Japan Temporary Visitor (90-day rule)

Key parameters
Limit	90 days
Period / Window	Per visit
Counting	Any part of a day
Alternative	15, 30 days
Additional requirements	No paid work, passport type

This applies to nationals of the countries and regions Japan has reciprocal visa exemption arrangements with. What you are granted on landing is the Temporary Visitor status: a genuine short stay — tourism, visiting family or friends, meetings and similar business visits — and no work for payment, whoever pays it.

Several arrangements carry passport conditions, and they are the usual reason a traveler who thought they were exempt is turned away:

• Registration in advance — nationals of Indonesia and Qatar are exempt only if their ePassport, compliant with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, has been registered with a Japanese diplomatic mission. The registration lasts 3 years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first.
• ePassport required — nationals of Brazil, Malaysia, Montenegro, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Serbia, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.
• Machine-readable passport required — nationals of Barbados, Lesotho and Türkiye.
• Document-specific arrangements — Taiwan covers passports carrying a personal identification number, and Hong Kong and Macao cover specific Special Administrative Region (SAR) and British National Overseas passports.

The exemption removes the visa requirement, not the immigration check. An inspector still has to be satisfied that what you are coming to do is a short-term stay.

• Income-earning activity is outside the exemption entirely. The waiver is for a stay of 90 days or less where you will not be engaged in earning income, so paid work in Japan needs a different status, however short the job.
• The 6-month arrangements still start at 90 days. Nationals of the countries whose arrangements allow up to 6 months are admitted first, then extend inside Japan, so the longer period is never automatic on arrival.
• Registration-based exemptions expire. For the arrangements that require prior registration of an ePassport, the registration runs 3 years or until the passport expires, and a renewed passport means registering again.
• Being deported carries a long bar on returning. Someone removed from Japan is barred from landing for 5 years, or 10 years if they have been removed or left under a departure order before.

Overstaying makes you removable, and the bar on coming back is measured in years rather than months. It runs 5 years from the date of removal, or 10 years for anyone previously removed or previously departed under a departure order. Leaving under a departure order carries 1 year. Overstaying is also a criminal offense, punishable by imprisonment, a fine, or both. Professional advice is strongly recommended in situations like this.

A holiday inside the stamp

You fly into Narita on a passport from a 90-day country, are stamped in for 90 days, and travel for 5 weeks. Nothing further is needed, and the exemption covers the whole trip.

The 6-month arrangement, used properly

Your nationality is on one of the arrangements allowing up to 6 months. You are admitted for 90 days, then apply to the Regional Immigration Bureau before that period runs out to extend the stay rather than leaving and re-entering.

A short paid job that the exemption doesn't cover

You are offered 2 weeks of paid work in Tokyo during a 3-week visit. The stay is inside the exemption, the work is not, because the waiver covers only stays where you are not engaged in earning income.

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan — Exemption of visa (short-term stay)
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan — Visa frequently asked questions
• Immigration Services Agency of Japan — Deportation, departure order and landing denial periods