So basically anyone (assuming excellent Japanese skills like you said) with a degree in hand can try this "sort of testing", is that what you are saying?. What I am asking is, how does validating my degree works? Can I just walk in and show them my diploma and be allowed to participate in the testing process?. That would be great.

Well, actually my plan is to get in uni after I get the permanent residence or citizenship, that way I can study and work at the same time without the hassle of laws that won't let you do just that.

Last edited by Shizumi (2012 May 24, 9:38 pm)

Shizumi wrote:

Well, actually my plan is to get in uni after I get the permanent residence or citizenship, that way I can study and work at the same time without the hassle of laws that won't let you do just that.

Uh, are you planning to get married? Because permanent residence is about to become nigh impossible to get.

Shizumi wrote:

@vix86 Really? Where do you get this from?

The current rule-of-thumb for getting a permanent residence is you have to have followed this line.
Work visa: 1 year -> 3 year on renewal -> Permanent

This was easily doable for many. However with the new change in the system here in July. they are now adding a new level on the work visa.

Work visa: 1 year -> 3 year -> 5 year -> Permanent

They don't hand out permanent residence visa's unless you have a very good reason and many people of the people that have talked about getting it have said that getting it before completing that kind of progression is next to impossible. Generally you'll be married before you get it. I'm not sure if if its official policy for the permanent or what, but it was talked about on another forum. There was a bit of arguement over whether the offices would take stuff on a case by case basis or if they would follow the book. Many people have 3 year visa's now and were hoping to jump to the permanent one next but it was up in the air whether they would make you get the 5 year or if you could get the permanent (most were banking they'd force you into the 5 year).

Even before the new changes it usually took multiple 2-3 year renewals before getting accepted for permanent residency. Usually at least 8-10 years.

I've never heard of anyone going from a 3 year visa to permanent residency in one shot.

Last edited by kitakitsune (2012 May 24, 11:12 pm)

You would have a shot at around the 6 or 7 year mark but I wouldn't get your hopes up of getting permanent residency in Japan without 8-10 years of continuous residency.

Even people who get married are sometimes required to go through multiple spousal visa renewals. I know a guy who lived in Japan five years on a work visa (JET + 2 years of eikaiwa work), got married and switched to a two year spousal visa. He then applied for permanent residency when the marriage visa was expiring, got denied but retained the marriage visa for another two years. He was finally accepted for permanent residency after 9 years in Japan, four of which being married to a Japanese national.

Last edited by kitakitsune (2012 May 24, 11:43 pm)

kitakitsune wrote:

Getting accepted usually requires some sort of testing. Most likely in Japanese. This will be very difficult for a foreigner without excellent Japanese skills. Some universities have programs in English and let foreigners test into them in English or use a more American style of acceptance involving the GRE test....There are also government sponsored programs that allow foreigners to get into Japanese universities through the back door through recommendations from the Japanese embassy in their home countries, try googling "MEXT graduate scholarships" for more info on those.

You can get the scholarship by being recommended by the university too, I can give advice about this if anyone wants to know about the process (I imagine it'd have to be a reasonably good school though).

Last edited by dizmox (2012 May 25, 5:27 am)

There's not much to it really, you just apply how you would normally would to the graduate school, asking your potential supervisor (assuming you've found one) if he'll recommend you for the scholarship, then send the required supporting documents. These include:

-research proposal
-academic transcript
-certificate of graduation or anticipated graduation
-passport copy
-undergrad thesis or similar evidence of ability if available
-JLPT certificate or other proof of Japanese ability (if course is not taught in English)
-certificate of health (this was the most frustrating for me to get because of all the medical checks involved)
-letter of recommendation from your previous university

It seems that each faculty at those kinds of universities can make one or two recommendations a year, so you stand a good chance if you apply to something with a low number of international applicants (aka not Japanese). You can only apply through one university per year though. If two universities end up recommending you to the MEXT board you'll likely be disqualified.

By the way:

京王

慶應 京王 is a railway company.

It seems that native Japanese people typically take out student loans for 修士 and rarely receive full funding, so MEXT seems really generous to foreigners.

Last edited by dizmox (2012 May 25, 12:30 pm)

Thanks for the info. So its actually not possible to decline one MEXT from one Uni and go with the other? That sucks.

Yeah, that's correct.

MEXT Uni recs don't have country restrictions right? So Chinese and Koreans can apply just as easy get them yes? I feel those are the people that you have to compete up against the most since they make up the largest portion of Int'l student populations at most unis in Japan.

Yeah, though for the department (I don't know about the faculty as a whole) I applied to there were only a couple other international applicants and they didn't bother with MEXT. Not everyone is very aware of it/confident enough to apply for it I guess. Also the most academically strong Chinese/Korean people will tend to apply to America/UK, so that cuts down on the top end of competition.

Of course if you're applying to one of the best universities in Japan you'd need a strong academic background regardless. You might want to add 東北 to your list, by the way. I doubt that gets many international applicants, especially after the tsunami.

Are the MEXT Uni reccs. based on per department? Or is it actually a limited number per university?

When I applied there was one place in the faculty I believe (which contains more than one department).

I find that odd because I've heard from a few people (Int'l students), that getting funding from the school was possible. The kicker was that you had to be a student, meaning if your school didn't have a English breeze-me-through route, then you were often stuck cramming for a year while taking classes as a research student to take the 入試 with all the other Japanese students. Of course you had the help of a supervisor and probably some friends, but still nerve racking. I've read on some school pages they have stuff like tuition waiving and what not. I'm also sure TA positions are quite universal so there is that too.

Maybe I'm just misinformed... but I know that a lot of people take out loans for it. Funding for Master's courses is pretty rare in the UK and we don't even have student loans for them.

Last edited by dizmox (2012 May 26, 5:27 am)