Documents needed for working visa

[laura.dom]

hiya,
we've been offered jobs in Iida teaching English and have just been informed you must apply for your working visa from outside of the country.

We're traveling at the moment and don't have any documents with us. Does anyone know exactly what documents we will need and if it is ok to get these faxed through.

We are waiting to hear from the board of education but it would be useful to try and begin orgnaising things now.

thanks in advance
laura and dom

[larabell]

At the very least, you'll need something from the school stating what you'll be doing and how much they're paying you. The school will probably have to provide some evidence of the size and extent of their operations. And you will almost certainly need to submit an original college diploma.

From what I can tell, there are two paths one can follow (you can also Google all this from the MOFA web site). One would be to submit everything at an embassy or consulate outside of Japan with a visa application. According to MOFA, if you take this route, they may well send your stuff to Japan for review so you need to submit it well in advance (unfortunately, like most things Japanese, the time it takes isn't mentioned). The other way would be to have someone (the school, perhaps) submit an application in Japan for what is known as a Certificate of Eligibility. This is a kind of "shortcut" in that the officials in Japan can verify that your position meets the criteria for a working visa and then you just submit the actual visa application at an embassy or consulate outside of Japan, along with the certificate, and receive the visa in just a few days (I think mine took 3-4 days when I applied in Los Angeles).

If you happen to be elsewhere at the time, you should know that it's possible to apply for the actual visa at *any* consulate or embassy -- it doesn't even have to be in your home country. For instance, it used to be common for a job seeker to come to Japan on a tourist visa, land a job, and then take a week's trip to South Korea to apply for the visa. In fact, when I came over back in 1998, I came to Japan on a business trip and walked the CoE paperwork through myself -- then returned to LA for a brief trip to obtain my visa.

I've also heard (on this forum, I believe) of a few people who have recently been able to convert a temporary visa into a working visa while here in Japan. While I've never seen that method mentioned in any official sources, and way back when that used to be impossible, things do change over time so it might pay to inquire at an embassy or consulate -- or, if you happen to be in Japan, at one of the immigration offices. Even if the rumors are untrue, Korea is only an hour's flight away and it's an interesting place to spend a few days while they issue your visa.

It's highly unlikely you will be able to use fax copies of any documents you may be required to submit. If the school plans to submit the paperwork for your CoE, you should ask them what you will need and have it sent over as soon as possible. When you apply for the actual visa, you will most likely need to do that in person *and* you will need to submit your passport.