Compared to standard universities and even 専門学校 (trade schools) the visa for language study is different and limited to 2 consecutive years of stay and is called a 留学 (ryuugaku) visa. This visa permits up to 28 hours of part-time work per a week in addition to studying long term at a language school.
There are work restrictions on the visa, but they are basically "don't work at any bar or nightclub" in order to prevent students from working for host/hostess clubs and nightclubs.
There is a gray area with the visa which is that you should be studying at a language school while on this visa status. This means the language school will demand that you leave the country within 2 weeks after you stop studying. The actual law doesn't say that, but the language school will because technically they are the sponsor of your visa. I won't comment any further except that if you have a visa issue, you should ask Japanese immigration (like go there and talk to them) rather than your language school.
There are 4 periods during which you can apply for visas and they are based on the start date of each quarter of school. Schools will start new classes every quarter (January, April, July, October). The application period will typically be just 3-4 months just before the time you intend to start school.
Application Process
The language school you apply to will actually be the entity that applies to Japanese Immigration on your behalf for your Certificate of Eligibility (CoE). The CoE is what you need in your home country (or in Japan if you're already here) in order to receive the actual visa. For most of the process, you will actually be going through the language school during the application process.
Once you receive the CoE, you need to visit a Japanese consulate (if outside Japan) or Japanese immigrate office if you're in Japan to exchange the CoE for the Visa in your Passport. This process typically requires at least a few hours, but Japanese consulates will sometimes tell you to come back the next day if you live near the consulate. If you don't live near they consulate, they can expedite the exchange to a few hours so you can receive it the same day.
The process while in Japan is a bit different. Inside Japan, your 在留カード (zairyuu card) is actually your visa. So immigration will either issue a brand new card or update your status.
What the language school and immigration will require
The language school will require basic identification documents (passport), a passport style picture (digital .jpg file), proof of at least 1,000,000 yen equivalent in a bank account for 6 month study (2,000,000 yen for 1 year), and of course an application fee. If the application process fails for whatever reason, you lose the application fee.
Tuition will not be due until immigration has issued a CoE. In fact, the language school will probably withhold your CoE until you pay your tuition, so be prepared to pay your tuition about 2-3 weeks before you actually intend to enter Japan.
The 1,000,000 yen requirement is just required for immigration to approve your visa. Basically this is what immigration considers the minimum necessary for you to sustain yourself while in Japan for 6 months. After your visa has been issued, you don't need to maintain 1,000,000 yen in your account (in fact you could probably get away with it right after you've sent the application).
If you want to study for longer than 6 months, it is still recommended to apply for 6 months and then extend your study while in the country. This is because most young students don't have 2,000,000 yen just sitting around in a bank account and immigration only looks at the initial application and does not re-evaluate your status until you apply for a new visa.
Timeline
The application process needs to start about 4 months before you intend to start studying for students applying from outside Japan. (Even within Japan, immigration is quite slow with issuing CoE/visa status changes so coming on a tourist visa and then applying isn't exactly a bright idea either).
Additionally, since the language school will be applying on your behalf, the language school will typically wait till the deadline before sending in the actual application. So applying to the language school ahead of time (5 or 6 months) will not have any effect on when you actually receive your CoE. Despite this, I would still apply a little bit early to make sure you have everything lined up correctly.
The CoE will be issued (if at all) about 2-3 weeks before your actual start date for school. This means if you want to purchase an airline ticket in advanced for better rates, you will be purchasing that ticket without a firm approval from Japanese immigration. Despite this, if you followed the language school's application requirements, I would purchase the ticket 2 months before departure. If you are worried about application denial, then just purchase a ticket with cancellation terms you agree with.
Once the CoE has been issued, the school will demand tuition payment. This will most likely need to be done by Bank (Wire) Transfer from your current bank to the language school's Japanese bank. The wire transfer on both ends will come with additional fees, so expect to pay about 4500 yen or more just because of the transfer. Since the school won't send the CoE until they confirm they have received payment, you should be ready to initiate a wire transfer upon notice from the school otherwise you will just delay your departure date.
The CoE will probably be sent via Express Mail Service (EMS) but due to your own country's customs inspections, expect about 5 days or even a full week before it actually arrives.
A trip to a Japanese consulate is the fastest part of the process but be careful because Japanese consulates will typically only work business hours weekdays and take all Japanese national holidays in addition to the local country's national holidays as well. Also they are not in every major city so you need to verify which city actually has a consulate you can go to.
Receiving the visa
The visa you receive in your passport will have a couple of dates. Basically these dates are the time period for which you can enter Japan and start the actual duration of your visa. The actual start of your visa will be when you enter Japan and receive your zairyuu card. Your zairyuu card will then show the actual expiration of your visa.
Typically the starting date for the visa listed in your passport will be the date the consulate approved of your visa. That means after you've visited the consulate, you could technically get on an airplane at that very moment and go to Japan.
Language school's leash on your visa
Language schools know every student may not study the full duration of what they say so they will apply for the duration of a visa that they see fit. This will be around 1 year or 1 year and 3 months (even if you intend to study for 2 years). They do this to balance the costs of applying for an extension along with forcing students to pay tuition on time. Even if you only apply for 6 months you will likely end up with a 1 year visa anyway.
Middle Agents (gogonihon)
There are some middle agents like GoGoNihon which act as mediators between language schools and you. These agents shouldn't demand you pay them directly, except for the initial application fee. All tuition should be paid directly to the language school. There isn't any harm in using an agent like GoGoNihon but if you have a specific language school already in mind, you should first try going directly to the language school.
The benefit for you as a student through going through an agent is a small bit a convenience (no particular research effort on your behalf, just pick and choose) and perhaps a small amount of discounts in things like applying for rooms/apartments.
