Consulate General of Japan in New York — Local services in New York

I am here to share my experience about getting a single entry visa for Japan from New York consulate. Background about me: I have an expired F-1 visa with a valid i-20. Indian passport. I am planning to move back to India. So, I planned to visit Japan and then go to India. Visa: I wanted to get a 5-year multiple-entry visa. I prepared all the documents. Application form from the official website Passport picture (Japan visa requires a passport picture of a specific size. You can get this at the DOI Camera store near the Japan consulate. It costs $19 for 2 high-quality pictures. I highly recommend the DOI Camera for Japan or any country passport picture) Itinerary for the entire stay Hotel bookings, flight tickets from US to Japan to India, Bank statement Valid ID from NJ Passport valid i-20 I booked the appointment 1 month prior.

Day of appointment: Went 30 minutes late because of the traffic in NYC. Checked in at the front desk and went to the consulate. As soon as you enter, there is a security check, and then I had to take a blue ticket with a number for waiting. Once my number came (just a few minutes of waiting time), I told the officer I was applying for multiple entries. She gave me a form to fill out that asked why I wanted multiple entries and about my future visits. I gave the form and all the other documents. The officer glued my photo to the application form herself. She saw I had an expired US F-1 visa and mentioned that she could only give single entries and not multiple entries. If you have a valid US visa, you can get multiple entries. There was no other option. But I was okay with that since it is their procedure. Once all the documents were verified, I was given a paper to bring back to collect the passport after just 5 days. Visa fees were $6 for Indian nationals (both single and multiple). Visa fees should be paid only in cash when collecting a passport. I went after 5 days and collected my passport without any issues. Visa was given only for 3 months from the date around my...

One star because none is not possible. I have had to deal with a Japanese consulates for visas (Student, Spouse) for about 30 years in at least 5 different countries. This consulate is the worst. And by far. They are just inhuman. I will just give 2 concrete examples.

Last year when my father in law passed away, I called to ask for a visa under exceptional circumstances (necessary because of Covid). The lady replied that this would not warrant a visa because (1) I would have to quarantine 10 days and thus "would miss the funeral" and (2) "This is not your own father". How about visiting your mother in law and be next to my wife !?!? Is that not obvious?

Last month, I wanted to apply to an emergency visa to visit my mother in law before her cancer operation. She wanted to have all of her children, their spouses and the grand children for a weekend before she went in the hospital. At 84, this is not a trivial operation and she is afraid her health will no longer permit such gathering ever again. When I called the consulate for an exceptional visa (again covid), I was met on the phone by the most condescending, rude, horrible "person" who went to give me an appointment after the date I needed to be in Japan despite clearly understanding that I needed a visa before the operation date. After I insisted, she agreed to give me an appointment for a date which would still not have worked since there would be a 5-7 days wait after submitting the paperwork and this appointment was PROVIDED I give her a doctor's note outlining the health of my mother in law. How can you be such a mean person ?

I ended up flying across the world to another consulate to get my visa in time.

Foreign spouses of Japanese nationals are humans and they need to be treated as such. They deeply care about their Japanese family members and need the understanding of the Japanese consulates the world over. Officials of this consulate are not human. Ambassador Mori, please fix...

The worst visa application experience by far. The website is extremely outdated and unclear, not user friendly. Everything looks excessively meticulous yet it is an illusion of rules that simply don’t work. In the end, every single person I interacted with misguided me instead of giving clear instructions and help. But the worst is that they make you buy tickets even if the visa is not guaranteed. They call it “flight reservation,” something that no longer exists in 21st century. I tried applying 3 times and trust me, every time I returned, after their corrections, still something new was wrong. I mentioned that I know someone there and I am considering meeting them for dinner, so the consulate canceled my application right after that and told me to reapply for a friend / family visitor visa instead. And after that person was no longer able to meet me, all the efforts were wasted and no cooperation from the consulate. And now, even after I reapplied again for e-visa, almost a month before my departure, they told me that there are hundreds of people ahead of me and this is why I won’t receive my visa in time. Considering that the first time I went to apply for visa was in person, a little more than two months before my trip, they refused taking my application because it was way to early to apply. They told me to apply online instead again two or less months before my trip. Which I did but now they are too busy to process it in time. This is just so so ridiculous!!!

I am supposed to fly in a week and my visa is not ready. All the efforts, time, energy, and money!! are wasted. I wish I received an apology for all the misguidance and work they made me do for nothing and now I will loose my tickets that are 1200$ simply due to their lack of professionalism. Deeply frustrated and disappointed with the service of Japanese consulate....