Pre-college Student

The residence status “Pre-college Student,” which existed in the past for foreign students studying at school, is similar to “Student.” The difference is that “Student” designates those who study abroad at universities and vocational schools, while “Pre-college Student” designates those who study at other schools. Therefore, this residence status is granted to foreign students studying at Japanese language schools. In line with the revision of the Immigration Control Act in 2009, we considered that many people who graduate from Japanese language schools tend to advance to colleges and universities and that this status is not categorized according to Western countries’ education systems. Although this status has been generally unified with “Student,” statistics show that in 2010, some students entered and left Japan with the status “Precollege Student.”
Most students entering or leaving Japan hail from the People’s Republic of China or the Republic of Korea, both close to Japan. In particular, the number from China is increasing annually. A certain number enter from, for instance, the United States and Australia, but this number is gradually decreasing.
Moreover, the number entering Japan from Europe is small, and the number from Africa and South America is even smaller.