Japan Visa from the UK 2026: Who Needs One, How to Apply

TL;DR

If you live in the UK on a passport Japan does not exempt, a short visit needs a temporary visitor visa, lodged in person at the Embassy of Japan in London or the Consulate-General in Edinburgh. Most applications take 5 working days once accepted. The fee is £77, £4 for Indian nationals, nothing for Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Filipino nationals, charged only if the visa is issued. Our £99 prepares the file and books the appointment; the visa section decides.

Who needs a Japan visa from the UK

The Embassy of Japan in the UK puts it in one line: the visa exemption "applies based on your passport, NOT on your UK residence status". The passport you will travel on decides.

Japan has visa-exemption arrangements with 74 countries and regions. British citizens on an ordinary passport can visit for up to 6 months without a visa. Nationals of every EU state, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macao SAR passports, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Israel, the UAE, Turkiye, Malaysia, Thailand and the rest of the exemption list get 90 days (15 days for Thailand and Indonesia, 30 for Brunei and Qatar). Some of those exemptions only cover ePassport holders, so a Malaysian or Brazilian national on an older passport should check the list before relying on it.

Everyone else needs a visa before they fly. For UK residents that means, above all, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Nigerian, Ghanaian, Kenyan, Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese, Nepalese, Egyptian and South African nationals. If your passport is exempt, stop here: there is nothing to buy from us or anyone else.

One catch for people with British documents: the embassy says British Overseas Citizen, British Subject and British Overseas Territories Citizen passports, and Convention Travel Documents, are not covered by the exemption. Holders must contact the embassy before travelling. We do not take those orders.

What the temporary visitor visa covers

The embassy's Temporary Visitor Visa page lists the purposes: tourism, visiting relatives or friends, recreation, attending a conference, unpaid lectures and meetings, amateur sports contests, and short business trips such as market surveys, business talks and after-sales service. It "excludes profit-making operations and paid activities". The embassy grants 90, 30 or 15 days "determined by assessment based on the information provided by the applicant".

A single-entry visa is valid for three months from issue. You must enter Japan inside that window, and it cannot be extended. Multiple-entry visas run from one to five years and go to frequent travellers, usually for business or cultural activity, "subject to certain conditions", and the embassy may issue a single-entry visa instead.

Work, working holidays, stays over 90 days and course study are different categories with their own process. We do not sell any of them.

Where UK residents apply: London or Edinburgh

There is no visa application centre for Japan in the UK. The embassy's General Information page says to "submit all the required documents for your visa category at the Consular Section in person", by appointment booked in advance. There is no centre fee because there is no centre.

Which office depends on where you live. The Consulate-General of Japan in Edinburgh covers Scotland and these council areas in the north east of England: County Durham, Cumbria, Darlington, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, Redcar and Cleveland, South Tyneside, Stockton-on-Tees and Sunderland. The embassy in London covers the rest of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Edinburgh says it "will in principle not accept visa applications from residents of the Embassy's jurisdiction", and London sends residents of the Edinburgh area to the Edinburgh booking site. Booking and collection are in our guide to the Japan visa appointment in London and Edinburgh.

Both offices turn away people who are only visiting the UK: "Applications from non-residents in the UK (e.g. visitor visa holders) cannot be accepted." The embassy's FAQ says it takes applications from people "residing in the UK with a legitimate long term immigration status such as company employees, students or permanent residents".

The fee, and who pays nothing

The embassy's fee page, updated for 1 July 2026, is short. A single-entry visa is £77 and a multiple-entry visa £154. Indian nationals pay £4 for either. A long list of nationalities pays nothing for a temporary visitor visa, and for UK residents the ones that matter are Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines. Sri Lankan, Nigerian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Ghanaian, Kenyan, Nepalese and South African nationals pay the £77.

The fee is "only charged when a visa is issued", so a refusal costs nothing, and it is paid to the embassy or consulate when you collect, never to anyone else. Edinburgh takes cash only. Whatever your nationality, you pay the official fee yourself; it never passes through us.

Documents the embassy asks for

The embassy publishes a one-page checklist for each purpose. For tourism it wants: a valid passport with at least two blank pages; the visa application form, signed in ink because "digital signatures will not be accepted"; one 35 x 45 mm photo taken in the last six months on a plain background, stuck to the form with a glue stick; proof of your UK status, either the "Your immigration status" page from gov.uk with your share code or the entry clearance or indefinite leave in your passport; a letter from your employer or college issued in the last three months; a Schedule of Stay covering every day of the trip on the embassy's form; bank statements for the last three months ("Credit card statements are not acceptable"); and flight and hotel bookings if you have them.

Visiting a friend or relative adds an invitation letter from them and proof of their status in Japan. A business trip adds an invitation from the company or organiser and evidence of the activity. The full list, with the mistakes we see most, is in Japan visa documents for UK residents. Two rules catch people out: the embassy will not accept an application "more than 3 months before the date of arrival in Japan", and it keeps everything you hand in except the passport.

How long it takes

Both offices say the same thing: "Once a visa application submitted in person has been accepted as valid, in most cases it will take 5 working days." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs counts from the day after acceptance, and warns that a file referred to Tokyo "may take more than a month". If the visa section wants more documents or an interview, the clock stops until it has them. Edinburgh adds that it "cannot accept requests for fast processing time". So the real timeline is the wait for an appointment, then 5 working days, then collection. Book flights after the visa, not before.

The eVisa, for tourism only

Since 2026 the JAPAN eVISA has been open to every non-exempt nationality living in the UK, for a single-entry tourist visit of under 90 days, paid online by the applicant's own card. It takes about 2 weeks on average, against 5 working days in person, and it cannot be used for visiting friends or relatives, business, conferences, study, transit or multiple entry. There is no sticker: you show a "visa issuance notice" on your phone at check-in. We use the in-person route by default and offer the eVisa route on tourism-only trips at the plan step.

If you are refused

The embassy's FAQ answers "Why did you reject my visa application?" with a refusal to say: it does not give specific reasons. No fee is charged. The Ministry's FAQ adds the rule that matters: a new application for the same purpose within six months of a refusal is not accepted unless your circumstances "have changed significantly".

Doing it yourself, or with us

You can do all of this yourself. The embassy publishes the checklist and the form, the appointment is free to book, and applying yourself costs only the official fee: £77 for most nationalities, £4 for Indian nationals, nothing for Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Filipino nationals. Gather your scans with the Bundler and shrink them with the Compressor if you go that way.

Our prepared-for-you Japan visa service is for people who would rather not. For a £99 service fee, plus £69 for each extra traveller on the same trip up to five, we complete the form for you to sign, write the Schedule of Stay, build the pack to the embassy's checklist for your purpose, and book your London or Edinburgh appointment in your own name. Your file is ready within 24 hours of your complete documents, and the appointment is booked within 3 working days subject to availability, or your service fee back. You attend, you pay the official fee, and the visa section decides. Cancel before we start work and you get a full refund. WayaNerd Ltd, company 16269713.