WB054: Renewing my Japanese visa
My Japanese visa came up for renewal in the middle of July this year and I was quite nervous as this was my first time doing a renewal.
A successful renewal is accompanied by a Period of Stay (Japanese: 在留期間) extension. For my visa type, this period is six months, one year, three years or five years. Japan's Immigration Services Authority (ISA) decides the tenure.
Applicants can submit their application up to three months in advance of the expiry of their Period of Stay. For example, if your Period of Stay expires June 30th, you can submit your application from March 30th. It also goes without saying that you should submit an application before your Period of Stay expiry.
There is no strict rule saying you should submit your application early. But based on past experiences with government-related submissions, the earlier the better. You have more to lose in life by doing things last minute and less to lose by being early.
I think the spirit of a visa application in any country is to show the ISA you're financially capable of supporting yourself. If you aren't, then you need to show that someone can support you.
Basically, no country wants a foreign national who is a drag on their society, especially in Japan where capable residents must contribute to the National Health Insurance and National Pension systems, along with paying taxes.
So in addition to the visa renewal application form, the ISA provides a clear list of supporting documents, such as proof of income, local and national tax payment certificates etc.
Bearing in mind the assessor is a human, it also does not hurt to write legibly and provide all the supporting documents. No point squabbling over whether specific documents are important or not or complaining why the process is tedious.
I submitted my application and documents in person end-April at the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau (Japanaese: 東京出入国在留管理局) located in Shinagawa (Japanese: 品川) city, about a one hour commute from where I live.
As there were many applicants, I waited for about 1.5 hours before my turn. The wait is uncomfortable, but there's no point complaining. After all, everyone is in the same boat and you just have to be patient.
After the officer-in-charge checked that my documents were in order, I was given a paper acknowledgement receipt.
The officer also stamped the back of my Zairyu Card (Japanese: 在留カード, English: Residence Card) with an acknowledgement that my visa renewal application was being processed. This granted me an automatic two-month extension (till September) to my existing Period of Stay. This extension is important in case your application is still being assessed once your Zairyu Card expires, which eventually happened to me.
After a 3.5 month wait, I was notified by a postcard (!!) that my visa application had been assessed. While waiting for the results, the only way to "check" one's application status is to call the ISA.
Anyway, I went back to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, waited about 2 hours before finding out my new Period of Stay (extension of one year) and being issued a new Zairyu Card.
From the ISA's published data, application times for various visa types have increased over the years. Taking the student visa as an example, the average processing time was around 28.3 days for the April - June period in 2023. In 2024, the processing time increased to 36.2 days and ranged between 28.6 days to 38.5 days in 2025.
I think the blowout in processing times is expected, as Japan is experiencing a record inflow of foreign nationals looking to visit, study or work in Japan.
I also realised how inconvenient lingering uncertainty over being able to stay in Japan is. For example, you can't plan for the renewal of your rental property. Or if your employed, what if your application is not approved? As you need to be in Japan to pick up your new Zairyu Card, what if you need to return to your home country in the meantime?
I also found out that local financial services provider are very on the ball with requesting for your Period of Stay extension results, as Japanese law prohibits non-residents from maintaining a banking account. Failure to update the bank in a timely manner, and your account might be closed or frozen. One month before my initial Period of Stay expired, I received a notification from Japan Post each time I opened my banking app. A very unnerving reminder!
At the end of the day, the silver lining of this experience is that the visa renewal process is no longer an unknown to me. Knowing what to expect definitely helps with alleviating the fears associated with the unknown.
--Ends
