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After applying to the Immigration Bureau for a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) for residence status to bring someone to Japan, if the applicant enters Japan with a short-term stay visa and the COE is issued while the applicant is in Japan, can the applicant obtain and continue to stay in Japan without returning to their home country?

Let’s look at specific examples.

Case 1:
A foreigner married to a Japanese person wants to live in Japan with their Japanese spouse. They applied to the Immigration Bureau for the status of residence for the Japanese spouse. However, since the immigration officer explained that the process would take time, the applicant entered Japan with a short-term stay visa to live with their spouse before receiving the result from the Immigration Bureau. After some time, the Immigration Bureau granted the residence status.

Case 2:
In order to work at a company in Japan, a foreigner obtained a short-term stay visa in advance, entered Japan with the short-term stay visa, and while waiting, applied for a Certificate of Eligibility for Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services status. Later, the Immigration Bureau approved the Certificate of Eligibility.

Here is the answer:

Case 1: You cannot continue to stay in Japan and obtain a new residence card while in Japan. You will need to return to your home country and bring the Certificate of Eligibility to the Japanese consulate in your home country to complete the procedure before entering Japan again.

Case 2: You can bring the Certificate of Eligibility to the Immigration Bureau in Japan and complete the procedure to receive your residence card. There is no need to return to your home country.

It may seem strange that the answers differ between Case 1 and Case 2.

Here’s an explanation:

The key point to understand the different procedures is the timing of the application for the Certificate of Eligibility.

Here, an application for a Certificate of Eligibility means applying for a residence status to bring a foreigner to Japan. The formal name is Application for Certificate of Eligibility, also known as COE.

In Case 1, the application for the Certificate of Eligibility was made first, and then the applicant obtained a short-term stay visa to enter Japan. This means that at the time of the application for the Certificate of Eligibility, the applicant (the foreign spouse of the Japanese national) was in their home country.
In Case 2, the applicant first entered Japan with a short-term stay visa and then applied for the Certificate of Eligibility. This means that at the time of the application for the Certificate of Eligibility, the applicant (the foreigner who wants to work in a Japanese company) was already in Japan.

Therefore,

The key question is whether the applicant was in Japan at the time of the application for the Certificate of Eligibility.

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