Prospective Student Info

Students with Japanese nationality can travel to Switzerland without a visa. However, if you are staying longer than 90 days you will need to get a residence permit. You need to apply for a residence permit before traveling to Switzerland. You can find the addresses of the Embassy and Consulates here.

After you have arrived in Switzerland, you need to register at the municipality where you are staying. Please note that this registration needs to be done within 14 days after arriving in Switzerland. If you are registering in the Canton of Zurich, the municipality will forward your registration to the Migration Authority in Zurich. The Migration Authority decides about residence permits.

There are a few important things you should know for your application:

• Students at ISAP are on average older than students at other Swiss schools and universities. As far as we know, there is not a maximum age to get a long stay visa to study at ISAP.
• The studies at ISAP can take up to 7,5 years. In general you will need to fill this out on your application form.
• Please fill out your student status at ISAP, this can be one of the following three statuses: 1) Matriculated Auditor (Immatrikulierter Hörer), 2) Training Candidate (Ausbildungskandidat), 3) Diploma Candidate (Diplomkandidat)
• You will need to prove that you have sufficient financial means. One of the ways to prove this, is to give a copy of a bank statement that has a minimum amount of CHF 21’000 or the equivalent in USD. You will need to use one of the banks that have been approved by the Zurich Migration Office. See this list.