Hello, this is Iwaya of IMS Legal Professional Corporation. Last week, the COVID-19 vaccination ticket arrived at my home, too. It seems we will be able to make reservations for the vaccines around the end of July. I am a little reluctant about the vaccine, but in this pandemic, I think getting the shots is inevitable.
Last week was another busy week for client inquiries. 81 requests for Japanese visas, 33 for U.S. visas, 12 for Vietnamese visas, and 23 others of various types.
In this blog, I would like to talk about the inquiry we received all the way from Korea regarding the Certificate of Eligibility (COE).
This customer possessed a COE of a working visa issued on January 2021 and wanted to know if the validity period would be extended. Though the validity period of a COE is originally 3 months from the issued date, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, special measures are taken.
For more details about the new handling, please check the document released by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan below.
・New handling regarding the period of validity of the certificate of eligibility
As you can see from the PDF above, how the period of validity is handled differs according to the issue date of the COE.
The COE of this customer was issued on mid-January 2021, so it will be valid until July 31, 2021. Currently, because the immigration restriction of the Japanese government does not allow new entry of foreign nationals, and because the expiration date of the COE was near at hand, our customer was worried what was going to happen to her COE.
Summary
As a matter of fact, many hold a COE that expires on July 31, 2021. If you cannot enter Japan with a COE within the expiration date with a valid visa, your COE will expire. You will need to get a COE once again if you still wish to enter Japan.
Like in this case, if your COE expires not being able to come to Japan because of the pandemic, and you need to re-apply, required documents are simplified under the special measurements. Also, it takes about 2 weeks for the COE to be issued. Instead of re-applying while it is unclear when the immigration restriction will be lifted, it might be better if you wait until the situation becomes clearer.
We, at IMS, support customers who are re-applying for a COE. If you need updated information or thinking of re-applying for a COE, please consult us.
For more information, please contact us below ↓
https://imsvisa.support/en/contact/
