Hello, this is Kuwahara of IMS Legal Professional Corporation. Recently, the Immigration Services Agency of Japan updated a curious information.
https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/content/930005503.pdf (Japanese site)
The period of validity of the Certificate of Eligibility, which is a certificate needed to apply for a visa, is normally 3 months from the date of issue. However, at the present, it has been extended to 6 months, under the special measures taken due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This measure started around the same time the Japanese government set out immigration restrictions. Therefore, we have grown accustomed to “valid for 6 months.”
However, in the information above from the Immigration Services Agency, there is the following statement:
“Q18: Regarding A1 about the extension of the period of validity, what would happen to the validity period of the Certificate of Eligibility issued on and after February 1, 2022? (Posted on July 7, 2021)
A18: The period of validity of the Certificate of Eligibility issued on and after February 1, 2022 will be “3 months” as usual. However, the procedures for those who can not enter within the valid period will be handled the same way as that of A16.”
※”handling mentioned in A16” = less documents will be required for re-applying than what are normally needed for applying
No matter how you put it, “on and after February 1, 2022” suddenly came out of nowhere. Q & A is normally created from questions and answers that are assumed to be asked from the majority, but regarding the date limited to on and after February 1, 2022... who would ask such a limited question? I could not help but feeling strange about this. What popped up in my mind was that maybe the government was planning to lift the immigration restriction around that date.
Thinking about the economy, and our customers who have been separated from their family for a long time, of course that is good news, but with this situation of infection still spreading, will that be possible?
In actuality, this February 1, 2022 might just mark a specific juncture. Extending the period of validity as much as possible, for a large number of people, the purposes of entry are changing from the initial purposes. There have been many cases where the validity period has been postponed for a long time and the content of the application is different from the original purpose of entry. If it is the intention that the validity period will be 3 months after this date, and that the customer should reapply after the expiration date, it makes me feel gloomy as a service provider for the customer, thinking of the burden it will cause.
More and more people being vaccinated, but at the same time, new variants of COVID keep being discovered... Thinking when all of this will be finally over seems endless. Right now, not just Japan, but U.S. visas and Vietnam visas, which we also provide service, are also under abnormal situations, requiring unexpected processes and additional documents. We at IMS are all working hard to make this happen, so even if it does, we would be very grateful if you could tolerate us for a little while. Thank you for your cooperation.
For more information, please contact us below ↓
https://imsvisa.support/en/contact/