Japanese language requirements
Note that there isn't any Japanese required in the process. Language schools will typically have bilingual staff to aid you in your native language or English during the application process. The local Japanese consulate will also be able to speak English or the local language.
School Costs
Tuition varies from school to school but you can expect costs to be about 400,000 yen and up for 6 months or 200,000 yen and up for 3 months. For long term students, schools will typically require you to pay for 6 month increments with no refund if you quit early.
Living Costs
You will be required to pay for your own living situation even if you live with a school-affiliated dormitory. I would suggest seeking your own living situation instead of the school dormitory as most students will move out of the dormitory very quickly.
In Tokyo you can expect about 60,000 to 80,000 yen for a private room in a sharehouse. Sharehouses are basically similar to dormitories except open to anyone including Japanese. In a sharehouse you can expect to share facilities (shower, toilet, kitchen, living room) and either have lenient contracts (month to month) and no key-money or deposit.
For private apartments, you can also find units for the same monthly price as a Tokyo Sharehouse private room within the Tokyo area. However, they typically come with no amenities (no washer, refrigerator, furniture, utensils) and all utility fees (internet, water, electricity) are paid and managed by you. They will also in typical Japanese apartment fashion, require a guarantor, deposit, and "key money" (non-refundable deposit) as well as a long term contract. Apartments within central Tokyo will be significantly more expensive (twice as much or more) or be particularly cramped (20 square meters including bathroom/kitchen) or particularly old.
Sometimes schools or middle agents will have access to private apartments with better terms for students. For example if you are able to pay in full for your apartment rent for the entire year, it is possible to negotiate a lease without a guarantor.
It is also possible to room share on your own though many landlords frown upon this. Most friends that have private room shares learned about them through word of mouth.
Food expenses
Cafe restaurants like ガスト will typically have daily lunch specials for 500-600 yen. 牛丼 (beef bowl) shops will sometimes have options as low as 250 yen but obviously won't be filling. So expect to pay at least 600 yen for a decent sized lunch.
Bento shops will have any range of prices and can also be purchased close to the end of the day when the store will start discounting them (typically 5-10 percent) in order to clear inventory. For example 親子丼 (chicken and egg bowl) will typically run around 300 yen with no discount at a bento shop.
However, for most stores and restaurants, it is typical to see lunch time specials around the 900 yen to 1000 yen price range.
So to live comfortably without having to think about meals, 1,500-2,000 yen per a day on food is normal. The bare minimum would be around 500 yen per a day but at this point you're probably just eating rice and eggs.
Also fresh vegetables and fruits are very expensive in Japan. For example an apple can easily be 100 yen or more. Some fruits that can't be grown in Japan like bananas are more reasonably priced.
Other expenses
Trains are a serious expense here and heavily depend on how long your commute is and how many transfers. You can reduce the cost by purchasing a 定期 or periodic pass. These passes often allow unlimited travel for the route purchased and even often allow you to get off on stations between the two points along the route. You can calculate your expenses by using a site like http://ift.tt/H7kICE
For example a relatively short route like Kichijoji to Shinjuku is about 6500 yen a month.
If you live close enough to your school, you can opt to commute by bicycle but bicycle parking often is not free in central Tokyo (other prefectures may be different). So you would have to calculate the cost of parking the bicycle as well as the bicycle itself. The cheapest bicycles are around 13,000 yen new.
The cheapest commuting option is actually walking. In central Tokyo (都心) it is typically possible to walk from one station to the next within 20 minutes but of course it varies greatly by area and train line. Outside of central Tokyo, that is not the case as stations will start to become further spaced apart especially with lines like the Keihintohoku line.
Other cities like Osaka and Nagoya are not as dense as central Tokyo, so I would not expect to be able to walk efficiently from one station to the next in these cities.
Finally medical insurance will be about 1290 yen a month for a student with no income (the cost increases depending on your income). A typical visit to the doctor will also be about 1400 just for the examination, prescription drugs and tests/xrays will increase this cost. For example an ER room visit with a CT scan and （救急車) ambulance ride could be about 9000 yen total.
Dental costs are a bit more expensive with a "half" cleaning and dental xray for about 5000 yen (don't quite remember exactly). Japanese dentists will typically separate a standard teeth cleaning procedure into 2 visits: once for the top and once again for the bottom. While cleaning is expensive, other procedures like dental crowns aren't as expensive but again are broken into multiple visits. For a dental crown for example, you can expect 4 total visits to the dentist before the entire process is complete.
Looking for work or going to other schools while on ryuugaku visa
There is nothing stopping your from looking for work or applying to other schools while on a ryuugaku visa other than perhaps the language school itself (class attendance).
Language schools will be very picky about attendance, any attendance rate below 80% is considered really bad and you'll quickly find yourself talking to sensei's and jimusho staff quite a bit. So don't plan on working a full time job while going to language school.
The language school itself (especially if it has affiliated 専門学校 schools) will actually encourage you to visit seminars for affiliated and local universities and schools. So in a sense, you are encouraged to continue on through higher education in Japan. (Basically like America, higher education is quickly becoming a business in Japan.)
Part time work （バイト）
In major cities, you can easily find part-time jobs typically involving working in a コンビ二、レストラン、居酒屋、or 弁当 shop/factory. The lowest I've seen for baito applications is 900 yen per an hour but 1000 is typical in central Tokyo.
If you are a native English speaker you have the option of teaching English as part time work as well. Though if you're serious about Japanese, I don't recommend this as it will likely impede your Japanese language ability.
Submitted December 12, 2014 at 09:30AM by sarumoochiru http://ift.tt/1yFP51x LearnJapanese
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