Waiting for COE

Hi,
I am curious how long it took you until you received your Certificate of Eligibility? I know it all depends on what kind of COE it is, which Immigration office you applied to, etc.

I am Japanese and married to an American, living in the States. We have been waiting for my husband's COE (Intra-transfer) for 9 weeks now.

I understand that they say "Normal process time" is 1-3 months, but the wait is making us crazy. I've been calling Tokyo Immigration for status update but it is very hard to get a hold of them. Seriously, it would be a miracle if I could reach anyone there.

I would appreciate it if you could share your stories with coe or the Immigration.

Thank you,

I (Japanese national) had to wait three months or so for my EU husband's CoE (either intra-company transfer or humanities, it escapes my memory). Yes, I know I felt quite frustrated me with the uncertainty, and also it drove our real estate agency crazy because we had to renew our apartment rental agreement month by month, but it came... I'd say, patience :)

Sorry my earlier post was messy, as I was re-writing things and did not review the full sentences properly; by the way, we were in the UK. There is no way to hurry them anyway, so it is simply best to wait it out. It will come.

Hi AK-san, thank you very much for your reply!

So your husband's COE was also work-based and it took 3 months. We are freaking out because we keep hearing that work-based COE usually comes in a month or so, so it is good to know that your husband's took 3 months.

I totally understand how frustrated you two were. We are also having problem with our apartment because we can't give them our notice until COE comes :( On top of that, I am pregnant so we have to move to Japan like yesterday!

Thank you again, it is good to know that we are not alone.

Hi Iraira-san,

Yes, it was work-based and it did take three months. I would not worry, it really can take as long as three months.

We informed our estate agency our intent to move out but had to extend it one month by one month, so that (even though the landlord was completely OK with it) the agency was frustrated and called us to ask what the xxxx was going on... lol I hope your husband's COE comes soon so that you can move soon and feel secure.

AK-san,

Yes yes we are in the same kind of situation with our landlord!! I feel your pain back then. I could kept talking about this for hours and hours with you!

Thank you again, I will try to stay patient until COE comes. Meanwhile, complaining about this helps me a lot since I am such a female... :)

Ira-chan:

I'm also in the same position as your husband. Almost 5 weeks now and still waiting. May I ask if you prepared the documents yourself or did you or his company hire a lawyer to prepare the documents for his COE?

Thanks,
NipponNatto

Hi Natto-chan!

My husband's company hired a lawyer to apply for his visa. What about you? If you prepared the documents by yourself, the process could take longer I believe. But because we used the lawyer we expected to receive COE within a month but we were so wrong. His COE finally came early this week by the way, and it took 8 weeks from the date the applications were turned in.

You must be a little worried. At Week 5 I was going nuts. Is your company well-known in Japan? What I heard is that Immigration is pretty quick with visa process for big companies or those that hire foreigners often, but for small companies the process could take a while. My husband's lawyer was saying that because my husband's Japan office is very small (Only 3 employees) and also because he will be the first foreigner working in the office, Immigration took more time to investigate the company.

Aya-chan, Thanks for your input. I think I'm exactly in the same boat as your husband! What you described, is my situation. Bengoushi-santachi took care of everything. But the time-line they promised/ or said was about 4-6 weeks. It makes sense. I think they are investigating the company.I guess you know if that's the case I will be patient and in the meantime just study more Japanese and Kanji! Thank you for your reply.

-Natto-chan (大爆笑）

Natto-chan, (Natto-KUN!?)

Wow you are exactly in the same situation as my husband was. Yes his Bengoshi also said it should take 4-6 weeks. Waiting was really hard because we never knew if it would take another few weeks or few months, or after waiting so long we might end up receiving a rejection even! Until you receive COE you can't really do anything about relocation.

I asked the Bengoshi for the application reference number so that I could call Immigration for status. They were VERY hard to reach but I tried calling them like every day and every time when I could reach them all they said was "It is under review". Then, one day it finally changed to "It is in the final process". 10 days later we received the COE.

