Visit Japan Web: The mistakes travelers make, and how iVisa can help

Visit Japan Web is Japan’s official, free online service for submitting immigration and customs information before you arrive. It’s optional, and paper forms are still accepted.

It’s manageable if you’re comfortable with online forms, but some details are easy to miss, especially when registering family members or entering your intended length of stay. Travelers have arrived in Japan thinking everything was complete, only to discover they were missing a QR code or needed to correct information.

Here are the most common Visit Japan Web mistakes, how to avoid them, and where iVisa can make the process easier.

Mistake 1: Assuming one QR code covers your whole family

Visit Japan Web lets you add accompanying family members to your account. That can make it seem like adding your spouse, child, or another family member means they’re covered by your registration.

They aren’t automatically covered.

Japan’s Immigration Services Agency says accompanying family members have to have their information entered individually, with a QR code prepared for each person. So while one account can include several travelers, each person still needs their own QR code.

And travelers do get caught out by this.

One traveler who completed Visit Japan Web before arriving at Narita described what happened, saying they hadn’t realized that adding a family member wasn’t enough:

“I completed it in advance before our trip but didn’t realize you still had to do a separate declaration (and generate a separate QR code) after adding each person in your family.”

They had added their elderly father as an accompanying family member. The traveler passed through without a problem, but their father didn’t have his own completed QR code and had to fill out a paper form instead. An airport worker helped him, since the traveler had already gone through and wasn’t allowed to go back.

Another traveler had a similar experience at Kansai Airport. They set up their trip, added family members, completed the declarations, got a QR code, and thought they were done:

“I screen-shot it and thought I was all ready.”

It was only at the airport that they realized each traveler needed their own QR code. Their advice afterward was simple:

“Create 1 QR code per person before you start your trip.”

Both accounts line up with the government’s own guidance: you can manage accompanying family members through Visit Japan Web, but each traveler still needs their information completed and their own QR code.

How to avoid this: Don’t stop once you see everyone’s name on your account. Open each traveler’s details individually, complete their arrival information, and make sure each person has their own QR code.

iVisa’s solution: Apply for your group together with our Japan Arrival Card. You can include your whole group, including minors, in one application, so the person organizing the trip gives us everyone’s details together instead of managing each traveler’s arrival process separately.

Mistake 2: Entering your visa validity instead of your actual length of stay

This is one the Japanese government specifically warns about. Japan’s Immigration Services Agency identifies incorrect length-of-stay entries as a frequent mistake.

The tricky part is the difference between how long you’re allowed to stay and how long you’re actually planning to stay. Say your passport lets you visit Japan for up to 90 days without a visa, but your trip is only 12 days. Your intended length of stay is 12 days, not 90.

The same applies if you’re traveling with a visa. Your visa’s validity and the length of this particular trip aren’t necessarily the same thing. For short-term visits like tourism, business, or visiting family, the Immigration Services Agency says the number you enter should be 90 days or fewer.

How to avoid this: Enter the number of days you’ll actually be in Japan, not the maximum your passport or visa allows.

iVisa’s solution: Your application gets a real, human review. We don’t just take what you enter and pass it along unchecked, someone on our team checks it for missing or inconsistent details before your arrival information is prepared. That extra check matters most on fields like intended length of stay, where entering a valid-looking number doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve answered the question correctly.

Mistake 3: Getting stuck and not knowing what’s still missing

One of the frustrating parts of any government form is reaching a point where something doesn’t look right and you don’t know what you’ve missed.

With Visit Japan Web, this shows up most when you’re managing more than one traveler. Adding someone to your account doesn’t automatically mean all of their arrival information is complete. Their name can appear under your account while there are still steps left to finish, exactly what happened in the Narita traveler’s case above: their father had been added as an accompanying family member, but his separate declaration and QR code hadn’t actually been completed.

How to avoid this: Before you travel, check each person individually and confirm their required arrival information is complete and their QR code is ready.

iVisa’s solution: You can ask a real person for help. Live customer support is available if you’re unsure what information to provide, have a question about your application, or need help understanding what happens next, instead of having to troubleshoot the process alone.

Mistake 4: Thinking Visit Japan Web is mandatory

This isn’t a mistake inside the form, but it might be the biggest misconception about Visit Japan Web.

You don’t have to use it. Japan requires travelers to complete the applicable immigration and customs procedures; Visit Japan Web is the government’s digital platform for preparing that information before you arrive. It’s official, and it’s free, but paper forms are still accepted. You don’t have to pay anyone just because you’re traveling to Japan, and you don’t have to create a Visit Japan Web account if you’d rather go another route.

