The JLPT runs twice a year and applications close months before the test. A rejected or incomplete application therefore does not cost you a week - it costs you half a year.
The rules vary by host country, so the local site is always the authority. These are the things that go wrong everywhere.
The photograph
The most common single cause of trouble:
- Recent - usually within six months.
- Plain background, face straight on, no hat, no sunglasses.
- The whole head and the top of the shoulders in frame.
- Digital applications have size and format limits that are enforced automatically.
Print a spare copy even if you applied online. Some centres ask for one on the day.
The name
Your name on the application must match your identification exactly. Same spelling, same order, same middle names or lack of them.
This matters twice over: once at the door on test day, and again years later when an employer or an immigration officer compares your certificate with your passport. A mismatch there is a genuine problem, and it is not easily corrected after the fact.
Identification on the day
Bring the identification named on your test voucher - usually the passport or national ID used to apply. Photocopies are not accepted. A photo on your phone is not accepted.
Take the voucher itself too, printed. See JLPT test day for what the room expects.
Choosing the level on the form
You cannot change level after applying, and you cannot sit two levels in the same session - the timetables overlap.
So decide before you apply, using evidence rather than optimism. Sit a timed past paper first. If you are borderline between two levels, the guides on N5 versus N4, N4 versus N3 and N3 versus N2 set out what actually separates them.
Deadlines and seats
Applications open and close several months ahead, and popular centres fill on the first days in some countries. Put the opening date in your calendar, not the closing one.
Full registration steps: how to register for the JLPT.
Missing this sitting is expensive
That is the point worth internalising. With two sittings a year, a mistake on the form means the next attempt is roughly six months away - and if a visa or a job application depends on the certificate, six months may be the whole plan.
If your deadline is a work visa rather than a qualification, check whether you need the JLPT at all. JFT-Basic runs roughly monthly and satisfies the SSW language requirement: JFT-Basic or JLPT. You can measure yourself against it this evening with the free exam demo.