# Delayed COE



## Narue86

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all having a good weekend 

I am posting here a query related to the working visa. My company is transferring me to our office in Tokyo and applied for my working visa back in June. They said that the Certificate of Eligibility would arrive before the end of August and I purchased my plane ticket based on that (they wanted me to start from Japan the earliest possible). I knew that timing was tight and there were probabilities of the COE being late but still, I bought it (no, my company is not paying for any travelling costs...).

Now, I am travelling in less than three weeks and still do not have any news on the COE. I know it could arrive in any time but I am starting to feel desperate about it. What if it does not arrive on time?

Some expat colleagues living in Japan told me that I could still travel to Japan as a tourist (as long as I have a return ticket), wait for the COE to arrive, then travel to South Korea for example and get my working visa from there. Is this really feasible or even legal?

At the moment I only have a one-way ticket to Japan. In order to enter as a tourist I would need to purchase a return ticket.

Another solution would be to purchase a return ticket from Japan to my home country (Spain) and return by mid October when the COE is finally arrived. I could then get my visa and return to Japan with my working visa.

I am not sure if it is worth to delay my original flight (paying for the extra costs obviously) than risk my residency in Japan with all these "alternative" plans but I wanted to check with you in case someone had a similar experience. Of course everything would be easier if my company (American) paid for my travelling costs but that is an already lost battle I am afraid 

Thank you in advance and enjoy the weekend!


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## larabell

It should be legal for you to come to Japan on a "business trip" before your COE arrives. What we usually describe as a "tourist visa" is, in fact, the same temporary visa that businessmen use to visit Japan for meetings, pre-move house-hunting trips, etc. Just to be safe, make sure the company continues to treat you as an employee in your home country until you have the visa in hand.

When I came over, I scheduled a two-week trip to Japan (presumably to make housing arrangements and such) and then a week or two in LA to convert my COE to a real visa. There was no problem. If your passport is from Spain, it looks like you're eligible for a 90-day temporary stay.

It may also be possible to apply for your visa from within Japan once you've received your COE (obviously, someone on the other end would have to mail it to you). It used to be that the visa application had to be submitted to an Embassy or Consulate outside of Japan (in which case, Korea is as good a place as any) but recently there have been reports of people who converted their temporary visa into a working visa without leaving the country. I don't personally know of anyone who has done that but if you're here anyway, might as well try. The official form would be for a "Change of Status", I believe.

I'm not sure whether a trip back home would be more or less expensive than just changing your existing ticket. If you don't mind spending a few days in Korea, tickets there are pretty cheap. I'd also call the Embassy or Consulate where you filed for the COE and see when they expect it to arrive (they may not know, but... it's probably worth asking).


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## Narue86

Thank you for your prompt reply Larabell!

I just found the below information at the MOFA website:

"Can I apply for a visa at the nearest Japanese Embassy / Consulate General while traveling in a foreign country?

Apply for the visa at the Japanese Embassy / Consulate General in your own country (region) or country (region) of residence (if there is more than one, apply to the Japanese Embassy / Consulate General nearest from where you live). In other words, you cannot apply for a visa at your travel destination however, if there are unavoidable circumstances, consult with the Japanese Embassy / Consulate General where you would like to apply for the visa before making the application."

According to this, I would need to go to Japan on a tourist visa with a return ticket to Spain, return within 3 months and process my visa from Spain. I think that in my case it will be cheaper to delay the original departure 3 weeks rather than paying for a round plane ticket Japan-Spain... 

I will contact the Japanese Embassy in Spain to double-check everything anyway 

Thank you again!!


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