How to avoid this: Know what you’re actually choosing between. Visit Japan Web is the free government option, not a mandatory paid travel document.

iVisa’s solution: You can skip managing the Visit Japan Web account yourself. Choose our paid service and you complete the iVisa application instead of creating and managing the government account. That’s the real distinction: Visit Japan Web is the free DIY route, and iVisa is an optional, assisted one. We’re a private travel-document company, not the Japanese government, and the Japanese government doesn’t charge a fee for Visit Japan Web.

How does Visit Japan Web work?

If you decide to use Visit Japan Web yourself, this is the process:

1. Create your Visit Japan Web account. You’ll need an email address and a password that meets Visit Japan Web’s security requirements, and you’ll have to verify your email before continuing.
2. Add your traveler information. Enter your personal and passport details. If you’re traveling with family, you can add them under the same account, but remember the distinction from mistake one: each traveler still needs their own arrival information completed individually.
3. Register your trip. Enter your planned arrival details, your accommodation, and your intended length of stay, the actual length of your trip, not the maximum you’re allowed to stay.
4. Complete your immigration and customs information. Japan has used a unified QR code for immigration and customs since 2024, so each traveler shows one code for both procedures instead of two. Every traveler, children included, still needs their own QR code. Visit Japan Web can also handle tax-free shopping registration, which is optional, isn’t part of your entry requirements, and comes with its own separate QR code.
5. Get your QR code ready. Once your information is complete, you can display your QR code for arrival. If you’re traveling with family, check each person individually before you leave, and save your QR code somewhere easy to access so you’re not relying on airport Wi-Fi the moment you land.

What does iVisa do differently?

Visit Japan Web works well if you’re comfortable handling the process yourself, and it’s free. iVisa is for travelers who’d rather have help.

Instead of starting with a Visit Japan Web account, you complete our guided Japan Arrival Card application, and the service around that application is where the difference shows up:

• Traveling together? Include your group, including minors, in one application.
• Worried about mistakes? A real person reviews the information you provide to help catch anything missing or inconsistent.
• Have a question? Live customer support is available if you need help along the way.
• Don’t want another account to manage? You don’t need to create or manage a Visit Japan Web account yourself.

Our service comes with a separate iVisa service fee, and you’ll see the cost before you complete your application.

Do you have to use Visit Japan Web to enter Japan?

No. Visit Japan Web is optional.

You still have to complete the applicable immigration and customs procedures, but not necessarily through Visit Japan Web. Japan’s Immigration Services Agency provides for the paper foreign national entry record, and Japan Customs still accepts paper customs declarations. The online route can make arrival smoother, but using Visit Japan Web isn’t a condition of entering Japan. You can use the government’s online service for free, use the paper forms, or choose a paid assistance service like iVisa.

Is Visit Japan Web free?

Yes. The Japanese government doesn’t charge a fee to create a Visit Japan Web account or submit your information through it.

If you pay a private company for help, you’re paying for that company’s service, not a Japanese government fee, and that includes us. Our Japan Arrival Card is an optional paid assistance service: you’re paying for the help around the process, not for access to the government form itself. We’re not part of the Japanese government, and you can always use Visit Japan Web yourself for free.

Should you use Visit Japan Web or iVisa?

It depends on how you want to handle the process.

Visit Japan Web, if you’re comfortable managing things yourself and want the free government option:

• Free government route
• You manage the process yourself
• You create and manage your own Visit Japan Web account
• You complete the required information for each accompanying traveler
• You make sure each traveler has the QR code they need

iVisa, if you’d rather have help:

• Paid assistance service
• Guided application
• Group applications, including minors
• Human review
• Live customer support
• No Visit Japan Web account for you to manage

Either way, you’re not paying for a Japanese government form that would otherwise cost money, you’re paying (or not) for the service built around it.

Do you still need a Japan visa?

Your visa requirements and the arrival procedures are two different things. Newly entering foreign nationals complete the foreign national entry record (re-entrants and returning residents are exempt), every passenger completes a customs declaration, and the need for a visa is determined by various factors, from nationality to residency.

Japan lets nationals of many countries and regions visit visa-free for eligible short stays. Other travelers need a visa before they travel, and being visa-exempt doesn’t mean you can skip the applicable immigration and customs procedures when you arrive. Depending on your passport, your trip could mean visa-free entry plus arrival procedures, or a Japan visa plus arrival procedures. Check our Japan travel documents page to see what applies to you.

Before you fly

If you’re using Visit Japan Web yourself, check three things before you leave:

1. Check every traveler. Adding someone to your account doesn’t mean all of their arrival information is complete.
2. Check every QR code. Each accompanying traveler needs their own.
3. Check your stay length. Enter how long you’re actually staying, not the maximum period you’re allowed to stay.

Visit Japan Web is optional and free. If you’re comfortable managing the process yourself, the government route is right there. If you’d rather have help, our Japan Arrival Card comes with human review and live support built in.