Hi everyone,
I’m planning to apply for a COE to attend a Japanese language school starting in January 2027. By then I’ll be 35 years old and I already have JLPT N1. I’m a bit worried about how my profile might be viewed by immigration, so I’d like to hear from people who have experience with this.
I’ve read that age can sometimes work against you when applying for a language school COE, especially if you’re over 30, so I want to be careful with how I present my application.
A few things about my situation:
- My main reason for attending language school is to improve my spoken Japanese and real-life communication, which I feel is still a weak point despite having N1.
- While my priority is studying, realistically I would also be applying to jobs during my stay, hoping that something might come up.
- I’ve heard that explicitly stating plans to work in Japan or continue to a master’s degree after language school can hurt your chances, which makes me unsure how honest or conservative I should be in my explanation.
- I will be leaving my current job to do this, and I’m concerned about how that might be interpreted.
What I’d like to ask those familiar with the process:
- Is it generally safer to say that you plan to return to your home country after finishing language school, even if your long-term plans are still open?
- Would providing a letter from my current employer saying they expect me back help, or is that unnecessary?
- Is it better to frame the purpose as improving Japanese to advance my career back home (for example in international trade/business), rather than mentioning any intention to work in Japan?
- For someone my age with an established career and N1 already, what kind of explanation tends to raise the fewest red flags?
I’m not trying to game the system, just trying to understand how to present my situation in a way that’s realistic but also reasonable from an immigration standpoint.
Any advice or firsthand experiences would be greatly appreciated.
by TottreJP
11 comments
Well, I am 39, between N5 and N4, and I applied for language school for this coming April. Currently waiting on the COE. I hope to find out if it is approved in late February. From what I understand, as long as you have a degree, you should be fine in general.
I’ll also be leaving my job at the end of march. For my COE, I wrote that I would look for a job in Japan after I’m done. But realistically, I’d probably do another year of school while working part time. Been a software engineer for over 10 years now with a bachelors degree in it. The advisors at the school applied said I shouldn’t worry about the COE, as the applications are rarely denied. I hope that’s true, because I pretty much have everything prepared already. Job resignation, flights, etc. gotta take a risk some time in life.
From your background, it sounds like you should be fine? The only thing that might be strange is that you already have N1. My school has a cutoff limit if you can attend. I think you are N2 already, they won’t take you. But of course that is school dependent. Not sure what immigration would think in your case with having the N1 already. If you know which school you want to go to, maybe ask them regarding such questions. I asked a ton of questions to my school, and they were able to answer quite a lot.
I haven’t looked into it directly, but I wouldn’t be surprised if your age worked against you (I say this as someone a bit older than you). The MEXT scholarships all age out by 35 or so, so there’s clearly a bias against mature age students.
>My main reason for attending language school is to improve my spoken Japanese and real-life communication, which I feel is still a weak point despite having N1.
Not the question you are asking, but IMO this is going to be largely a waste of time and money if you are already at N1. As someone who has both taken and taught advanced language classes, they offer sharply diminishing rates of return beyond the intermediate level.
Why not just keep your current job, get a private tutor either locally or through iTalki, and apply for jobs from your home country? Or apply for a Master’s program at a Japanese university in something that would boost your career? Or could you qualify for a digital nomad visa?
There is for sure an advantage of applying locally, but IMO there are far too many downsides to your particular plan and set of circumstances to make it worthwhile.
What is your work experience and what sort of jobs will you be looking for? Have you applied for in Japan before & got the feedback you need to be here instead?
Also, just curious, how long did it take to get to N1 and why did you decide to go that high while not being here (only asking because the only people I know with N1 all did it in Japan).
I had many people between the age of 32-50 at my language school, and they were more like N5-N4
Japanese language schools principally are to launch Asian students to N2 level (also for speaking and writing), to enter Japanese trade schools or universities. There is a smaller market for western “junior year abroad” students too (but they would be in the lower level classes generally). Cookie-cutter programs.
So most Japanese language schools, even the big ones, offer very little for post N2 students (or post N1 students for that matter). Some schools might have advanced reading and discussion classes, which are more ad-hoc but there is little demand. You don’t want to get stuck in a school that “over promises”; that would be miserable and a waste of time.
There are exceptions. For example,
– my colleague studied an advanced program for academics (at Waseda?)
– there was something in Yokohama (maybe with Stanford).
– Nichebi in Yotsuya (was associated with Oberlin at one time) had some more advanced classes for professionals and housewives (my neighbour was rusty in Japanese and returned to Japan to retake the N2 – his spoken Japanese was near native – he was a phone sales rep for a Japanese company in Japan).
You’re good, I’m also in early 30s when enrolling in language school and i’ve seen plenty of people older than me.
I don’t think you need to lie about planning to get a job, because that’s literally the reason most people learn Japanese. I think the red flags immigration look for are the people using language school just as point of entry and then stay and works illegally. If you already have an established profession and more importantly, money, i don’t think there’ll be any red flags
I enrolled in language school in October. I’m 30 and have N3 and had no issues getting a COE.
I applied via GoGoNihon and they told me to tell immigration that I’m planning to return to my country after a year, which I did. I didn’t submit any “proof” that I’ll really return home.
I came to Japan at age of 35. I spent 1 years to pass N1 and another year to get my real estate agent license which help me to get jobs in the end. You should search for 資格 (qualification) that you are interested in, ultimately lead to a much more secured employment then a diploma that has no demand on the labor market. I am not an expert in HR, but according to hurdles I have experienced during job hunting. Japanese N1 alone, don’t get you too far. A MBA diploma also don’t get you too far as I experienced. Compares to a diploma, a qualification is directly needed in labor market.
If you worked in logistic before, the qualification came to my mind is 通関士(Licensed Customs Broker, please note that my translation could be off). It wasn’t paying very well according to what I learned from my friend who is a business owner doing international trading. At least, this is a job that support your vise, and surely have regulatory demand. From there, you may accumulate your experiences and connections, and ultimately utilize your cross culture advantages to start the business eventually by yourself.
As you start working in international trade, you will surely encounter situations that you need 通関士 to fill paper works for you.
I would recommend to contact language schools directly. They can help you the best because they probably have experience in those matters.
I’m 40 yo, barely n5, but I in japan rn with a student visa, although my 15 years of experience in IT might have helped. I haven’t read the full post sorry, but If you already have N1, and the people that are judging you with just your data at hand, might think you don’t need to go to language school anymore l, that’s just a thought I had.
Not only age working against you, but you already have N1. I’m not sure but it seems like they’d expect you not to need language school (even if you bring up good points).
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