Job Discussion Forums

[dom_90]

hi all,
i'm moving to Takamatsu with NOVA in June and am well sick of waiting. does anyone know how long it takes for the visa process and whether it is possible to ask NOVA to speed things up?
-i think i'm going a bit crazy waiting to go-

i applied in feburary and had my interview late march. they sent me confirmation of recieving my documents about a week and a half ago.
i thought it would be about 6 weeks from that. is this correct?
cheers for any help on this matter.
dom.

oh, also is the visa usually a multiple entry visa?

[bornslippy1981]

[PAULH]

[luckyloser700]

What you'll get from Japan (Actually, NOVA will get it and send it to you) is something called a Certificate of Eligibility. You'll then take that certificate, along with your passport, to your nearest Consul of Japan. From there it takes about 3 days or so for someone to check everything and put a Visa into your passport. I'm assuming you're talking about a working visa here. Be nice to the person at the office of the Consul since he or she can still reject your Visa application. The certificate just says the government of Japan has no reason to deny your application up front. The certificate gives you a leg up, but is not a guarantee. Don't worry, though. I've never heard of anyone getting rejected after getting the certificate.

And, Jeez...Chill out. You'll get here soon enough and work your ass off at NOVA.

[Kleetus]

I'm in the same boat dom..... my girlfriend and I interviewed in March and we just recieved confirmation to leave in early august.

Here's my gripe.....we aren't going to know where we are placed until 2-3 weeks before we arrive....what??? It'd be nice to be able to plan for cool vs. hot climate prior to 2 weeks before arriving (plus doing some research on the city...whichever it will be).

Oh well....we all knew nova was going to pull some funny shat like this (if you did your research on them). It will happen now and in Japan, so my advice: understand that nova isn't around to please employees, and accept it. Japan will still be amazing and embrace the adventure to its fullest....

[Glenski]

Kleetus,

What exactly do you need to prepare other than clothing? I think you should be prepared for such last-minute announcements during your stay here. It happens a lot. It might seem that there is no activity going on at all, when what is really happening is that closed-door and hallway meetings are taking place, and then after a decision is made, it is announced. Poker face until then.

As for needing time to do research on the place where you will be posted, think about it. This is 2006, and you have the Internet at your fingertips. Two or three weeks is a lot of time. Just my opinion.

I came here 8 years ago when the Net had fewer discussion groups like this one (Dave's was only a couple of years old at the time), and there was a LOT less info available then.

[sallycat]

it"s going to be fu.cking hot in summer and fuc.king cold in winter pretty much anywhere you go in japan. i wouldn't worry to much about the packing for climate thing. pack summer clothes and get your family to send you the winter ones if you're really worried.

and, yeah, they recruit about 600 people at a time, that's why they don't tell you exactly where you're being sent.

[luckyloser700]

[dom_90]

thanks for all the help everyone...
i'm just a bit bored and i haven't seen my girlfriend in about a month (she is already there). i was just hoping to go sooner rather than later. i guess i'll just have to wait.

[Apsara]

Thinking about what Glenski said about the lack of info available when he first came to Japan reminded me of when I first came to Japan- more than 10 years ago now. I was on a WHV so I spent 3 months working at a ski resort in Nagano first, although I had already arranged the job with Nova.

2 weeks before I was due to finish up in Nagano I realised I didn't know yet where I was heading with Nova, so I faxed them (this was pre-Internet and email, for me anyway) and they faxed me back saying they'd confirm in a few days.

I hadn't asked for anywhere in particular, just not too big a city, not knowing that in Japan that can mean you'll be on the outskirts of a major city like Tokyo, but technically in a smaller city. Finally 3 days before I left they got back to me with my new city- Koshigaya, Saitama- and so I duly headed there, not knowing anything at all about the place- no Internet to do research, no other way of getting information about what kind of place it was other than asking people (probably just as well in retrospect, Saitama is not the most exciting or beautiful place in Japan) - I didn't mind at the time though, since it was an adventure!

I think the information age is making us a bit boring if we need weeks and weeks to do research and be thoroughly prepared in every possible way for the future- what happened to the sense of adventure and playing it by ear?

When I travel I often find I enjoy myself more if I have fewer preconceptions about a place- of course some research is necessary, but taking it as it comes isn't a bad strategy sometimes.

[EZKiel]

I think the COE processing could go over 3 months. My documents were submitted to immigration (Tokyo) on March 6.

Some irrelevant certificates that I also sent were returned on April 20. The company phoned the immigration office about this and they told me that "your visa is still under examination".

I just hope I won't be denied in the end. Waiting for 3 months, maybe longer, is a real pain.