A single-entry Japanese visa cost about 3,000 yen for applications accepted up to 30 June 2026, and costs about 15,000 yen for applications accepted on or after 1 July 2026. Japan has reciprocal visa exemption arrangements with 74 countries and regions for a short stay, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that holding a visa does not guarantee entry.
The single-entry fee went from about 3,000 yen to about 15,000 yen on 1 July 2026
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs runs two fee pages at once. The page for applications accepted up to 30 June 2026, dated 29 June 2026, gives about 3,000 yen for a single-entry visa, 6,000 yen for a double-entry or multiple-entry visa, and 700 yen for a transit visa. The page for applications accepted on or after 1 July 2026, dated 24 June 2026, names two categories only: approximately 15,000 yen for a single-entry visa and approximately 30,000 yen for a multiple-entry visa. The ministry attributes the change to an amendment of the Cabinet Order on Fees Collected by Consular Officers.
| Visa | Applications accepted to 30 June 2026 | Applications accepted from 1 July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Single-entry | About 3,000 yen | About 15,000 yen |
| Multiple-entry | 6,000 yen | About 30,000 yen |
Dividing the new figures by the old ones gives five in both rows, and that division is ours rather than the ministry’s. The 700 yen transit figure and the separate double-entry wording appear only on the page for applications accepted up to 30 June 2026; the page for July onwards does not print either. Both pages add the same three qualifications: fees may not be required or may differ depending on the purpose of the visit and the nationality of the applicant, payment is made in the local currency of the country or region where the issuing embassy or consulate-general sits, which only the July page frames as a general rule, and no fee is charged if a visa is not issued. Where an application goes through an agency approved by the mission and a visa is issued, the agency’s own handling fee is charged on top of the visa fee.
A visa is one of four landing conditions, and it stops being valid at the gate
Article 7, paragraph 1 of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act sets out four conditions an immigration inspector examines on an application for landing, or the first and fourth alone for a re-entry permit or refugee travel document holder. The first is that the passport, and the visa granted to it where a visa is required, are valid. The others concern the truthfulness of the intended activity and its fit with the appended tables, the period of stay matching the Ministry of Justice ordinance, and the applicant falling under none of the grounds in Article 5, paragraph 1. Paragraph 2 of the same article puts the burden on the traveller: the foreign national undergoing the examination must prove for themselves that the conditions are met.
The ministry’s landing-permission page puts the limit plainly. A visa confirms the validity of the passport and indicates that the bearer would pose no problem on entry under the conditions written on the visa, but holding one is only one of the requirements for a landing-permission application and does not guarantee entry. Visas are issued at a Japanese embassy or consulate and cannot be obtained at the port of entry. Once the holder has applied for landing, the visa immediately becomes invalid, and it is the landing permission, stamped as a seal of verification, that becomes the legal basis for the stay. That seal displays the status of residence and the period of stay. Which airport this happens at is a separate question: Haneda’s terminals are split by flight type.
A single-entry visa runs three months, and the ministry says it cannot be extended
The period of validity of a single-entry visa is three months, and it is valid for entering Japan on one occasion. It lapses at whichever comes first, the application for landing or the expiry date. Extension of the period of validity is not possible. Multiple-entry visas, which the page associates with business travellers, carry a validity of one to five years and may be used any number of times inside that window, and these remain valid to their expiry date rather than dying at the first landing.
The landing-permission page corrects two phrases in common use. People talk about changing the type of visa and about extending or renewing a visa, and the ministry states that in fact neither action can be done. A change of status of residence and an extension of period of stay are separate acts, carried out by the Ministry of Justice through a regional immigration bureau. Article 2-2, paragraph 3 of the Act adds a ceiling to the second of those: the period of stay is fixed for each status by Ministry of Justice ordinance, and apart from the statuses of Diplomat, Official, Highly Skilled Professional in its second category, and Permanent Resident, a period of stay may not exceed five years.
Seventy-four countries and regions are exempt, and four of them get under 90 days
The exemption page, dated 1 September 2025, states that Japan has reciprocal visa exemption arrangements with 74 countries and regions, and the table beneath it holds 74 entries when counted cell by cell. The period of stay granted on landing is 15 days for Indonesia and Thailand and 30 days for Brunei and Qatar, which leaves 70 entries at 90 days by our subtraction. Taiwan’s arrangement reaches only passport holders with a personal ID number.
The page’s notes narrow some of those entries, and we counted the entries each note attaches to. One note puts eight entries behind an ePassport compliant with ICAO standards, with dates running from Serbia in May 2011 to Montenegro in September 2025, and three further entries sit behind an ICAO-compliant ePassport in notes of their own. Three are exempt only for holders of a machine-readable passport. Seven entries sit under arrangements permitting stays of up to six months, and a holder wanting more than 90 days there has to apply to the Ministry of Justice for an extension before the permitted stay expires. Uruguay carries a note of its own: the new ordinary Uruguayan passport issued after 16 April 2025, which omits place of birth from the data page, is not recognised as valid by the Japanese government, so the arrangement reaches only holders of the old version.
