It has been a long time since I planned a trip and applied for a visa! But that changed recently. I could have done this earlier but for my daughter’s tennis! But by now not being able to travel was coming on my soul and I asked her coach the permission to travel. He did suggest to tag an ITF tournament along with this trip, to which I said we would do it the next time.
I have been planning a trip to Japan and I applied for the visa on September 12, 2024. I did the visa for me and my daughter Chhavi on my own. It is possible to use an agent too. Compared to applying for a visa to Schengen countries, Japan visa feels like a breeze!
Before Applying for the Visa
I started my research at the VFS Global’s Delhi’s Japan Visa webpage. Once I choose my visa type from the drop down menu as ‘Tourist Visa’ it gave me a lot of information about what to do in order to apply for the visa!
Here is a screen shot of the VFS Global Japan Visa website. It clearly lists all the information required to apply for the visa. The visa fee to Japan is unbelievable, it is just 500 rupees per person. VFS has a handling charge above it though. I also opted for the courier service so my grand total for two people was 3700 rupees. This has to one of the lowest visa fee I have ever paid.
I went through the sections listed above. I got confused the first time about an authority letter for Chhavi from my husband Seshadri, as he is not traveling on this vacation. So, I called the VFS helpline. They said if I was traveling, there was no need for a ‘no objection’ from my husband. They were really helpful. They asked me where was I applying from.
They have a VFS office in Gurgaon too but here some part of fee has to be paid in form of a demand draft (DD). I decided to go to Delhi to avoid making a DD. When they realized I was applying at Delhi, they told me only cash is accepted at VFS Delhi.
It was a delight to interact with the VFS Japan helpline in India. In this age, when customer service is getting more and more difficult to reach, the VFS Japan helpline is India is such a refreshing surprise! They are really helpful! I called them a second time asking about a list of approved travel insurance companies. They said it was not mandatory, I was free to get a travel insurance if I wanted to from any service provider I prefer!
The main documents that I provided as a self employed person is a copy of ITR filing. They said if ITR is not available they need bank statement for the past six months. Me being the cautious types, I provided them with both!
While preparing the visa application I made two mistakes. I didn’t write a cover letter. I thought a cover letter was needed if there was anything special to mention. But that does not seem to be the case.
Another mistake I made was I did not make a day by day itinerary. I somehow thought my hotel reservation was enough. But it is not.
About the photo an interesting thing happened. I went to a studio, generally they are knowledgeable about the photo size. But while the form said 45X35mm and the studio guy wanted to click on 35X35mm. I am now sure, that at this time, the photo size required is 45X35mm.
At the moment at Delhi VFS we could walk in for applying the visa!
At the VFS Global Delhi Office at Shivaji Stadium
I use the Delhi metro to go to the Shivaji Stadium VFS office. For Japan, at the moment in Delhi no prior appointment is required, we walked in. Inside the VFS office after clearing the security, I was given a token and I was told the wait time was about one hour. We sat down and started giving final touches to our sequence of documents. To our surprise we were called within 15 minutes! At the same office, I could see applicants for South Korea and South Africa as well.
At the counter, the young lady attending me was genuinely helpful. She pointed out that I need to write an application and provide an itinerary. She gave me a blank paper to write the application and the format for itinerary. I wrote the application and provided a on the spot itinerary as I have already researched about Tokyo and Kyoto.
After completing the documents that I left out, I was asked to pay the visa fee which includes the visa fee component and the VFS handling charges. I opted for the courier service. But it is optional. I had enough cash and I was back to the counter within no time to give the recite to the young lady attending to us. She took everything, gave me the acknowledgement, explained how I could track my application status and we took our leave after thanking her.
As of now my visa application have been forwarded to the embassy, that is what my tracking status says. I will update this post once there is a decision!
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