Japan – Any leeway for max visa duration due to unforeseen circumstances?

9/5/2019 3:39:41 PM

Assuming you have not yet passed through the exit passport control, visit your nearest immigration office before your allowed period of stay expires and explain the situation (if you are so incapacitated as to be unable to go in time, at least get someone to call them).

If your reason can be construed as legitimate, they will just hand you an Application for Extension of Period of Stay form, you fill it, you go to a nearby convenience store or post office to purchase the required revenue stamps, and they’ll give you the necessary extension to catch your flight (and no more).

Usual caveats, the risk of having an application denied is never zero, blah blah. In reality, as long as you are honest and not trying to game the system, they have no interest in making your life difficult. This is not the UK.

4/9/2019 2:04:47 PM

Japan has outbound passport control at the airport, so the big question will be when your flight is cancelled and which side of the passport control desk you are standing on when your visa expires.

If your departure flight is cancelled before you get to the airport you will not get a boarding pass, will therefore not get past security and therefore will not be able to “depart” the country.

If your departure flight is cancelled at the gate, then you are fine. You have a boarding pass, you presented your passport to immigration who stamped “Departed” right beside your tourist visa. You have now officially left Japan. If your airline declines to take you anywhere, immigration will either re-admit you to the country or suggest some place in the terminal building.

Your gamble is which one of those will happen.

If you are on the last day of your visa and the first case happens, you had better hope immigration is in a good mood, because they have NO obligation to do anything for you at this point. Or you buy a same-day ticket to anywhere else.

Just book a departing flight at 85 days. Especially if you are coming in typhoon season (June-October).

If you (or future readers) are thinking of cutting it close, don’t forget that “90 days” and “3 months” are NOT the same.

4/7/2019 10:00:55 AM

Give yourself some leeway with your departure date.

Don’t rely on ‘understanding’ from Immigration officials of any country if you overstay your visa. In Japan, according to https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/japan/entry-requirements and https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Japan.html for example, overstaying may lead to eg arrest, detention, fine, re-entry ban. Even if ‘force majeure’ circumstances may apply, why knowingly take the risk for the sake of a few extra days on your trip?

You’d also have to declare the overstay on any future visa applications for jurisdictions that ask about travel history eg UK.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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