How to renew your Australian passport by mail in Japan

Time flies, doesn’t it? I recently realized that my passport was up for renewal again, which means an entire decade has gone by in a blink. The last time my renewal was processed I was living in Tokyo, which meant it was easy to pop into the Australian Embassy in Azabujuban to hand over the forms, photos, and so forth. Living in Niigata now, though, I wanted to avoid a trip to Tokyo for bureaucratic stuff unless it was absolutely necessary.

Thankfully, the Australian Embassy allows you to renew your passport by mail, provided that you meet the following criteria:

• You won’t be changing any information from your existing passport (e.g. your name still needs to be the same as what it is on your existing document)
  
• Your existing passport still needs to be in your possession (you’re not replacing a lost/stolen passport).

What you will need:

• The Australian Passport Renewal Application form. This was quick and easy to fill in, and requires you to include your existing passport number and expiry date, some basic personal info (email, phone number, country and city of birth, DOB, etc), plus listing an emergency contact. To obtain the form you have to create an account online here.
  
• Two passport photos, one with your full name written on the back. There are some strict requirements about the photos they'll accept, but the embassy has a document in Japanese which you can provide to any photo studio here which outlines the regulations. 
• A photocopy of your existing passport’s photo page (you can keep your original passport with you)
• A photocopy of a piece of photo ID confirming your address such as a residence card or driver’s license. Don't send the physical card itself!
• A credit card payment authorisation form 

As I’m based in Niigata, my application needed to go to the Tokyo-based embassy – the mailing address for them is:

Australian Embassy Tokyo

Consular Section

2-1-14 Mita, Minato-ku

Tokyo 108-8361

Please note though that not all applications go here. There’s also an office in Osaka, and the two offices split their responsibilities depending on the prefecture you reside in. The Tokyo jurisdictions can be found here, and the Osaka jurisdictions can be found here. Ensure you check which list your prefecture falls on, just so you don’t send it to the wrong place and then have to wait longer.

The embassy says that the processing time is around 6 weeks after receiving your renewal application, but it can be up to 9 weeks – so make sure you’re leaving enough time to get one if you have impending travel scheduled.

I hope this helps if you’re an Australian living in Japan who needs to renew an existing passport!