Japan Visa for Pakistani Nationals in the UK: No Visa Fee

TL;DR

Pakistani passport holders living in the UK need a temporary visitor visa for Japan, applied for in person at the embassy in London or the consulate in Edinburgh. The embassy charges Pakistani nationals no visa fee, and there is no visa centre, so applying yourself costs nothing but your time. Most applications take 5 working days once accepted. The standard checklist applies. Our £99 prepares the file and books the appointment; the visa section decides.

You need a visa; the fee is nil

Pakistan is not one of the 74 countries and regions Japan exempts from a short-stay visa, and the Embassy of Japan in the UK says the exemption "applies based on your passport, NOT on your UK residence status". So a Pakistani national with a UK Skilled Worker, student, spouse or dependant visa, or with settled status or indefinite leave, needs a temporary visitor visa before any trip to Japan: a holiday, a visit to family, a conference or a short business trip, up to 90 days.

The good news is on the embassy's fee page, updated for 1 July 2026. Pakistan is on the "Free of Charge" list, with no asterisk, which means a temporary visitor visa for a Pakistani national costs nothing at the embassy. The Edinburgh consulate's page says the same. Most other nationalities pay £77 for single entry and £154 for multiple entry. And because there is no visa application centre for Japan in the UK, there is no centre fee either. If you apply yourself, the whole thing is free.

The general picture of the visa, the offices and the timeline is in Japan visa from the UK. This page sticks to what a Pakistani passport holder living here needs to know.

You must be a UK resident, not a visitor

The embassy and the consulate both say "Applications from non-residents in the UK (e.g. visitor visa holders) cannot be accepted." The embassy's FAQ explains that it takes applications from people "residing in the UK with a legitimate long term immigration status such as company employees, students or permanent residents". A parent visiting you from Lahore on a UK visit visa cannot apply for Japan from London; they apply through the Japanese embassy in Pakistan, where the rules and the documents differ. The gov.uk "Your immigration status" page with a share code, or the entry clearance or indefinite leave vignette in the passport, is what proves residence on the day.

London or Edinburgh, by postcode

Where you live decides the office, not where is convenient. 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 everywhere else in England, plus Wales and Northern Ireland. Bradford, Birmingham, Manchester, Luton and Glasgow, where many Pakistani families live, split as you would expect: the first four to London, Glasgow to Edinburgh. Edinburgh says it "will in principle not accept" residents of the embassy's area. Booking, attending and collecting are covered in our London and Edinburgh appointment guide.

The checklist, with nothing added for Pakistan

The embassy publishes no Pakistan-specific requirement beyond the fee waiver. The tourism checklist asks for: a valid passport with at least two blank pages; the visa application form, every field completed, signed in ink; 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; a letter from your employer or academic institution issued within the last three months; a Schedule of Stay covering each day on the embassy's form; bank statements for the last three months, with "Credit card statements are not acceptable" in the embassy's own words; and flight and hotel bookings if made.

Visiting a friend or relative in Japan adds, from the visiting friends checklist, an invitation letter from them and proof of their status in Japan: a copy of both sides of their residence card, or a certificate of residence if they are Japanese. A business trip adds an invitation from the company or organiser and evidence of the activity. Every item is explained, with our desk notes, in Japan visa documents for UK residents.

Three desk notes we repeat on every Pakistani file. The name on the employer letter and bank statements must match the passport exactly, including the father's name convention where your passport carries it, because the embassy says details on certificates "must match your passport". Statements must run for three continuous months in your own name; a large deposit the week before the appointment raises more questions than it answers. And the Schedule of Stay must cover every day, including the days you plan to do nothing in particular.

How long it takes, and the three-month rule

The embassy and the consulate both say that "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 says that a file sent to Tokyo for further examination "may take more than a month". A request for extra documents, or for an interview, stops the clock until you answer. Edinburgh adds that it "cannot accept requests for fast processing time".

On the other side, the embassy cannot accept an application "more than 3 months before the date of arrival in Japan", and a single-entry visa must be used within three months of issue. Plan for the appointment wait, then 5 working days, then collection, and keep flights refundable until the passport is back. Eid travel and school holidays make the embassy's calendar no longer and no shorter.

Single or multiple entry

The embassy issues multiple-entry visas, valid from one to five years, to "frequent travellers who intend to visit Japan for multiple short-term stays for purposes such as business activities and cultural activities, subject to certain conditions", and says to contact the visa section about them. Unlike India, Pakistan has no published multiple-entry scheme of its own at the UK embassy. Most first-time visitors from the UK apply for and receive a single-entry visa, and the embassy can issue a single-entry visa even where multiple entry was requested. A multiple-entry visa for a fee-exempt nationality also costs nothing.

The eVisa for a pure holiday

The JAPAN eVISA is open to "all foreign nationals/people residing in" the United Kingdom who are not visa-exempt, so a Pakistani national here can use it for a single-entry tourist trip of under 90 days. The embassy's eVisa notice shows that fee-exempt nationalities pay nothing online, and that the visa is issued automatically after approval. It takes about 2 weeks on average, the applicant may be called in for an interview, and it cannot be used to visit relatives or friends, for business or study, or for multiple entry. The visa is shown on your phone at check-in; a printout or screenshot is not accepted. We offer the eVisa route at the plan step when the trip is tourism only.

Refusals

The embassy does not give reasons and charges no fee on a refusal. The Ministry's FAQ says it will not accept a new application for the same purpose within six months unless circumstances "have changed significantly", so the first file is the one to get right. If Japan or anywhere else has refused you a visa, tell us before you order; it changes what goes in the pack.

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 for a Pakistani national applying yourself costs nothing at all: no visa fee and no centre fee. The Bundler gathers your scans into one file and the Compressor sizes the bank PDFs.

Our prepared-for-you Japan visa service is for people who want the form, the Schedule of Stay and the pack done properly and the appointment booked in their own name, for a £99 service fee plus £69 for each extra traveller on the same trip, up to five. Your file is ready within 24 hours of your complete documents and the appointment booked within 3 working days subject to availability, or your service fee back. You attend, and the visa section decides. Full refund if you cancel before we start work. WayaNerd Ltd, company 16269713. Start at the plan step.