Entering Japan with a tourist visa is relatively easy, the visa comes out in a few days, there is no interview, and you only pay after confirming all the documents. They don't usually give entry to deny the visa. But unfortunately not everything is flowers! TT
Brazil is one of the few countries that requires a visa to enter Japan. Our neighboring countries like Peru and Chile are able to enter Japan without a visa for up to 90 days. And unfortunately this makes me very upset, as I always wanted to stay in Japan for at least two months.
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My Japan Visa Story
The first time I tried to go to Japan was in 2016, when I went to the Japanese embassy in Brasilia I learned that my income was not enough to spend more than a month in the country, but after some failed attempts, I decided to stay only 1 month with 20 day itinerary.
The second time I went to Japan was in 2018, my goal was also to get the 90-day visa and spend as much time in the country as possible, but unfortunately my income was still not enough. It seems that they always got involved with my income tax, which has many exempt earnings for moving my earnings into a CNPJ account.
In my personal experience, not even 40,000 in the account can afford a trip longer than 30 days to Japan. Even if I do a 40-day itinerary, they want enough to spend 3 months, which is unfair, Japan has already issued 60-day visas in some places.
Extending my visa in Japan
It wasn't intentional at all, but I managed to spend more than 30 days in Japan after missing my return flight. It was easy to extend the visa for another 15 days in Japan, with almost no documents required.
I personally get very frustrated, because I work with Japanese culture, I take more than 1,000,000 people every month to get to know Japanese culture, but I still can't spend more than a month in Japan.
The requirements for issuing a visa of more than 30 days is too high, an unnecessary requirement that needed to be reassessed. No human being will travel to another country starving, so we don't understand Japan's concern to prove enough income to spend the amount of days.
We recommend reading: Is it possible to extend my stay in Japan?
2023 trip to Japan
In early 2023, my wife and I went to the embassy to try to issue a visa for April 3 months. We had about 42,000 reais in the bank account, I showed proof that my monthly income was close to 15,000 reais, and even then they said that my income was low and they only wanted to provide us with a 15-day visa.
I thought it was completely absurd, since I've already been to Japan twice with a 30-day visa. So I decided to postpone my trip until September, but it's hard to save money while spending in Brazil, the cost of living here is higher than in Japan. TT
My goal is to gather and present around 100,000 reais in September to issue a 90-day visa for my wife and I. And even then, I'm afraid I'm not enough. It sucks as my salary of 15,000 is more than enough to survive in Japan every month.
The article is still halfway through, but we recommend also reading:
Looking for alternatives to the 3-month visa
The tourist visa seems to be the easiest, but requires robust and clear proof of income. I looked among several agencies and friends for an alternative to stay more than a month in Japan.
I thought about things like partnering with companies in Japan using my website, in order to get a work visa and visit companies in Japan, but it doesn't seem to be that simple.
Despite having friends in Japan, obtaining an invitation and documents seems to be quite complicated, my friends usually do not respond and I do not usually ask for so much. It also seems to be more complicated... But I have not given up yet!
Another option would be to take a Japanese course, but that would take up a lot of my time and cost a lot for two people. Unfortunately it's not like in 2016 and 2018, now I need to present twice as much as I needed to present in the past.
Fears and Dangers when issuing a visa
Despite the Japanese embassy and consulates not accepting documentation to deny visas, that fear still strikes, especially after learning from some people that if the visa is denied, it is necessary to wait 6 months for a new issue.
The online visa, which seems to be advantageous, ended up causing me more fear, since they will not notify me that the documents will be insufficient for visa approval.
Every time I issued the visa, I took proof and annual MEI statement, several bank statements and prints of my earnings from Hotmart, Paypal and Payonner. They seem to simply ignore most of these documents that support my income, focusing only on what's lacking.
And now? What to do?
I am afraid of not being able to collect enough income until September and present everything correctly at the embassy to carry out the dreamed trip of 2 or 3 months.
It's absurd, the two times I went to Japan, it was with little money, I went to more cities and tourist attractions than the vast majority of Japanese people, and most of my expenses in Japan were buying Apple products.
It is very cheap to travel to Japan, the costs are low, much lower than Europe or the USA, the idea that things in Japan are expensive is a huge illusion. The cost of living in Brazil is much more expensive!
This article was kind of a rant, it's really frustrating not earning enough to go wherever you want. It's really boring to dedicate more than 10 years of my life to a country that doesn't care if I travel there or not.
Hope to find some solution! And if you are going through a similar situation, you can contact us so we can discuss the matter at my whatsapp.
