How to obtain a Certificate of Eligibility for Statsu of Residence

Necessary items to smoothly pass Japan's immigration process

"Status of Residence" refers to the commonly referred "Working Visa" or "Student visa".
In the text, "Certificate of Eligibility for Status of Residence" is referred to as " Certificate of Eligibility".

"Certificate of Eligibility" should be prepared in advance

"Certificate of Eligibility" is a document that proves compliance with any of "Status of residence”.

"Visa" and "Status of Residence" are completely different certifications in Japan, as explained on the "Procedure for entering Japan" page. certificate of eligibility is not required for short stay "Certificate of Eligibility" is a pre-approval system for "Status of Residence". To put it plainly, it is a certificate that allows you to stay in Japan for a long term.
(The allowable period of term varies depending on the type of "Status of Residence").
From here, explaining how to apply for "Certificate of Eligibility" for "Status of Residence" except for "Short-Term Stay".

【Important Point】

When applying for "Certificate of Eligibility", the following must be done.

In the case of a "Status of Residence" application for working.
You must have an employment contract with the company you are going to work for.
The application document must also include an employment contract.
*You can not apply it if your employing company is un-decided.
In the case of a "Status of Residence" application for international studying.
You must have an admission certificate issued by the institution you plan to attend.

Flow of Certificate of Eligibility for Status of Residence Application

在留資格証明書の発行は、地方入出国在留管理局です。
Submit your application documents to the Regional Immigration Bureau office that has jurisdiction over your planned residence in Japan.
If you don't decide your future Japanese address yet, you're able to apply for the Regional Immigration Bureau Office which has jurisdiction over the address of the institution you plan to belong to.

Applications for "Certificate of Eligibility" must be submitted to the Regional Immigration Bureau in Japan. It is not accepted at overseas Japanese Embassy in your country.
Submission of the application	Person who is legally allowed to submit application documents as your agent. (Please select from the following 3 types according to your situation)
	Applicant person (You) or your legal representative living in Japan. The staff at the office where the applicant is planning to work for , theschool staff who are going to attend, etc... A administrative scrivener who obtain approval from the RegionalImmigration Bureau,etc... (By the way, the administrator of this Website is an Administrative Scrivener)
	It's expected that you need to contact with your agent person in Japan many times how to fill in the application documents and the collection of necessary documents (varies on a case-by-case basiscase by case) for application.

	Your examination of documents by the Regional Immigration Bureau Office.It takes 1 to 3 months for the "Certificate of Eligibility" permit to be issued. They will notify the results to your agent person (Ⅰ.Ⅱ.Ⅲ ) It won't be sent directly to your non-Japan address. (Why do you need a visa? Although it is a visa exempt country...?　Clickhere)

	Your agent person will send the document of "Certificate of Eligibility" to your home country address at a later date.

Procedures you must do at Home country	Take your "Certificate of Eligibility" to a Japanese Embassy in your country and apply for "Visa". By presenting a “Certificate of Eligibility” to the diplomat, your visa should be issued smoothly. 【 Items required for application 】 Application documents for "Visa". Passport. "Certificate of Eligibility" and copy of it. 1-2 photos of your face. (Please confirm the required number and standard of the photograph beforehand)

	In principle, you should enter Japan within 3 months from the issuance date of the "Certificate of Eligibility". (The expiration date of the documents is 3 months)

Landing procedure	Present your passport, "Visa" and "Certificate of Eligibility" at a port or airport where you landed in Japan. Have your landing permit stamp pressed on your passport from a immigration officer. And then you have to receive issuance procedure of a "Resident-Card" that is as an identification licencecard for foreigners who are " mid or long term resident " in Japan.

【 Add Information 】 Documents required when applying for "Certificate ofEligibility".

For example, if you want to prove your education background, you need to obtain a certificateof graduation issued by the university or other educational institution.
If you want to prove your career at a previous job, you need documents that prove youremployment at the previous job until your retirement, such as an employment contract, acertificate of retirement, a pay slip during work, a certificate of health insurance etc.

"Certificate of Eligibility" for living with family inJapan

The Certificate of Eligibility plays an important role in inviting families in your home country and living together in Japan. Many types of "Status of Residence" in Japan are for permitting work activities or studying abroad.
In other words, it's not permitted to enter and stay without clear purpose. Well then, the problem arises that dependents such as spouses and children who don't work won't be able to come to Japan except for "Short-Term Stay".
But, don't worry about it. In order to clear that problem, the "Status of Residence" has a type of "Dependent".
(Please refer to "Dependent" from here).
However, some types of "Status of Residence" holders cannot apply for obtaining the ”Dependent”.

Dpendent is a statsu of residence for family "Dependent" is as the name suggests, the target persons is a legal spouse and children those who need to receive a living expense from you.
To do so, you must obtain a certificate from your country's government agency to explain your legal relationship with your family menbers by the time you apply for the Regional Immigration Bureau.
As you can guess from above commentary, your fiance is not subject to "Dependent". In order to live together in Japan with permission of "Dependent", you need to get married officially first.

Follow the procedure shown in the above table for the later procedure. You can either apply as a legal representative or also leave it to an administrative scrivener. If a "Certificate of Eligibility" is issued without problems, please send it to your family. After that, your family have to take it to the Japanese embassy in your home country, their "Visa" will should be issued smoothly at that time. (If you don’t know why your family need a visa, please refer here) Let your family enter Japan within 3 months from the issue date of "Certificate of Eligibility".

【Administrative scriveners are professionals in the preparation of documentswith national qualifications】

Administrative scriveners are professionals in the preparation of documents with national qualifications When the general public needs to submit documents to the government offices what the most worry thing is that they don't know what documents how to filled in. If you are a foreign national, it's all the more natural. Also, it's certain that the amount and type of evidence documents required for foreign nationals will increase at the time of each application. You will come across a lot of situations where you feel doubts, such as "What kind of documents should I collect and submit?".
In such a case, please consult our administrative scrivener office. We have various knowledge and experiences to deal with those problems. We are always with you as a specialist in Japanese law.

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