really don't think there's any reason to worry.

By the way, I used the verb living simply because the MOFA stuff you quoted talks about 'the area in which the applicant lives'.

I'm assuming that what they mean by that is ultimately 'wherever the applicant happens to [legally!] be at the time of applying'; that is, your exact status in China is surely more a matter for the Chinese government than the Japanese, and I very much doubt if there are the same inconvenient regulations in the Japanese visa system as there are in the Chinese. (At least, I've never heard of this being a problem regarding Japan. Apparently the biggest problem with Japan - and this seems like decades ago now - used to be that foreigners already in Japan but then seeking work had to leave the country and go to an overseas embassy or consulate to get a visa entered into their passport, with Seoul being about the nearest, but nowadays one can apply for permission to work [essentially the same process as used to get a COE] from within Japan itself...so given all that now for those applying from within Japan, I really can't see that it will matter where one is when applying for a COE>visa from outside Japan!).

About the only problem I can forsee is if the application process (job securing + COE dispatch) takes longer than your China tourist visa is valid for (in which case you may need to get the COE sent or forwarded somewhere else; or if the worst came to the worst you could perhaps try entering Japan also as a tourist with a view to collecting the COE directly from the employer or those issuing it [NB: don't tell Immigration if and when entering as a tourist that your intention is not to sightsee but to 'seek work', because you never know, they could interpret that as you saying that you intend to work illegally rather than legally, and thus refuse you entry!], but I don't recommend this last approach mainly because of the [admittedly few, but still...] cautionary horror stories of job offers and thus any sponsorship and COE disappearing upon arrival [if the employer in fact ever applied for one!] and the person being therefore left with no means of starting work immediately/legally).

Anyway, hope it goes smoothly for you!

Edit: I see Sek's also posted, making similar points.

[seklarwia]

[Xanthos]

[fluffyhamster]

IIRC (from personal experience, and reading these forums) the COE usually takes around 4-6 weeks (or was it 6-8? One of us should check by searching the Japan forum for 'COE' etc! ) to be issued to the employer (and if the employer is then on the ball, they will use a private courier rather than standard post, so the time spent sending it on to you should be minimal and a matter of just a few extra days rather than weeks). So you ought to allow 2-3 months to be on the safe side (for just closing the final one of a few definite job offers, and securing the COE; the preceding multiple job applications super-plural may take months and months to get to even the interview stage, especially when applying from outside Japan! (Not that applying from within is that much more straightforward when one lacks a visa and thus needs much the same initial sponsorship - as you may have heard, not all employers are willing to sponsor visas even if one is already in Japan e.g. as a tourist)).

If your location is liable to change whilst waiting for the COE, it is of course imperative that you inform the employer exactly where it should be sent to for you to receive it (and again, make sure that they understand the urgency and security/value aspects and therefore use a proper courier! Even if they insist on billing you for it!!!).

BTW Xanthos, depending on your age and nationality you may be eligible for a Working Holiday Visa - a relatively easy (though short-term) way to get one's foot in the door.

[seklarwia]

[Xanthos]

[Bread]

[Glenski]