You are now finally to apply for the actual work visa! You have your job offer from a sponsoring employer, and your Certificate of Eligibility, right? If not, I suggest you please read part one and two about receiving those things!


Okay, you have your Certificate of Eligibility, what next?


LOCATE YOUR NEAREST CONSULATE/EMBASSY

At the time of my application, I lived in Pennsylvania. There is no Japanese embassy in Pennsylvania, so I needed to locate the embassy that covers my state, which is the Consulate General of Japan in New York. If you live in North Carolina, you should apply at the Consulate General of Japan in Atlanta. Here is a PDF of all the embassies and their jurisdictions. I don't know if you can apply at a different jurisdiction as your residence. You should call ahead if you plan to be on an extended vacation or something!


CHECK THEIR WEBSITE/INFORMATION RELIGIOUSLY

Now that you know which embassy you need to apply at, I recommend visiting their website to read about their Visa application requirements. I will be using the Embassy of Japan in New York's application requirements as an example. REMEMBER you need to double check with your own embassy because procedures do differ between them!

If you do not live in the city or state of the embassy, you may be permitted to apply through mail! Check in advance!!! Since I resided outside of the five boroughs of New York City, I was permitted to apply through mail. The requirements of the Japanese embassy in Chicago is that you may apply through mail if you reside outside of certain counties, so please double check if you're eligible to apply through mail.

If you have to apply in person, check the embassy hours and days of operation and take time off in advance if you must.

OBTAIN AND COMPLETE A VISA APPLICATION

I first downloaded and printed out the visa application from the embassy website that covered my address. Here is a link to the application on the NY  Japanese embassy website. All of the questions are self explanatory, but here are some important points:

• Make sure your expected date of arrival is before your COE expiration date
• If you don't have a hotel or person to stay with yet, put down any hotel or the information of your future employer. 
• The guarantor or reference should be information given by someone in your company. The HR guy handling my application gave me his details
• Inviter in Japan should be the same.
• If you don't have flight information yet, approximate!

PREPARE YOUR APPLICATION PACKET

• Original Passport
• Copy of Passport
• Original Certificate of Eligibility
• Copy of Certificate of Eligibility
• 2 inch square photo (2x2in or 45mmx45mm) taken within the past 6 mo.

Additional documentation (May not apply to you)

• Visa Fee 
• Criminal record documentation if you have it
• Green Card

RELIGIOUSLY CHECK SUBMISSION PROCEDURES

Check and recheck the submission procedures, especially if applying through mail. For example, the NY embassy does not return passports using FEDEX/UPS nor do they ship to addresses outside of their jurisdiction. Other embassies, for example, may use those services, etc. So, please double check! It's already nerve wracking enough mailing your passport through the mail, so please make sure you minimize it getting lost or denied.

Also, please make sure you've paid enough postage and used the right shipping method for your passport to be returned to you. As stated above, NY requires express mailing with signature.


WAIT

I sent my finished document with tracking so, at least, I was able to see when that it had been accepted. After that, you should probably refrain from calling and checking on it. The website on the Consulate General of Japan in New York website says that it takes between 4-7 days.

I did received an e-mail from the visa department saying that they received my application and everything looked fine and they should be mailing it out the next day. However, they were worried about my arrival date to Japan. My arrival date was scheduled three days before my COE expired, which he/she assured me was fine but cutting it close. They wanted me to understand that if any delays occurred with my flight, etc., then it would be difficult for me to enter Japan.

I don't know if this is protocol or if that particular point about my arrival date prompted them to contact me.

REJOICE

A week or two later, you should receive your passport with your COE and visa inside! (hopefully it doesn't get lost in the mail. I'm sorry, the consulate is not liable, and I don't know what you should do in that case).


Congratulations! Now that you have received your visa, you may travel to Japan at anytime. Be aware that a visa is not a landing permit. A landing permit is what allows you to enter Japan on your work visa, a visa is just a recommendation that they should allow you to enter Japan because they have deemed you to be as you say you are. You will receive your landing permit (a stamp in your passport) once you get through customs in Japan.

Please stay tuned for my future blog posts on what to pack to Japan, what I wish I would have brought to Japan, and more!