Key Takeaways· Indian passport holders need a Japanese visa before they fly, because Japan offers Indian nationals no visa on arrival and no visa exemption. · An Indian national pays an INR 500 visa fee, single or multiple entry, plus an INR 800 service charge at the Japan Visa Application Centre. · Indian residents cannot apply on the JAPAN eVISA website themselves, and a Japanese visa does not guarantee entry: the immigration officer decides when you land. |
Yes, Indians need a visa for Japan: a Japan visa for Indians must be issued before you travel, because Japan has no visa on arrival and no visa exemption for Indian passport holders (MOFA, VISA, mofa.go.jp , accessed 2026-09-17). Applications from India go in through the Japan Visa Application Centre (VFS Global) for your state. A single-entry tourist visa is then issued electronically as an eVISA, while a multiple-entry visa, or a visa for any other purpose, is a sticker in your passport (Embassy of Japan in India, Visa, in.emb-japan.go.jp , accessed 2026-09-17).
This guide is maintained by Zurich Kotak General Insurance, an IRDAI-registered general insurer in India and part of the Zurich Insurance Group.
Last verified: 2026-09-17.
Do Indians need a visa for Japan?
Yes. Japan has no visa on arrival and no visa exemption for Indian passport holders, so your visa has to be issued before you fly. MOFA says visas “cannot be obtained at the port of entry in Japan” (MOFA, Visas and Landing Permission, accessed 2026-09-17), and India is not among the 74 countries and regions on its short-term visa exemption list (MOFA, Exemption of Visa, accessed 2026-09-17). That list goes by nationality only, so a US, UK or Schengen visa in your passport does not change the answer. Our explainer on whether Japan offers Indians visa-free entry or a visa on arrival covers both questions in full.
A visa is one requirement for entry, not a guarantee of it. MOFA says a visa “does not guarantee that the holder of the visa will be able to enter Japan”. The immigration officer at the airport grants “landing permission” and sets how long you may stay.
If you are still choosing a destination, our lists of visa-free countries for Indians and e-visa countries for Indians show where the paperwork is lighter. Japan’s eVISA is not a self-service e-visa for Indian residents, as the next section explains.
Travelling to Japan? Get covered before you fly. Travel insurance for Japan is not on any Japan visa checklist, but Japan’s Foreign Ministry calls it highly recommended, and a visa pays nothing towards a hospital bill there.
Two routes: the eVISA and the paper visa
Every tourist, business or family-visit application from India goes in through the Japan Visa Application Centre (VFS Global) for your state; a single-entry tourist visa comes out as an eVISA, and every other visa comes out as a sticker in your passport. Indian residents cannot apply on the JAPAN eVISA website ( evisa.mofa.go.jp ) themselves. MOFA places India in the group where an application “should be made through an accredited agency”; the self-apply group is nine countries and regions, including Australia, the UK and the USA (MOFA, The JAPAN eVISA system, accessed 2026-09-17). Japan’s missions in India say applicants still submit to the application centres “as before but receive a visa issued in electronic form instead of a visa sticker”, an arrangement that began on 2024-04-01 (Embassy of Japan in India, The JAPAN eVISA system; Consulate-General of Japan in Mumbai, The JAPAN eVISA system, both accessed 2026-09-17).
| eVISA | Paper visa (sticker) |
Used for | Single-entry tourism only | Multiple-entry visas for any purpose, and single-entry visits for business, conferences, medical stays or visiting relatives and friends |
Can you apply yourself on evisa.mofa.go.jp ? | Not as a resident of India | No |
Entries | One | One or multiple, as issued |
Length of stay | 15, 30 or 90 days, decided by the mission from your itinerary | Up to 90 days a visit on a short-term visa, granted by the immigration officer on arrival |
Validity | Three months from issue; cannot be extended | Single entry: three months. Multiple entry: five years under MOFA’s tourism categories for Indians; 1, 3, 5 or 10 years for qualifying business travellers |
Visa fee for Indian nationals | INR 500 | INR 500 |
What you receive | An electronic visa; nothing is stuck in your passport | A visa sticker in your passport |
What you show when you fly | The visa issuance notice, opened live on a phone with internet access | Your passport with the sticker |
The eVISA is not a file you print. At check-in you show the visa issuance notice live on your phone; the Embassy says a PDF, photo, screenshot or printed copy “will not be accepted”. It covers arrival by air or by scheduled ferry from Busan or Shanghai, not by cruise ship. Our guide on how to apply for the Japan eVISA covers the route in full.
