According to a report from the Nikkei News on Thursday (October 16), the Japanese government plans to raise visa application fees to a level equivalent to that of the United States and European countries to offset the increased administrative costs brought on by the record high number of tourists.
Japan will refer to the visa fee standards of the Group of Seven and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries and will announce the specific increase at a later date.
The new fees will apply to tourist, business, and long-term stay visas. The new regulations are expected to come into effect in the next fiscal year following public consultation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Currently, the fee for a single-entry visa to Japan is around 3,000 Japanese yen (20 US dollars), and for multiple-entry visas it is around 6,000 Japanese yen (40 US dollars).
In comparison, the short-term stay visa fees are $185 for the United States, $177 for the United Kingdom, and 100 Canadian dollars (71 US dollars) for Canada.
France, Germany, and Italy are all signatories to the Schengen Agreement, and the short-term visa fees for Schengen countries are all 90 euros (105 US dollars).
In the past, to cope with currency inflation and fluctuations and to control the number of foreign tourists, these countries have raised visa fees multiple times. However, Japan has not increased visa fees since 1978.
In the first half of 2025, Japan received a total of 21.5 million international tourists, a significant increase from the same period last year (17.8 million). This marks the first time Japan has seen over 20 million tourists in the first half of a year, and this number is expected to continue to rise.
The Japanese government believes that raising visa fees will not significantly reduce the number of visitors to Japan and will also help alleviate over-tourism.
Japan requires short-term visitors from over 120 countries to obtain visas, including China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. In 2024, Japan issued 5.24 million visas to Chinese citizens, accounting for 70% of the total visas issued during the same period.
The Philippines had the second highest number of visas issued at 570,000, followed by Vietnam at 320,000. Just these top three countries accounted for nearly 90% of all visas issued by Japan.
Under specific conditions, Japan grants short-term visa exemptions to 74 countries and regions, including the United States, South Korea, and Australia.