How to Renew your Visa in Tokyo, Japan

An experience that most foreigners living in Japan have to go through and most likely hate is the process of renewing their visas. It takes time, there is paperwork to fill out, and it is definitely anxiety-inducing.

To help you with this, here is a handy guide on renewing your visa focusing on your visit to the Shinagawa branch of the immigration offices in Tokyo. I have found some Japanese guides but could not find a good English one, so hopefully, this will help make your experience smoother (and less frustrating).

1. Filling out the forms

To renew your visa, you could technically pick up the forms at the immigration office, but to save time and make your trip as smooth as possible, download the form from the website below, print it out at a nearby convenience store (if you do not have a printer), and fill it out beforehand. Make sure you print out the right form for the type of visa you are getting.

List of forms on the Immigration Services Agency of Japan website (Japanese):
http://www.moj.go.jp/isa/applications/procedures/16-3-1.html

With your form filled, I would also recommend you get your photo taken early at an automated photo booth, available outside many drugstores, supermarkets, bookstores and convenience stores in Japan. The shoot should cost you around 800yen.

There are also photo booths at the Lawson near the Shinagawa immigration office and even at the Family Mart inside the office. Those are good backup options as well.

Also, remember to bring your passport, resident card, copies of the tax document you get from your employer (they will keep whatever you bring them, so make photocopies, which you can do at the Family Mart inside the office), plus whatever other document you might need from your employer.

2. Getting there

The easiest way to reach the immigration would either be taking a train to get to Shinagawa Station and then taking a bus from there, which the bus stop is on the East side of the station and is not difficult to spot (it will be the most multicultural bus you have ever seen in Japan).

Another option is to get to Tennozu Isle and walk for about 15 mins. You can see the location of the office on the map below.

https://goo.gl/maps/bMUNCn4WWRmZddhJ6


3. When should you arrive?

If you want to get it over with quickly, then you would want to go there early.

The bad news is that the immigration office is only opened between 9 am to 4 pm, and they are not opened on weekends. You might need to take a day off just to make this trip if you are applying for it yourself. The worst news is that if you want to get in at 9 am, you will probably have to line up from 8 am because everyone has the same idea.

However, the good news is that to prevent the virus from spreading, they have been handing out timed tickets from around 8:15 am. The ticket will give you a time to return to the line, and they then let batches of people in every 15 minutes.

For example, if your ticket says “come back to Line A at 10:00 am”, you can go back to line up from 9:45 am.

From my experience and observation, prepare to wait for 45 mins to 1 hour before you are let in. There is, unfortunately, nothing fun to see around, but there are chairs set up at the waiting area so you can sit and chill with entertainment in your hands.


4. Entering the building

Once you are in, head straight to the second floor, and you will see signs directing people to the correct counters. Photography is not allowed, so you probably will not find photos online on where to go, but there will be an officer you could ask for help as well.

Have all your documents and ID in hand. With many people working at each stage of the counter, the lines do move fast.

The first line will be for them to check that you have all the documents, then they will give you a number and tell you where to go next.

From that point, it is just sitting around until your number is called (time really varies, but it was about 30 mins on my most recent visit), you give them your documents, fill out your address on a postcard for your notification, get your passport and resident card back (now stamped to show that you are in the process of renewing) as well as a receipt, then you go home and wait for 2 to 4 weeks.

Sidenote 1: They are doing bag checks at the entrance of the building, so get ready to open your backpacks and bags to show them you did not bring anything dangerous.

Sidenote 2: If you ever need to leave the building for whatever reason, ask an officer at the counter and they will write a slip of paper that will allow you to reenter the building again. Otherwise, you might not be allowed in and have to line up all over again.

5. Picking up your visa

When you receive the notification card in the mail, it means your visa is ready for pick up.

You will need to bring the notification card you just got in the mail, the receipt from the previous visit (easy to forget about this one), your passport, resident card, and a revenue stamp (収入印紙). You can purchase the stamp at your local post office or convenience store. However, given how small this stamp is and it is not cheap (usually 4000 yen for most people), you can wait and buy it at the Family Mart inside the office instead. They even have a lane there just for selling revenue stamps.

Go through lining up just like before. Get inside, get to a counter, receive a number, wait (90 minutes for me this time because I got there at 9:30 am), and finally get your new resident card!

The process is nothing difficult, but it definitely does take time and test your patience a bit. Hopefully, now that you have this guide to help you, your process will be smooth and quick(er). Good luck!