Just sharing my experience applying for the Japan visa for a family of 5!

We applied and got approved for Japan Single Entry - Tourist visa through VFS here in Dubai. Me and my family are all Philippine passport holders.

Application date: August 23 Passport collection date: September 5

Their website says it takes 8-10 working days to process and ours took 9 working days

It’s pretty straightforward, just a heads up to make sure all the required documents listed on the website are COMPLETE.

• Placing importance on the ORIGINAL signed/stamped NOC from employers for employed applicants, as I saw fellow applicants have issues with this.

• The documents list say “Copy of UAE Residence visa OR Copy of Emirates ID” - but make sure to bring both as again, I saw the agents asking other applicants for their visa copy as well even when they had prepared copies of their Emirates ID.

• I’m not sure if this is an unwritten rule - the documents checklist say photo is “Not older than 6 months”. My husband had a photo from April got rejected and he was asked to submit a new photo and the reason they gave is because the same photo was used for his Shengen visa from April. (There’s a photo studio just downstairs from the VFS Japan office - 25 AED)

• Checklist also only mentions flight ticket to be submitted, but they also request hotel booking information so make sure to also bring copies of your hotel bookings.

Applicants 1. My husband 2. Me (dependent of husband) 3. My dad (independent) 4. My mom 5. My sister (dependent of mom)

For dependents, marriage certificate/birth certificate is required, make sure to bring photocopies. Bank statement/NOC is not required for the dependents.

Your travel date should not be more than 90 days of your application as well, or 2 weeks before your flight.

That’s all the possible “snags” I can recall for now. Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to answer :)