What to do?
And the saga continues. I still have not received the certificate of eligibility. There is apparently no such thing as international express mail service in Japan. My contact sent the certificate on the 13th so that means it should be here in about 7 business days. However today would be the 7th business day if you only consider Monday through Friday though I know the US post office works on Saturdays as well. And still no certificate. So it could be here tomorrow or as late as Wednesday next week. This leaves me with little time to apply for my visa and likely receive it in time to catch my flight out of the 5th. What bugs the hell out of me more is that my contact sent me an email saying it had reached the US on the 15th. So why then has it taken so long to reach me?
So it's come down to two options: try my luck at applying for the visa once I get the certificate and potentially have to pay a substantial fee to change my departure date. Or don't bother with the visa at all and change my status once I get to Japan. Also likely to incur a fee but my hunch is that it still wouldn't cost as much as changing my departure date. It would, however, be the bigger headache.
I'm honestly leaning a little more towards changing my status once I get there. But if anyone who comes across this has any other advice to offer, please feel free.
So it's come down to two options: try my luck at applying for the visa once I get the certificate and potentially have to pay a substantial fee to change my departure date. Or don't bother with the visa at all and change my status once I get to Japan. Also likely to incur a fee but my hunch is that it still wouldn't cost as much as changing my departure date. It would, however, be the bigger headache.
I'm honestly leaning a little more towards changing my status once I get there. But if anyone who comes across this has any other advice to offer, please feel free.