Japan visa types for Indian travellers
For a visit of up to 90 days, Indians use a short-term stay visa, issued as single entry or multiple entry, and the purpose of the trip decides the documents; paid work is not allowed on any of them. The JAPAN eVISA site states that “remunerated activities are not allowed” on a short-term visa. The types most Indian travellers meet:
Visa | What it allows | Entries, stay and validity | Issued as |
Tourist, single entry | Sightseeing and holidays | One entry within three months of issue; a stay of 15, 30 or 90 days | eVISA |
Tourist, multiple entry | Repeat short visits for tourism, business or visiting relatives, if you meet one of MOFA’s categories | Stays of up to 90 days at a time over five years | Sticker |
Business, short term | Meetings, conferences and business visits, without paid work | Single or multiple entry; multiple-entry validity of 1, 3, 5 or 10 years for qualifying business travellers | Sticker |
Visiting relatives or friends | Staying with family or friends who live in Japan | Single or multiple entry, up to 90 days a visit | Sticker |
Transit | Abolished on 2026-07-01 | No longer issued | None |
Japan’s multiple-entry visa for Indians allows stays of up to 90 days at a time over five years, if you meet one of MOFA’s eligibility categories. The mission can still issue a single-entry visa instead. The categories turn on recent trips to Japan or a G7 country and on financial capacity (MOFA, Application Procedures for Multiple Visa for Nationals of India, accessed 2026-09-17), so a first-time visitor with no such travel history usually applies for a single-entry visa. Our guide to the Japan tourist visa for Indians sets out each category and what single and multiple entry need.
Japan visa fees for Indians
An Indian national pays a visa fee of INR 500 for either a single-entry or a multiple-entry Japanese visa, plus the VFS service charge of INR 800: INR 1,300 per applicant (Embassy of Japan in India, Visa, accessed 2026-09-17). It is a fixed rupee fee set by the Japanese missions in India, not a converted yen figure. The Embassy’s own warning is worth keeping in mind: “All you have to pay for visa is the visa fee and the service charge mentioned on this page.” Our guide to Japan visa fees for Indians has the full breakdown, payment modes and refund rules. To see the fee next to flights, rail passes and daily spending, read Japan trip cost from India .
How to apply for a Japan visa from India
You apply at the Japan Visa Application Centre for the state you live in, pay both charges there, and collect the result from the same centre. The centre’s official site is visa.vfsglobal.com/ind/en/jpn/ , which describes VFS Global as the official partner of the Embassy of Japan in India (VFS Global, Japan, accessed 2026-09-17). In outline:
1. Find your centre. Where you live decides it; see the table in the next section.
2. Check your centre’s appointment rule. The Embassy says no appointment is needed, but Kolkata’s centre requires one, so read your centre’s page first.
3. Complete the visa application form and gather the documents on your centre’s checklist.
4. Submit and pay the INR 500 visa fee and INR 800 service charge at the centre. Payment modes differ by centre.
5. Track the application on the VFS website (see the status section below).
6. Collect your passport and the result. A paper visa is inside the passport, which you can collect or have couriered for INR 550; an eVISA comes as a visa issuance notice that opens the live eVISA on your phone at check-in.
Our guide on how to apply for the Japan eVISA covers each step in detail.
Which mission and centre handles your application
Where you live, not where your passport was issued, decides which Japanese mission handles your visa, and each mission takes applications through the VFS centres in its area. Jurisdiction as published by the official application centre (VFS Global, Japan visa information, accessed 2026-09-17):
Mission | States and union territories it covers |
Embassy of Japan, New Delhi | Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand (listed as Uttaranchal) and Uttar Pradesh |
Consulate-General of Japan, Mumbai | Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Daman, Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli |
Consulate-General of Japan, Kolkata | West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha |
Consulate-General of Japan, Chennai | Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Puducherry |
Consulate-General of Japan, Bengaluru | Karnataka |
VFS lists application centres in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Goa, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi, Puducherry and Pune; its Jaipur and Jalandhar centres were marked temporarily closed on 2026-09-17 (VFS Global, Attend a centre, accessed 2026-09-17).
· The missions do not take tourist applications at their own counters. The Consulate-General in Mumbai stopped accepting them directly after 2026-04-20 (Consulate-General of Japan in Mumbai, Visa, accessed 2026-09-17), and the Embassy takes direct applications only for diplomatic and official passports and humanitarian cases.
