Application path · Job hunting

Direct Overseas Hire · Get hired from abroad, enter Japan on a work visa

This route skips study abroad entirely: a Japanese employer hires you while you're still overseas, files for a Certificate of Eligibility (在留資格認定証明書, COE) inside Japan, and you then use that COE to apply for a work visa at the Japanese consulate covering your home/residence region, receiving your 在留カード on arrival and starting work directly. What immigration scrutinizes is not the company's industry but whether your actual job qualifies under 技術・人文知識・国際業務 (or the higher-tier 高度専門職), whether your degree/major/career history relates to that job, and whether pay meets the "equal to or above a Japanese national" standard. The crucial mindset: an offer is not a work visa, a COE is not a visa, and a visa is not landing permission — the real chain is offer → COE review → consular visa → landing inspection → entry. Your timeline is set by the COE's 3-month validity and your region's designated agency, not the join date on the offer. It does not feed into further schooling; it leads straight into first-year residence registration, social insurance/pension, and securing housing.