Job Discussion Forums

[thomthom]

I'm now approaching my 14th week of waiting for my COE! This seems unprecedented. Has anyone else applying over the last couple of months had a similar delay..?

After 8 weeks my school received a letter (I was expecting it to be the COE iteslf) merely asking for a missing document. This would explain a slight delay, but not this much of one, surely. Every time we phone them they say it's "In process" and don't give any more info than that.

There are two factors I'm thinking could have affected the process:
(a) I applied for a totally new COE only about 8 weeks after my previous visa expired (rather than renewing). Is this frowned-upon? I'm wondering if they like to make people wait if they do this - for example, is there a rule you've got to wait 6 months before applying for a new visa?
(b) In my first year in Japan, I did work for a different school to the one that initially sponsored my visa, without informing immigration. I was anxious they'd spot this and use it as a reason not to grant me a new COE. But still, that would have been a reason to give me a straight 'No', rather than to leave me waiting like this, surely?

[Rooster.]

Are you in Japan right now and is this through a big company?

[thomthom]

I'm not in Japan, no (fortunately). It's through a single little school.

[thomthom]

Alright, so, finally.. after an inexplicable wait of SIXTEEN WEEKS for my COE to arrive, it has done so.

My advice: if you let your visa expire and reapply for a new one only a minimal few weeks later, be prepared for a longer wait than if you were applying for a COE for the first time. Immigration evidently don't like it - presumably because it suggests that you were trying to reset your employment history - and they might spend an extra 10 weeks investigating your previous employment/deliberately leaving you waiting.

I'm going back to Japan! Hurrah!