· A passport issued in another state is accepted with proof of residence. The Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata centres name documents such as a rent agreement, Aadhaar or an electricity bill.
· Ladakh is not named on the published list, so check with the centre before you apply.
Documents you need, in summary
MOFA’s list for a tourist visa is short: passport, application form, photo, flight itinerary, one proof that you can pay for the trip (an ITR or a bank statement) and a day-by-day plan in Japan; your VFS centre publishes a fuller checklist, and that is the one to follow (MOFA, Checklist for Single-Entry Short-Term Stay Visa, accessed 2026-09-17). Your centre’s checklist may ask for three to six months of bank statements and up to three years of ITRs. MOFA does not require you to buy tickets or pay for hotels before applying; a reservation and itinerary are enough, though the Mumbai centre’s checklist asks for confirmed bookings, so follow your centre’s list. Carry a passport valid for at least six months, as the Mumbai and Kolkata centres require. Travel insurance is on none of these lists. The centre-by-centre checklist, and the student route that replaces financial documents, are in our guide to the Japan tourist visa for Indians .
Photo, processing time and status
Use the photo size your own centre asks for, allow at least five working days for processing, and track the application on the VFS website.
Photo size
The Japanese visa form’s photo box is 45 mm high by 35 mm wide, but the Mumbai and Chennai centres ask for 2 × 2 inch photos, so use the size on your centre’s page. The sources agree on the rest: a colour photo taken within the last six months, on a plain white background, looking straight ahead. Our guide to Japan visa photo size compares each centre’s rules.
Processing time
Japan’s missions process a complete application in at least five working days, and it can take longer; apply two to three weeks ahead, and no earlier than about three months before you travel. MOFA says a case referred to Tokyo “may take more than a month” (MOFA, Visa Processing Time, accessed 2026-09-17). The Mumbai jurisdiction publishes 10 to 12 processing days, and the Embassy says times “can vary significantly” and cannot be expedited. Each centre’s published timeline is on our Japan visa processing time page.
Tracking and status
Track your Japan visa on VFS Global’s site using the reference number on your VFS receipt and your date of birth; the Embassy does not answer status queries. VFS emails you when the decision is back at the centre, and a passport number alone is not enough to look an application up (VFS Global, Track your application, accessed 2026-09-17). See our Japan visa status check guide. If you hold an eVISA, Visit Japan Web can pull in your visa details from its visa issue number; our explainer on the visa number covers what that number is and where to find it.
Transit through Japan
If you stay in the international transit area and your next flight leaves the same day, you do not pass immigration in Japan. If you need to leave the airport, change airports, or wait overnight at Narita, you go through immigration and may need a visa; ask the VFS centre which one. Japan abolished its separate transit visa on 2026-07-01, and the eVISA cannot be used for a layover (Embassy of Japan in India, Visa; Narita Airport, Connection between international flights, both accessed 2026-09-17). Our Japan transit visa page explains what applies now.
Visit Japan Web: the step after the visa
Visit Japan Web is optional. Japan’s immigration and customs agencies recommend it, and it replaces the paper arrival card and customs form with one QR code, but paper forms are still accepted. It is free, it is not a visa, and there is no fixed deadline: register before you fly. The service is run by Japan’s Digital Agency at www.vjw.digital.go.jp , with official information at services.digital.go.jp , and the Digital Agency says it never asks users to pay a fee (Digital Agency, Visit Japan Web, accessed 2026-09-17). What every arriving visitor must complete is the arrival card (the ED card) and a customs declaration, on paper or through Visit Japan Web (Immigration Services Agency, Foreigner Entry Record, accessed 2026-09-17). Our Visit Japan Web guide shows how to register and fill it in.
If your Japan visa is refused
Japan’s missions do not give a reason for a refusal, and they do not accept a new application for the same purpose within six months unless your circumstances have changed significantly or there are humanitarian grounds (MOFA, Visa FAQ, accessed 2026-09-17). The Embassy and the Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata consulates say they do not take enquiries about the reason for a refusal either. MOFA lists situations in which an application is not accepted in the first place:
· you are applying outside your country of birth or residence;
· you already hold a valid Japanese visa;
· you have an application pending at another Japanese mission;
· the form has errors or omissions;
· your passport does not have enough validity or blank visa pages.
