Graduate School of CommerceWaseda University

• COE is an official document issued by the Ministry of Justice. It is necessary for the “Student” Visa. Waseda University will apply for the COE at the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau on behalf of students themselves, and send the certificate to your home institution as soon as it has been issued. Once you have the COE, you will need to visit your nearest Japanese Embassy or Consulate with the necessary documents to obtain a “Student Visa”.
  (Reference)General visa: Student | Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
• Make sure to carefully answer all the information through online application form (Form2), which will be sent to each applicant via email once they are nominated.
  Please refer to sample for the questions in Form2.
• Those who have a Japanese citizenship including dual citizenship CANNOT apply for a COE. Enter Japan with your Japanese passport.

• You must prove you can cover expenses while in Japan with the following documents. The amount must be more than 1,440,000JPY/year or 720,000JPY/semester.
  You can combine A-C to meet the required amount:

A : If you are financing yourself, please submit
 <Official Bank Balance Certificate>
*If your bank does not issue a balance certificate, please ask your bank to issue a letter that states your most up-to-date balance with information on the name of the account holder, issuing date and signature of bank official and/or organization office stamp. A copy of a web page is accepted if all of the above information are on it.

B: If someone other than yourself is covering your expenses, please submit
 <Official Bank Balance Certificate of the person covering your expense & Written Oath for Defraying Expenses >
*The person covering the expenses must be the same person you fill in on online application form for COE.

C:If scholarship is covering your expenses, please submit
<Certificate of Scholarship>
*The Certificate (or letter) must clearly state the name of organization providing the fund to you, amount of scholarship available during your visiting period, issuing date and signature of the funding organization and/or stamp of the organization.

• Native speakers do not need to submit the score report.
• Only official certificate which is valid at the time of application is acceptable.
• If you don’t have an English language certificate but are currently enrolled in a program where the primary language of instruction is English, certificate issued by your home university which confirms your enrollment will substitute for the language certificates.
• JLPT N1 or equivalent are required if you are taking Commerce courses conducted in Japanese. In addtion to the JLPT certificate, please fill out this form by following the instructions  here.

The immigration bureau will check the photo very carefully, so a photo taken with a smartphone or other device is not acceptable.
An ID photo taken in a photo studio is highly recommended.

Submit a color, frameless (4:3 aspect ratio), full-head and full-shoulder photo taken within the last 3 months, against a plain background, with the applicant looking straight ahead and head uncovered

Please check “Photograph Requirements“.
*Choose language from the bottom left button.

If you submit the photo of your passport, it must have been taken within the last 3 months. Submission of a photo of your passport is not allowed if the passport was issued over 3 months ago.

This photograph will be used for your Student ID Card as well.