Two authorities rate language schools and only one publishes names. MEXT accreditation you can look up. The Immigration Services Agency's 適正校 rating — based on the share of a school's students who overstay, lose their status or are refused an extension — is never published, yet it decides how thick your visa application has to be, and three bad years can strip a school of the right to host students at all.
Key facts
- Who grades it
- Immigration Services Agency (出入国在留管理庁), annually
- Is the list public?
- No — schools are notified privately
- The threshold
- 5% or fewer "problem" students
- Top tier (適正校 I類)
- 1% or fewer, three years running
- What it buys you
- Fewer documents in your visa application
- Worst case for a school
- Three bad years running — removable from the list that lets it host students at all
How the Immigration rating works (2026)
| Item | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Standard 適正校 | Problem students ≤5% of enrolment as of end-January the previous year — or ≤1 person if the school has 19 students or fewer | ISA |
| Top tier (適正校 I類) | ≤1% for three consecutive years (or ≤1 person if 99 students or fewer), plus three consecutive years of 適正校 status and clean reporting | ISA |
| Also required | Proper filing of the Article 19-17 notifications on enrolled foreign nationals; a second consecutive written instruction disqualifies the school | ISA |
| If a school fails | Its students go through full document examination instead of the simplified route | ISA |
| Three failures running | Grounds for removal from the designated-institution list — the school can no longer host student-visa students | ISA |
| Designated institutions in total | 830 Japanese language institutions, as of 2 July 2026 | ISA |
There are two ratings, and only one of them is public
If you have read our accredited school list, you know MEXT publishes which schools have passed its educational review. You can look any school up.
Immigration runs a second, entirely separate rating — and never publishes the names.
Every year the Immigration Services Agency looks at each school that hosts student-visa students and asks one narrow question: what share of your students went wrong? Schools that pass are designated 適正校 and their students get a simplified application — some required documents are waived outright. Schools that fail get nothing, and their students’ applications are examined in full.
The school is told. You are not.
What “went wrong” means
The rate is calculated against enrolment as of the end of January in the previous year. A student counts against the school if any of five things happened while they were enrolled there:
- They overstayed their visa.
- Their extension application was refused — for attendance or academic reasons.
- Their residence status was revoked.
- Their permission to work part-time was revoked.
- A deportation order was issued.
Pass the year with 5% or less and the school is 適正校. For a small school of 19 students or fewer, the cap is one person — one student going wrong is enough to fail the year.
There is a top tier as well. A school at 1% or below for three consecutive years — or at most one person, if it has 99 students or fewer — that has also held 適正校 status three years running and filed its notifications properly is designated 適正校 I類, and its students submit the thinnest applications of all.
Two other conditions apply regardless of the numbers. The school must properly file the Article 19-17 notifications on the foreign nationals it enrols; a second consecutive written instruction on that point disqualifies it. And there must be no other circumstance Immigration considers unsuitable.
Why an honest applicant should care
The obvious reaction is that this is the school’s problem, not yours. It is not, for two reasons.
It sets your paperwork. At a top-tier school much of the financial evidence is waived. At a school that failed, you assemble the full set — complete bank records, sponsor documents, proof of the sponsor’s income — and every extra document is another thing that can be filed wrong, arrive late, or be questioned.
A failing school can lose the right to host you entirely. If a school is told three years running that it is not managing enrolment properly, that is explicit grounds for striking it from the designated-institution list. There are 830 such institutions as of 2 July 2026, and being on that list is what makes a student visa possible at all. A school on its second bad year is a school with a countdown running.
The question to ask
Since you cannot look it up, ask — by email, so the answer is in writing:
御校は入管の「適正校」に選定されていますか。区分は I 類ですか、II 類ですか。
Is your school designated 適正校 by Immigration? Is it Category I or Category II?
Three outcomes, all informative:
- A clear answer with the category. Normal. Schools with the status generally advertise it — many put it on their own websites.
- “We are not currently designated.” Not automatically a reason to walk away; new and recently reopened schools cannot be rated at all, because there is no prior-year figure to compute. Ask whether that is the reason.
- Evasion, or a change of subject. That is your answer. A school that will not state its own regulatory status to a prospective student is showing you how it will handle your questions once you have paid.
Ask the same of any agent representing the school. Our page on study agencies explains why the agent’s answer and the school’s answer are not the same thing.
What this rating is not
It is not a measure of teaching. Immigration is not assessing curriculum or teachers — MEXT accreditation does that. A school can hold 適正校 status and still teach badly.
It is not current. The grade is computed from the previous calendar year. A school that deteriorated six months ago still holds last year’s rating.
It is not verifiable by you. Because the list is unpublished, you cannot check a school’s claim. What you can weigh is whether the school answered clearly and in writing — and that, unlike the rating itself, is entirely visible to you.
Common mistakes & warnings
- This rating measures enrolment management, not teaching. A school can be 適正校 and still teach badly. Do not use it as a quality score — use it as a risk signal.
- It is a lagging indicator. The rating is computed from the previous calendar year, so a school that got worse six months ago still carries last year's grade.
- Nobody outside can verify a school's answer, because the list is not published. What you can judge is whether the school answers at all, clearly, and in writing.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I look up whether a school is 適正校?
You cannot. The Immigration Services Agency notifies schools of their own status and does not publish the names. This is the whole reason this page exists — the only route to the answer is asking the school, and schools that hold the status usually advertise it themselves.
What actually counts as a "problem student"?
Five things, counted against the school where the student was enrolled when it happened: overstaying; being refused a status extension for reasons of attendance or academic performance; having the residence status revoked; having part-time work permission revoked; and being issued a deportation order.
Why should I care if I am an honest applicant?
Because the grade sets your paperwork. At a top-tier school much of the financial evidence is waived. At a school that failed, your application goes through full examination — you supply complete bank records and sponsor documents, and the process is slower and easier to fail on a technicality.
How is this different from MEXT accreditation?
Different authority, different question. MEXT accreditation is about educational quality — curriculum, teacher qualifications, governance — and the list is public. This one is Immigration asking a narrower question: do this school's students stay legal? See our [accredited school list](/en/study/accredited-japanese-language-schools/) for the published side.
Official sources
This page provides general information only and is not legal advice. Immigration rules change; always confirm details with the official sources listed above before making decisions.