Necessary Procedures Before/After Your Arrival at NIG
The following are the procedures that researchers and students from abroad need to carry out before and after arriving at NIG.
Visa Application
(1) In Japan: >> NIG will take care.
Foreign nationals living outside Japan are required to apply for Certificate of Eligibility (COE) in order to work or study in Japan.
Your hosting laboratory prepares the application for COE and the applicant (representative)* submits it to Shizuoka Branch Office of Nagoya Regional Immigration Bureau.
(*The staff member of your hosting laboratory or NIG!'s English Help Desk Coordinator serves as your representative.)
The immigration will send your COE to the representative in 1-3 months. Your hosting laboratory will send the COE to you.
(2) In your country: >> Please do it yourself.
Please go to the Japanese embassy/consulate in your country of citizenship/residence and apply for visa by showing your COE to the officer.
(3) Upon your arrival in Japan: >> Please do it yourself.
You should enter Japan within 3 months after the issue date of COE.Please show your passport and visa at the immigration of your port of entry.*A stamp of landing permission will be affixed on your passport, and you will be issued a residence card. (Residence card contains the name, date of birth, sex, address, etc. and serves as your primary identification in Japan.)
*At the following airports, you will receive a residence card instantly: Narita, Haneda, Chubu, Kansai, Shinchitose, Hirosima and Fukuoka. At the rest of the airports in Japan, you will only have your passport stamped, and a residence card will be issued later after you register your address at the city office.
You can see the details about the visa acquisition process in the link below. http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/index.html
Upon Your Arrival
For the access from the Narita/Haneda Airport to NIG, please click on the link of "detailed directions from Narita Airport or from Haneda Airport" on the following page. https://www.nig.ac.jp/nig/about-nig/access
¶ Initial Accommodation
NIG has a Guest House for temporary visitors. https://www.nig.ac.jp/nig/pdf/about_nig/guesthouse.pdf
Researchers and students from abroad can stay at the Guest House for their initial period of stay.
International students of the Department of Genetics generally live in subsidized NIG housing in campus or in private apartments in the vicinity. Since the number of units in NIG housing is limited, the students are given priority on a need-based system. Newly enrolled international students are given priority to live in the NIG housing for the first one year.
Things to Do Within 14 Days After Arrival
>> NIG Internationalization Promotion Committee (Help Desk) will assist you with the following procedures, if necessary.
¶ Registration at the City Office
Resident Registration (Notification of Moving In)
You need to notify the place you live at the city office within 14 days after you move in. If you go to the Mishima City Office, please go to the Citizen's Division ("Shimin-Ka" in Japanese) bringing your passport and your residence card with you for this procedure. After you register your address, your latest address will be shown on your residence card.
In case you change your place of residence, you are required to submit a notification of change of address to the Mishima City Office. If you move from Mishima to other city, you first need to submit a moving-out notification to Mishima City Office and then submit a moving-in notification to the city office of your new residence.
- For the international students moving in the NIG official housing, your registered address will be the Official Housing 1 or 2.
- For international researchers and students who don't move in the NIG official housing, your initial registration will be made with the address of the NIG Guest House, which should be renewed once you move in private apartments.
All people residing in Japan must have health insurance that covers them in the event of illness or injury. Similarly, residents of Japan aged between 20 and 59 are obliged to join the national pension scheme.
International members living in Japan for longer than 3 months are required to enroll in the National Health Insurance program and the National Pension system. When you go to the Mishima City Office for the resident registration, please visit the Insurance and Pension Division ("Hoken-Nenkin-Ka" in Japanese) and take the necessary procedures. A health insurance card will be issued instantly.
- If your income of the previous year is less than a certain amount, you can apply for an exemption.
- If you are a student and your income is less than a certain amount, you will be allowed to postpone its payment by applying for "Special Payment System for Students". (You may need to apply for the "Special Payment System for Students" several times before completing your course in Japan.)
(A) Regular Full-Time Employees and Special Fixed-Term Employees at NIG enroll in the health insurance and the pension scheme of the MEXT Mutual Aid Association. (MEXT: the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)
(B) Fixed-Term and Short-Time Employees at NIG, whose working hours under the contract of employment are 20 hours or more per week, enroll in the health insurance and the pension scheme of the Japan Health Insurance Association.
In case of the above-mentioned (A) and (B), NIG's Personnel Team takes the necessary procedures for the enrollment, so you need not enroll in the National Health Insurance program and the National Pension system on your own.
Things to Do in an Initial Period (Not Necessarily Within 14 Days)
¶ Opening a Bank Account
You may need to open a bank account in order to receive a salary or a scholarship. Most of all the international members open an account at the Postal Bank (JP Bank). Your passport and residence card (and name stamp if you have) are necessary to open an account. Resident registration must have been made at the city office before you open an account at the Postal Bank.
JP Banks are situated inside post offices. Most JP Banks are open Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 16:00 and opening hours of ATMs vary considerably by location.
A bankbook will be issued instantly on the same day, and a cash card will be sent to your address by registered mail at a later date.
¶ Housing (Apartment-Hunting)
International researchers and a part of international students, who don't move in the NIG official housing, need to find private apartments during the temporary stay at the NIG Guest House.
NIG's English Help Desk Coordinator can assist international researchers and students who need support with their apartment hunting. This support is inclusive of accompanying them to real estate agents, helping them with the contract procedures, etc. The coordinator will act as a liaison between real estate agents and NIG's international members who look for the apartments.
There are two types of apartment:
- Furnished Apartment: The room is basically supplied with a washing machine, a refrigerator, a microwave, a bed frame, a table and a chair and curtains. The monthly rent is higher than that of an unfurnished room of the same size, but if the estimated length of stay is short, the overall cost will be lesser than buying furniture and electric appliances to rent an unfurnished room.
- Unfurnished Apartment: Unfurnished apartments are recommendable to those whose estimated length of stay is long. In the Japanese market of rental property, the number of unfurnished apartments is much more than furnished apartments. Therefore, you will have more choices in apartment hunting, and monthly rent is basically less than that of a furnished room of the same size. However, you need to buy the necessary furniture and electric appliances, and finally dispose of them or look for transferees when you leave Japan.
¶ Application for Utilities (Electricity, Water and Gas)
Once the apartment rental contract was made and the date of moving in is decided, you need to make application for the supply of water, electricity and gas. NIG's English Help Desk Coordinator can make application for you.
*There are two types of gas service: city gas and propane gas. You need to have the gas company to come to open the main valve. On the appointed date, staff from the gas company will visit and open the main valve after checking your gas appliances. To open the main valve, you have to be present at the scene.
