Certificate of Eligibility for a Status of Residence

Certificate of Eligibility for a Status of Residence

(1) Purposes of the system

The foreign national seeking entry into Japan should get through the landing examination by an Immigration Inspector at the airport or seaport at which he or she has arrived.

The conditions to be fulfilled by the applicant for landing permission are as already mentioned.

Among them, the requirement that “an applicant’s proposed activity to engage in should be valid, should fall within the purview of the activities described in the columns of the status of residence provided for in Annexed Table I (in respect to the status of residence of “Designated Activities”, the proposed activity should belong to any of those publicized by the Minister of Justice in the Official Gazette) or belong to activities such as those who have a personal relationship or status described in the columns of the status of residence provided for in Annexed Table II (excluding the “Permanent Resident”, and in respect to the “Long Term Resident” the status should belong to any of those publicized by the Minister of Justice in the Official Gazette), and should, if the proposed activity falls within the purview of the activities described in the columns of the status of residence provided for in Annexed Tables I (2) or (4), fulfill the criteria provided for by the Ministry of Justice Ordinance which will be decided from the considerations on industries and people’s life and others” (Article 7, Paragraph 1, Item 2 of the Immigration Control Act) is the most major concern in the landing examination.

It is for an applicant seeking entry to establish that he or she conforms to the landing conditions. However, it may need a lot of supporting materials and time to establish that he or she fulfills the requirement under Article 7, Paragraph 1, Item 2 of the Immigration Control Act in a brief landing examination. Therefore, in Article 7-2 of the Immigration Control Act, the procedures to apply for the certificate in advance showing that the applicant fulfills the above-mentioned requirement are
established.

This certificate is called a “Certificate of Eligibility”

If an applicant carries it, he or she is deemed to conform to the requirement under Article 7, Paragraph 1, Item 2 and therefore the landing procedures are simplified. Moreover, because a certificate of eligibility indicates that the examination on the status of residence and the adaptability for the landing examination criteria have already been completed, the visa application to Japanese Consulate abroad can be admitted within a short term.
However, it should be noted that if the relevant situations have changed after the issuance of a certificate of eligibility, the visa may not be issued or an applicant may be asked to re-establish that he or she conforms to the landing requirement under Article 7, Paragraph 1, Item 2 in the landing examination.

(2) Filing of Application

A foreign national may file an application for him- or herself for a certificate of eligibility if he or she happens to be in Japan with the status of residence of “Temporary Visitor” etc.

However, usually an application is to be submitted by his or her proxy in Japan. Eligibility to be a proxy, under which status of residence is clearly decided by the Immigration Control Act Enforcement Regulations as shown in Table 4 .

A nonprofit organization authorized by the competent authorities under Article 34 of the Civil Code (Law No. 89 of 1896) for the purpose of smooth acceptance of foreign nationals, or from an administrative procedures specialist (“Gyoseishoshi”) authorized by the Minister of Justice may also apply for an application.

Generally an application is to be submitted at the Regional Immigration Bureau, its District Office and Branch Offices which has jurisdiction over the cite where the proposed activity is to take place (excluding Narita District Office, Kansai District Office, Airport Branch Offices and a few other Branch Offices).

The case in which the proposed activities belong to those described in the column of the status of residence of “Temporary Visitor” is excluded from the use of the certificate of eligibility (Article 7-2 of the Immigration Control Act), while the status of residence of “Permanent Resident” is not given on the occasion of new arrival and therefore the certificate of eligibility for this status will not be issued.

(3)Acceptance of Application

An application is accepted after an official has checked to ascertain that all necessary entries have been properly made in the application forms and all required documents submitted.

The supporting documents to be submitted on the occasion of application are shown in Table 5, however, an official may, if necessary, inquire of the applicant the purpose of his or her application, his or her career and situation, etc. and ask him or her to add some more documents. In case an application is submitted by his or her proxy in Japan, some documents showing that his or her proxy is in a position to apply for the certificate of eligibility on his or her behalf may be requested to be presented to an Immigration Inspector.
Usually, a number of days are required for an application to be approved or to be rejected.

On the acceptance of application, an Application Acceptance Slip is given to the applicant. The application number shown on the stamp or slip is to be referred to when making an inquiry at the Regional Immigration Bureau, etc. concerning the application.

(4)Delivery of the Certificate

If the application is approved as a result of examination, the foreign national or his or her proxy who has filed an application will be sent the certificate of eligibility by mail or be notified that the certificate of eligibility is ready to be picked up. Please be aware that the validity of the certificate will be 3 months from the date of issuance and therefore the person concerned should be careful so that landing procedures take place within 3 months from that date. Otherwise, he or she has to re-establish on his or her arrival that he or she fulfills the requirements under Article 7, Paragraph 1, Item 2 of the Immigration Control Act.