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student visa and costs? 2015/11/19 14:15
Hello

I am a 26 year old Canadian and i am considering going to a language school.

I've been in a relationship with a Japanese women and i'd like to spend time in Japan with her and Improve my Japanese.

Ive been looking at prices of schools and for 1 year most are around 700,000-850,000 yen. Are schools outside of areas such as Osaka cheaper? For example a school in the country side?

On many websites it says i need to prove that i have money to get the visa. However i cant find any numbers. How much do i need in my bank account and is that after i pay the school or before it?
by jorfriend  

Re: student visa and costs? 2015/11/19 19:34
Usually for one year (depending on schools), the suggested amount of money required in your account as advertised on their website is about USD $20,000 - 30,000 for a year. For 6 months, it will be half of that. When you submit in your application, you have to show documents proving your financial status. So that means, when you contact them, you should already have the money ready in the bank.

Language schools (anywhere in JP) are offered around the same range. There will be cheaper schools, but it's not a significant amount. Usually a couple of hundred dollars different. If you study in a smaller city, you'll only save on accommodation - that's about it, more or less - unless you include in entertainment which might be lacking in certain places. I also find the price of groceries here to be pretty uniform across the country (I live here and have travelled extensively).
by ........ (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: student visa and costs? 2015/11/19 19:40
On second thought, there are schools around the 650,000 yen mark a year. You just gotta dig deeper on the internet.The 800,000+ yen/per year are big schools in Tokyo. Avoid that if you aren't looking for a place that has like 30 students in a class full of Chinese and Korean students. You'll fall behind easily if you aren't careful; being a native English speaker as the Chinese are already proficient in Kanji and the Korean grammar and sentence structure is similar to Japanese.
by ........ (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: student visa and costs? 2015/11/19 20:27
Are schools outside of areas such as Osaka cheaper?

Schools outside the bigger cities may be a little cheaper and there will be lower living expenses, however if you find yourself heading to the bigger cities often then it may be net more expensive.

For example a school in the country side?

Language schools are primarily found in the cities. There aren't really schools in the countryside due to a lack of students.
by yllwsmrf rate this post as useful

Re: student visa and costs? 2015/11/20 07:04
As for the amount i am still a bit uncertain. I saw one place say i only need 9000usd and also another site saying i need 3 million yen. Which is super high! Thats like an entire years worth of income. Whats the point in working park part time if i got that kind of money laying around haha.

Would i get cheaper tuition if i did a working holiday? if im already there it would be a lot less work for the school. But then i can only stay a max of 1 year rather then 2.
by jorfriend rate this post as useful

Re: student visa and costs? 2015/11/20 10:20
Thats like an entire years worth of income.

Exactly, because you need to show that you can cover both tuition and living expenses, which can easily add up to a full year's income.

Whats the point in working park part time if i got that kind of money laying around haha.

Part time work is not considered in the calculation, and you generally can't work enough to support yourself solely on that income. In fact, you have to be a student of good standing to apply for permission to work while on a student visa.

Note that it is also possible to use a financial guarantor if you don't have the funds saved up yourself.

Would i get cheaper tuition if i did a working holiday?

Tuition costs are independent of visa status. You don't even need a student visa to study, it can be done on any residency status.
by yllwsmrf rate this post as useful

Re: student visa and costs? 2015/11/20 12:21
i think you could live off 28 hours a week it would be tight but doable. Canada is very expensive and ive gotten by on less than that.

But thanks for letting me know about it being same price no matter what visa you had. I thought t would be cheaper because the school does not need to sponsor you.
by jorfriend rate this post as useful

Re: student visa and costs? 2015/11/20 13:37
i think you could live off 28 hours a week it would be tight but doable.

Part time income comes out to less than 20,000 yen per month after taxes. So it would be very difficult considering your rent alone could easily make up most if not all of that. Add in tuition costs and its almost impossible. You should think of part time work as purely supplementary, especially as that is how it is viewed by immigration.
by yllwsmrf rate this post as useful

Re: student visa and costs? 2015/11/20 14:10
That 9000 dollars you're looking at is for 1/2 a year not one year. Some schools offer 6 month courses, so $9000 (plus or minus) is the minimum figure for you to receive a student visa.
by ........ (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: student visa and costs? 2015/11/20 14:13
Of course, if you apply for a one year's course, showing them you only have 9000 dollars in the bank account isn't going to help you get the full year's visa.
by ........ (guest) rate this post as useful

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