Japan: New Digital Certificate of Eligibility Option Now Available
March 21, 2023
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At a Glance
- The Japanese government is now allowing many foreign nationals to obtain a digital copy of the Certificate of Eligibility (COE) for the purpose of filing certain long-term visa applications.
- This removes the additional step of mailing the COE hardcopy to the applicant abroad, which streamlines and reduces the costs of the immigration process.
The situation
The Immigration Services Agency of Japan is now allowing Certificate of Eligibility (COE) applicants to receive their approved COEs digitally instead of mailing the hardcopy to the applicant abroad.
A closer look
The following visa applicants, including their dependents intending to apply for Dependent visas (whether filed together or separately), are now eligible to obtain their COEs digitally:
- Business Manager visas;
- Intra Company Transfer visas;
- Engineer/Specialist/International Services visas;
- Highly-Skilled Professional visas; and
- Spouse of Japanese national visas.
Impact
- Streamlined process. COE applicants benefit from the streamlining of the COE issuance process by having to option to choose the digital COE, which will likely take one to two business days to process, compared to the previous mailing option, which could take up to a week depending on the applicant’s location.
- Lower costs. COE applicants will also benefit from lower administrative costs related to their immigration process since there is no cost associated with the digital copy.
Background
The change is in line with the Japanese government’s policy of streamlining visa application processes by moving these processes online. Recently, the Japanese government launched additional e-visa options for nationals of Canada and the United States.
Looking ahead
It is likely that the Japanese government will continue to move more immigration processes and applications online to align with its aim to streamline processes using digitalization.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].