On money, MOFA says: “If a visa is not issued, no visa fee will be charged.” VFS refunds the INR 500 visa fee only if the visa is not approved, but the INR 800 service charge and any courier charge are non-refundable. Before you reapply, read our guide to the common reasons for visa rejection , which covers the file problems that most often lead to a refusal.
Travel insurance for Japan: not required, but recommended
Travel insurance is not a requirement for a Japanese visa or for entry, but Japan’s Foreign Ministry calls it highly recommended, and its consulates in India advise cover with hospital referral and medical interpretation because medical costs in Japan are very high. MOFA’s visa page says: “It is highly recommended to purchase international travel medical insurance for your trip to Japan” (MOFA, VISA, accessed 2026-09-17). The Consulate-General in Chennai warns that “Medical expenses can be very high in Japan” (Consulate-General of Japan in Chennai, Recommendation on an Overseas Travel Insurance, accessed 2026-09-17). No insurance document is on the visa checklists, and a policy does not change a visa decision.
An unpaid hospital bill can now follow you to Japan’s border. Since 2021-05-10, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has collected information from hospitals on foreign visitors who leave medical bills above a set amount unpaid, and shared it with the Immigration Services Agency, which uses it for strict screening when that person next seeks to enter (MHLW, accessed 2026-09-17). For unpaid bills arising on or after 2026-04-01, the threshold fell from JPY 200,000 (about INR 1,23,400) to JPY 10,000 (about INR 6,170 at 1 JPY = INR 0.617 on 2026-09-17) (MHLW notice of 2026-02-04, accessed 2026-09-17). JNTO says foreigners with unpaid medical expenses “may be restricted or refused entry to Japan” (JNTO, Travel Insurance in Japan, accessed 2026-09-17).
Zurich Kotak’s Smart Travel plans cover Japan under the Asia geography, on two tiers: Excel, with sum insured up to USD 100,000, and Prime, up to USD 500,000. The Asia plans accept travellers up to age 70, and there is no Senior Citizen plan on this geography; travellers aged 71 or over can read about travel insurance for senior citizens . Emergency medical treatment is the core of the cover, with baggage, trip delay, trip cancellation, passport loss and medical evacuation covered up to plan limits. In Japan, expect to pay the hospital and claim the cost back: keep every medical report, bill and receipt, and send your documents within 30 days. Claims are handled by Europ Assistance India and settled within 15 days of complete documents; our travel insurance claim page has the process. Compare cover on travel insurance for Japan once your visa and dates are settled.
FAQs
Q: Do Indians need a visa for Japan? A: Yes. Japan has no visa on arrival and no visa exemption for Indian passport holders, so the visa must be issued before you fly, through the Japan Visa Application Centre (VFS Global) for your state. Holding a US, UK or Schengen visa does not change this.
Q: How much is the Japan visa fee for Indians? A: INR 1,300 per applicant: a visa fee of INR 500 for a single-entry or multiple-entry visa, plus the VFS service charge of INR 800. The INR 500 is a fixed rupee fee set by the Japanese missions in India, not a converted yen figure.
Q: Can Indians apply for the Japan eVISA online? A: No. Indian residents cannot apply on the JAPAN eVISA website themselves. You submit your application at the Japan Visa Application Centre (VFS Global) for your state, and a single-entry tourist visa is then issued electronically. Multiple-entry visas, and visas for business or visiting relatives, are still issued as a sticker in your passport.
Q: How long does a Japan visa take for Indians? A: At least five working days after the mission receives a complete application, and often longer; the Mumbai jurisdiction publishes 10 to 12 processing days depending on the centre. Apply two to three weeks ahead, and no earlier than about three months before you travel. There is no express service.
Q: Can an Indian get a multiple-entry Japan visa? A: Yes, if you meet one of MOFA’s eligibility categories, such as two or more short trips to Japan in the last three years, trips to Japan and a G7 country, or sufficient financial capacity. It allows stays of up to 90 days at a time over five years and is always issued as a sticker, and the mission can still issue a single-entry visa instead.
Q: Is travel insurance mandatory for a Japan visa? A: No. Travel insurance is not a requirement for a Japanese visa or for entry, but Japan’s Foreign Ministry calls it highly recommended. Since 2026-04-01, an unpaid hospital bill of JPY 10,000 (about INR 6,170) or more can be reported to Japan’s immigration agency and lead to strict screening on your next visit.