The appended tables name 29 statuses of residence, and tourism is one of them
A visa is not a status of residence. The statuses are set out in the appended tables of the Act, and counting the rows of the version published through the government’s law database gives 25 in Appended Table I and 4 in Appended Table II, which is 29 in total by our addition.
| Table | Statuses counted | Entries named here |
|---|---|---|
| Appended Table I, first table | 6 | Diplomat, Journalist |
| Appended Table I, second table | 13 | Nursing care, Specified skilled worker |
| Appended Table I, third table | 2 | Cultural activities, Temporary visitor |
| Appended Table I, fourth table | 3 | Student, Dependent |
| Appended Table I, fifth table | 1 | Designated activities |
| Appended Table II | 4 | Permanent resident, Long-term resident |
Tourism sits in the third table, under the status of temporary visitor, and the right-hand column lists seven named short-stay activities, with lectures and meetings written as a single item: sightseeing, recreation, sports, visiting relatives, inspection tours, taking part in lectures or meetings, and business contact. It then adds other similar activities. Article 19, paragraph 1 states what a holder of an Appended Table I status may not do without permission, and it splits the tables in two. For the first, second and fifth tables, the bar falls on running an income-earning business or receiving remuneration outside the activities listed for that status. For the third and fourth tables, the two activities are written without that qualifier. The paragraph names its own exceptions: an honorarium for a lecture not given as a business, incidental remuneration arising in daily life, and others fixed by Ministry of Justice ordinance. Paragraph 2 lets the Commissioner of the Immigration Services Agency permit such activity on application where it does not impede the listed activity and the Commissioner finds it reasonable, and attach conditions to that permission; paragraph 3 lets the permission be revoked.
The list of work and long-stay visas runs to 32 entries under seven headings
The ministry’s page for work and long-term stay is dated 22 January 2026. It carries seven headings, which it calls the highly skilled professional, working, general, specified, start-up, diplomatic and official visas, and, counted here, 32 entries beneath them. Sixteen of the 32 sit under the working visa heading, from professor and artist through to technical intern training. Designated activities appears four times in the specified visa group, listed separately for long stay for sightseeing and recreation, for a future creation individual, and for a digital nomad and their spouse or child. The group carries an entry for spouse of permanent resident, and the page’s list holds no entry for permanent residence itself. The same page notes that pre-entry tuberculosis screening will apply to nationals of six countries: the Philippines, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Nepal, Myanmar and China.
Five working days is the stated turnaround, and a referral to Tokyo makes it a month
The processing-time page, dated 5 December 2022, gives five working days from the day following the date of receipt, provided there is no particular problem with the content of the application, and warns that a convergence of applications in a short period can stretch it. Where there is a problem, the embassy or consulate-general sends the application to the ministry in Tokyo for further examination, and issuance may then take more than a month. For a work or long-term-stay purpose, the page puts a certificate of eligibility from a regional immigration bureau in Japan ahead of the visa application, and states that without one the visa takes a long time, typically one to three months, regardless of whether anything is wrong with the application. The certificate is applied for inside Japan by a proxy of the person who wants to enter, and is issued where the conditions in Article 7, paragraph 1, item 2 of the Act are met.
The eVISA reaches 20 countries and regions, and a screenshot is not accepted
The electronic visa page, dated 15 May 2026, splits eligibility in two. Residents of nine countries and regions, other than those already exempt from a short-term visa, apply through the JAPAN eVISA website directly: Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Residents of eleven more apply through an accredited agency, namely China, the Philippines and Viet Nam, the last two on a packaged tour organised by a designated travel agency, and a group of eight made up of Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Macau, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea outside the jurisdiction of the consulate-general in Jeju, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Adding the two groups gives 20 countries and regions.
The eVISA itself is narrow. It is a single-entry short-term-stay visa for tourism, for a period of up to 90 days, dropping to 15 or 30 days for nationals of China residing in China and to 15 days for nationals of Viet Nam and the Philippines. Only ordinary passport holders may apply through the website, travel is by air or by sea limited to international scheduled passenger ferries between Japan and Busan or Shanghai, and the applicant may be called in person to the mission with jurisdiction over their residence for an interview. One operational detail sits on the same page: the traveller has to display the visa issuance notice at the airport in an internet environment, and PDF data, a screenshot and a printed copy are each stated not to be accepted.
