Ready before departure: a national pre-departure standard for Bangladeshi students
Most of the problems we see students face in Japan every day — language, part-time rules, housing, insurance, sending money, the law — can be taught before they leave. From BSSAJ's experience, JEJC's twelve post-arrival services and the Embassy seminars, this paper proposes a six-part pre-departure standard that the government could make compulsory for every student consultancy.
A draft in his style, built from his published positions; not yet approved by him. ‘We’ in the text is BSSAJ's position.
Listing the problems we have met daily since BSSAJ was founded, one thing stands out: almost all of them could have been avoided with knowledge before departure. Some do not know that working more than 28 hours a week endangers visa renewal; some believe the government will ‘find out’ if they remit legally; some skip national health-insurance premiums and build a mountain of arrears; some lose deposits because they never understood the rental contract. These are not failures of character — they are failures of preparation.
The six parts of the proposed standard
| Part | What is taught | How it is verified |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Language | At least N5/JFT-Basic; school and workplace Japanese | Certificate |
| 2. Law and visa | 28 hours a week, the ‘資格外活動’ permit, renewal, address registration | Written test |
| 3. Money | Monthly budget, bank account, legal remittance, tax | A submitted budget sheet |
| 4. Health and insurance | National health insurance, pension exemption, emergency numbers | Checklist |
| 5. Housing and daily life | Rental contracts, deposits, waste rules, earthquakes | Checklist |
| 6. Culture and conduct | Punctuality, workplace etiquette, neighbourly relations | Oral assessment |
Why this is the government's job
Bangladesh has more than two hundred student consultancies, and their quality varies enormously. With a national standard the good ones become visible, the weak ones have a path to improve, and for the first time the government can measure — which consultancies' students get COEs, stay the course, and remit legally. By our memorandum's estimate a student can save up to BDT 1.8 million a year; whether that money comes home through legal channels is decided by an hour's lesson before departure.
Recommendations
Who does what — specific actions for governments and stakeholders, each of them checkable.
- 01The Ministries of Expatriates' Welfare and Education jointly approve a six-part pre-departure curriculum, compulsory for every BMET-registered student consultancy.
- 02Online registration with the Embassy before departure (name, school, address, emergency contact) so a student in trouble in Japan can be found.
- 03A Bengali-language helpline in Japan, run jointly by BSSAJ, the Embassy and the language schools.
- 04A public scorecard of each consultancy's COE rate, dropout rate and complaints — recognition for those who keep the standard.
Sources
- Nagamatsu Faruk — President's message to BSSAJ, 2026
- Nagamatsu Faruk — memorandum to the Ambassador of Bangladesh to Japan, May 2025The source document behind the first five publications on this site.
Cite as: Nagamatsu Faruk (2026). Ready before departure: a national pre-departure standard for Bangladeshi students. https://nagamatsufaruk.com/en/research/pre-departure-standard