Maybe you could call Immigration for status update if you don't want to just sit and wait? But remember, whenever they say "It's under review" you'd want to punch them in the face. I was ready to scream at them if it took more than 3 months.

Anyway, it took my husband's 8 weeks so yours should be about the same. (Apparently, my JET friend's only took 3 weeks... Maybe Immigration prioritize JETs 怒)

Good luck with your new job in Japan!

Iraira (=Aya)

Sorry Natto-chan/kun, I said my husband's COE took 8 weeks but it actually took more than that. I said 8 weeks because it took 2 months and the 2 months was more than 8 weeks.

So your husband's COE was also work-based and it took 3 months. We are freaking out because we keep hearing that work-based COE usually comes in a month or so, so it is good to know that your husband's took 3 months.

Work visas generally take a month, but Intra-company transfers are different and it seems they might take longer than regular work visas to process. And it all depends on the company that is involved. Big companies that do it a lot will have faster processing. Small companies doing it for the first time will take longer as they need to be vetted.

Btw, it's not much use calling immigration as they can't give you anymore info other than that it's processing or that it's done being processed. Patience is key, otherwise you'll go mad.

(Apparently, my JET friend's only took 3 weeks... Maybe Immigration prioritize JETs)

Naturally JET applications tend to get processed faster as they're essentially sponsored by the Japanese Government and they come pre-vetted. But 3 weeks is not particularly fast as you'd expect a typical non-JET work visa to process in about a month.

Aya-san, yllwsmrf:

いつもお世話になっております。Thanks for your insight. It's just a matter of patience. I figure if the ministry wanted to deny my application they would have done so already. Now just waiting my turn to be processed.

Like you said it is nerve-wracking and stressful because there is no visibility or transparency in this time consuming process.

よろしくお願い致します

Hello, Im also waiting for my COE..Its a sponsored visa and it has been more than 4 months already! i.called them few times but "it is under review". does anyone have similar experiences? I applied in Tokyo!

hi manimani, we both are waiting for the coe..actually its for my husband. he is nikkeijin. and he already been to japan. but he lose his visa because he prefer to stay with me in my country after we got married so he can have his permanent residency.I'm from philippines. and now he wants to come back to japan so he can work again. but his application was applied by my father in law who's residence of japan already. it's 3 months tomorrow. and we don't have any news yet. anyway let me know if you already get yours. thanks.

Dear Jhen, the situation looks different for you so dont lose hope.

My company got the answer this week, and it was negative. I hear I wasnt first to be denied CoE, after such long wait. The reason for that is not clear unfortunately..

Warm wishes, everyone!

manimani, yes you are right.. sorry about what happen to you. actually, my father in law received the COE already.he also sent it to us so we can apply the visa. the immig. finish it exact 3 months. thank you for your reply :) god bless.

Dear Manimani,

When you applied for your COE, did you have an immigration lawyer? Or your company just applied it for you?

I was wondering if my COE application will be okay, a small international school in Tokyo hired me last August 2014. They told me that it was their first time to apply for a COE for an overseas applicant so they decided to get an immigration lawyer. Then, I have submitted all the necessary documents to them and they have turned im my application in September 2014.

Here's the frustrating part, the lawyer told us that it will only 5-9 weeks before obtaining the COE but it is over 12 weeks now. I have been reading posts that it will take 2-3 months. And on December 1, 2014, it is going to be the 3rd month of waiting. And what surprised a lot was the latest email from the lawyer that our application will take for about 4-6 months and this is a bit longer than usual. And upon reading your post, you have waited for more 4 months, it made me worried about application.

If anyone could help me please answer these questions, should I be worried about my COE application? Or should I just follow my lawyer's lead in this whole process? I am extremely anxious because I really don't know what I can do at this very moment but wait.