Sources Checked
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan — Visa Fees, for applications accepted on or after 1 July 2026
Confirmed that the Cabinet Order on Fees Collected by Consular Officers was amended with effect from 1 July 2026, that the fee converted into Japanese yen is approximately 15,000 yen for a single-entry visa and approximately 30,000 yen for a multiple-entry visa, that no other category is priced on the page, that payment is made as a general rule in the local currency of the country or region of the issuing mission, that fees may not be required or may differ by purpose and nationality, that no fee is charged if a visa is not issued, and that an approved agency charges a separate handling fee where a visa is issued. Page dated 24 June 2026.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/procedure/pagewe_000001_00391.html
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan — Visa Fees, for applications accepted up to 30 June 2026
Confirmed the figures of about 3,000 yen for a single-entry visa, 6,000 yen for a double-entry or multiple-entry visa, and 700 yen for a transit visa, and the statement that the fees were to be revised on 1 July 2026. Page dated 29 June 2026.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/procedure/fee.html
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan — Visas and Landing Permission
Confirmed that a visa confirms passport validity, that holding a visa is only one of the requirements for a landing-permission application and does not guarantee entry, that visas cannot be obtained at the port of entry, that the visa immediately becomes invalid once landing has been applied for while multiple visas remain valid to their expiry date, that the landing-permission seal displays the status of residence and the period of stay and becomes the legal basis for the stay, and that changing the type of visa and extending or renewing a visa cannot be done because a change of status of residence and an extension of period of stay are acts of the Ministry of Justice through a regional immigration bureau.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/system/index.html
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan — Validity of a Visa
Confirmed that a visa is valid for entering Japan on one occasion, that the period of validity of a single-entry visa is three months, that it becomes invalid at the application for landing or the expiry date whichever is earlier, that extension of the period of validity is not possible, and that multiple-entry visas issued to business travellers and others carry a validity of one to five years usable any number of times.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/procedure/validity.html
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan — Exemption of Visa (Short-Term Stay)
Confirmed the figure of 74 countries and regions with reciprocal visa exemption arrangements and the 74 entries in the table, the periods of stay of 15 days for Indonesia and Thailand, 30 days for Brunei and Qatar and 90 days for the others, the eight entries in one note exempt only for holders of an ICAO-compliant ePassport with their effective dates from Serbia in May 2011 to Montenegro in September 2025, the three further entries behind an ICAO-compliant ePassport in notes of their own, namely Malaysia from July 2013 and Indonesia and Qatar on prior registration of the ePassport with a Japanese mission, the three entries exempt only for holders of a machine-readable passport in compliance with ICAO standards, the seven entries under arrangements permitting up to six months where a stay beyond 90 days requires an extension from the Ministry of Justice before the permitted stay expires, the limitation of the Taiwan arrangement to passport holders with a personal ID number, and the Uruguayan note that the new ordinary passport issued after 16 April 2025 omitting place of birth is not recognised as valid. Page dated 1 September 2025.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/short/novisa.html
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan — Work or Long-term stay
Confirmed the seven headings of highly skilled professional, working, general, specified, start-up, diplomatic and official visas, the 32 entries beneath them, the sixteen entries under the working visa heading, the four separate appearances of designated activities including long stay for sightseeing and recreation, future creation individual, and digital nomad and spouse or child, the presence of spouse of permanent resident and the absence of any entry for permanent residence itself, and the note that pre-entry tuberculosis screening will apply to nationals of the Philippines, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Nepal, Myanmar and China. Page dated 22 January 2026.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/long/index.html
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan — Visa Processing Time
Confirmed the five working days from the day following the date of receipt where there is no particular problem, the warning about a convergence of applications, the transmission of problem applications to the ministry in Tokyo and issuance then taking more than a month, the long time, typically one to three months, stated for a work or long-term stay without a certificate of eligibility, and the application for that certificate by a proxy at a regional immigration bureau under Article 7, paragraph 1, item 2 of the Act. Page dated 5 December 2022.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/procedure/day.html
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan — The JAPAN eVISA system (electronic visa)
Confirmed the nine countries and regions whose residents apply directly other than those already exempt from a short-term visa, the eleven whose residents apply through an accredited agency with the Philippines and Viet Nam limited to packaged tours organised by designated travel agencies, and the exclusion of the Jeju consulate-general jurisdiction within the Republic of Korea, the restriction to a single-entry short-term-stay visa for tourism of up to 90 days with 15 or 30 days for nationals of China residing in China and 15 days for Viet Nam and the Philippines, the restriction to ordinary passport holders, the limitation of sea travel to international scheduled passenger ferries between Japan and Busan or Shanghai, the possibility of being called for an interview, and the requirement to display the visa issuance notice in an internet environment with PDF data, screenshots and printed copies not accepted. Page dated 15 May 2026.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/visaonline.html
e-Gov Laws Database, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications — Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, current text
Confirmed the four landing conditions in Article 7, paragraph 1 with only the first and fourth examined for a holder of a re-entry permit or a refugee travel document, the applicant’s own burden of proof in paragraph 2 and the certificate of eligibility fixed as the means of proof of item 2 for the highly skilled professional (i) and specified skilled worker activities, the five-year ceiling on the period of stay in Article 2-2, paragraph 3 and the statuses excepted from it, the split in Article 19, paragraph 1 between the first, second and fifth tables and the third and fourth tables, the exceptions for a lecture honorarium and incidental daily remuneration, the permission and conditions in paragraph 2 and the revocation in paragraph 3, and the counts of 6, 13, 2, 3 and 1 statuses in the five tables of Appended Table I and 4 in Appended Table II, including the seven named activities performed during a short stay in Japan under temporary visitor followed by other similar activities, and the reasonableness condition and necessary conditions in Article 19, paragraph 2.
https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/326CO0000000319
Last updated: October 2026
