COE/Visa Situation
 

Hello everyone,

I'm in a bit of a pickle here and advice from you experts would really help ;).

Basically, I came to Japan on a tourist visia with a job lined up (had already submitted COE paperwork) and would have received the COE soon after I arrived. However, after I arrived I found a better job opportunity, so I politely informed the original job that I found employment elsewhere and they went again and canceled the COE process. At the beginning of March, I went with a representative of my new company to immigration to apply for another COE and it all went smoothly. However.....it's been just about 3 and a half weeks since applying for the COE and I have yet to hear anything back yet. Considering that my "Temp. Visitor" status expires on April 20th, I need to start preparing for the worst case scenario: that the COE doesn't come by then. I've done a lot of research yet can't seem to find a straight answer anywhere.

So, what do you all think I should do? Go to immigration and beg for an extension? If so, what excuse should I give? Should I call them for the status? Should I do the Korea run? If so how long? And also, what should I say to the immigration officer when I come back? I've heard recently that some people are getting denied the second 90 day visa after going abroad for a few days, so I'm a bit worried.

Anyway, yea, I have just about 3 weeks to either receive the COE or face expiration..

Any advice would really help. Thank you!

Does MOFA know you are in Japan?

To be honest, I'm not sure....

I simply did what I was instructed to do. That was go with my company representative to the immigration ward in Shinagawa, apply for my COE, and then just wait.

Don't know if that has anything to do with MOFA or not...

COE is released by MOFA, and they will not release it until you are out of the country. That7s what they did to me.

What the heck? I've never heard of that before. In fact, there's an area on the application to put where you want the COE sent to while in Japan. Plenty of people get their COE in Japan.

As has come up on another thread, Tsuwabuki is convinced that it is not possible to change from a tourist permit to working visa while in Japan, while I know people who have done exactly that. Even if Immigration would not give Tsuwabuki his/her COE in Japan, that does not mean they treat all people equally. In fact they are well-known for their "case by case" approach to people applying for visas.

It can take several weeks for a COE to be processed. In my case it took about 5 weeks. Once you get your COE, it takes a couple days to get the work visa processed.

You cannot get an extension for a temporary visitor (tourist) visa. If your COE is not completed in time, you will have no choice but to leave the country, if you overstay your visa by so much as one day, you face the likely possibility of not being granted another visa for several years.

Running to Korea will probably work if you are from America, Canada, the UK, or Australia. If you are from the Philippines or some other part of Asia, they probably won't let you back in for at least a few months.

Thats reassuring, as I'm American. So, what would you say the bare minimum safe stay in Korea would be? 2, 3 days? Also, any idea what questions I should expect when coming back and how I should answer?

I am convinced, yes. They told me they would not send the COE until I gave them date I was leaving Japan as a tourist. They then sent the COE to my company, believing I was either about to leave or had already left. My company then gave me the COE, and I exited the country around the date I said I would leave, COE in hand, spent one day only in Korea, got my visa, and returned.

It was an easy and unstressful process.

MOFA does the COE. MOJ, immigration, does not. Yes, you can apply at immigration, but that is not who releases the COE. So saying what immigration will and will not do in regards to a COE is not correct.

MOFA and MOJ are different entities.

I can`t really give you a current answer for this... But I would say that in the past a 2 or 3 day trip would definitely have been enough.

Back long long ago, when I made a visa refresh trip to Korea, it was a common enough practice that I was asked both at entry into Korea and upon re-entry into Japan if I had been making the trip in order to get my COE/change visa status. There was no suggestion that it was something bad, and the feeling was that it was very common.

In the past you DID indeed need to be outside of Japan in order to get it. In recent years I have been hearing more and more of people who are able to apply while in Japan, get the COE, and have a visa within weeks without ever stepping outside the country that I believe things may have changed.

But, having no experience with the process myself - I really do not know.

You can tell Korea you're doing a visa run for Japan, or tell Japan you're doing a visa run for Korea, but I wouldn't do it without the proper documentation. If you're just getting tourist visas in both countries, I would tell the Japanese immigration official that there is one or two more things in the country you want to see that you didn't get to see while you were there.

However, if that is the case, you will need one of the following:

1) return ticket
2) itinerary showing what you plan to do in Japan, and when you plan to leave, and by what means. Travel agencies can do this for you, even if you plan to wait to purchase the return ticket.
3) Massive amounts of cash showing you will not be a burden for your estimated time in Japan
4) Some other proof of intent to leave

I lived in Korea for six months and maintained residency, officially, while working on my visa process for Japan. I came in and out fairly easily due to Korean residency requirements- lose your job, you lose your residency. My job in Korea had been bilking the Korean IRS and did not want it known, so they never reported the fact that I quit. As far as Japanese immigration was concerned, I had residency in Korea, which proved I had little intent to remain in Japan, so number four. This wasn't true, but I never told the officials that it was. It was a case of the officials seeing what they wanted to see.

Nyororin, it had changed, but according to MOFA, companies had begun to abuse the status change by having people work on tourist visas while waiting for the COE. This is why in July 2008, they returned to their original policy.

I actually thought it was possible for the immigration officers to look up and see any pending applications in process. If I say what you told me to say, and they look on the computer and see I have a COE in process, I could end up in deep deep trouble.

I was giving you general information. You are quite correct; if the MOJ (ie, immigration) has access to your COE information, and presumes that you are waiting in Japan for it to arrive, or worse, working without it, you could be denied entry until your COE process is complete.

It sounds like you don't even know if the COE has been printed. In my case, it had been printed, and MOFA refused to send it out until I had given them a date by which I was leaving, which was about two weeks in the future, but significantly sooner than my current tourist visa expired. Then they sent it. Probably by the next business day, because I got it within that two weeks, and made the one day run to Korea around the same time, a day or so earlier, I think, than what I told MOFA was my planned departure date.

I have never said you have to be out of the country; just that you must provide MOFA with a departure date so they will send the COE to your company (who would normally then be forced to send it to you, but like me, you could just pick it up in person, and then leave).

But I did not apply for the COE in person in Japan, nor as was earlier stated. I don't think MOJ has access to the COE application, because my last tourist visa, I had a COE application in process, and that was why I mentioned the fact that immigration knew I had a Korean residency and deemed that proof I didn't want Japanese residency. This was, of course, false. And I never told immigration it was true.

I did apply in Japan though. Thing is, I was never asked (by application or person) when I would leave Japan so they could send out the COE. So, how do I know if its ready and they're just waiting for me to leave? Should I just give MOFA a call?

Yes. This is precisely what I had to do. Keep calling until it was ready, give departure date, wait, receive from company, go to Korea, come back with residency.

Bit confused. I just called MOFA and they said they have absolutely NOTHING to do with the COE and to contact immigration for all COE matters. I also asked them about the departure date release thing and they had no idea what I was talking about.

wweeeeeeeeeeeee.. isn't bureaucracy fun!:rolleyes:

What?! That is exactly opposite my whole experience.

Well, crap. When I get back to Japan, I will just go to immigration and straight out ask for you, because now I want to know the answer.

I called the number listed on this page: MOFA: Guide to Japanese Visas

I even spoke to a supervisor. They specifically said they don't deal at all with COE and to contact immigration for any questions regarding it. Why don't you just give them a call for the heck of it and see if you get different results? :)