Language-test capacity and equal recognition of certificates
The JLPT is held twice a year with 6,000–7,000 seats that sell out in two or three days — 20% of students cannot sit at all. JFT-Basic seats vanish within hours. Japan recognises ten tests, yet in Bangladesh a visa is in practice hard to obtain on any certificate other than the JLPT — while elsewhere any one recognised certificate suffices.
This document was presented by Nagamatsu Faruk himself, as President of BSSAJ. ‘We’ in the text is BSSAJ.
In Bangladesh the JLPT is held twice a year with 6,000–7,000 seats each time. Registration fills within two or three days, so 20% of willing students cannot sit. Requests to add seats or hold the test every two months were declined by the authority.
BSSAJ's letter to Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs raises the same problem from the Japanese side: JFT-Basic registrations close within hours of opening; many candidates depend on vouchers with narrow windows, causing financial and psychological strain. Many public and private institutions teach Japanese and SSW candidates are increasing, but the testing system itself is the biggest bottleneck.
Recognition of certificates
The Japanese government recognises ten tests — including JLPT, JPT and NAT — for student visas from every country. In Bangladesh, however, applicants holding certificates other than the JLPT experience markedly lower approval, and Japanese schools report that for Bangladeshi students a visa is hard to obtain without the JLPT. In other countries any one recognised certificate is enough. Removing this disparity could lift the approval rate towards 99%.
Recommendations
Who does what — specific actions for governments and stakeholders, each of them checkable.
- 01More JLPT and JFT-Basic seats and sittings (proposed: every two months).
- 02Equal standing in visa assessment for every test recognised by the Japanese government (JLPT, JPT, NAT, TOP-J, JFT and others), as in other countries.
- 03A transparent review of why the post-COE refusal rate (25.6%) is so far above Nepal's (~1%).
Sources
- Memorandum to the Ambassador of Bangladesh to Japan, May 2025 (Bengali)Memorandum submitted to the Bangladesh Embassy in Tokyo, May 2025. Figures are reproduced unchanged; explanations are condensed.
- Letter from BSSAJ to officials of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japanese and English)Meeting request sent as President of BSSAJ to officials of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Cite as: Nagamatsu Faruk (2025). Language-test capacity and equal recognition of certificates. https://nagamatsufaruk.com/en/research/language-test-capacity