How do KCP students negotiate two-semester visas? Since a tourist visa lasts for 90 days (for U.S. citizens), how does an extension work?

To U.S. students, Japan grants a 90-day exemption from needing a visa. This is considered a tourist visa.

For students staying longer, we very strongly recommend that you apply for a long-term visa well in advance of your first term of study. (Six months before start is ideal.) If a student decides while in Japan to extend their stay, there are two strategies for the visa.

1. The student can return home, apply for the visa, apply again to KCP, and come back to Japan on that long-term visa. Of course, the earliest the student could obtain the visa (even with our help) would be six months. The student would stay for at least two terms under the visa. We don’t help students obtain visas for stays less than 90 days.
2. If the student wants to stay in Japan and continue the very next term, s/he could buy a round trip ticket home (or to a nearby country such as South Korea), stay out of Japan for a few days, and return to Japan for another 90 days.

Students in the past have done this without any immigration problems. KCP-Japan can help a student do this if they need to. However, if a student knows s/he wants to stay in Japan for two terms or more, it’s definitely best to apply for the long-term visa ahead of time. Repeated trips in and out Japan can look funny to an immigration officer. While we have not had a student turned away from Japan because of doing this, one student was warned after the third time.