Step 1: Get a Passport -You are going to need to get a passport if you don’t already have one.
Step 2: Complete process for the CIE (Certificate of Eligibility) (approx. 2 months from request date)
-The CIE is a document that you must have when you apply for a Japanese Student Visa
-your Japanese institution will ask you for certain documentation that they then submit to the Japanese Consulate to get you the CIE including multiple passport photos and a copy of your passport (at Kansai Gaidai, there is an online database where students can track the status of this doc.)
-after approx 2 months of being accepted into your program, the student receives the CIE in the mail
Step 3: Getting the Japanese Student Visa (approx. 4 days in person, approx. 2 weeks by mail)
-Need to bring: Passport, CIE document
My Recommendation: go in person
…you do have the option of sending these documents by mail with a self-addressed stamped envelope but if at all possible, go in person so that you know they received it. If the CIE document is lost, the Japanese University must reapply for the CIE which will take time that you may not have
Click HERE to understand the different immigration and visa processes
