Japan Tourist Visa

If you are a tourist and are from a country (e.g. the UK, Liechtenstein, Mexico) whose tourists are granted a maximum six month stay in Japan, your initial landing permission will only be for three months and you must go to an Immigration office to extend it another three. This is not 100% guaranteed but is usually granted. If you are from a country whose citizens are normally only given 90 day (e.g. Andorra, Monaco, the USA) or three month (e.g. San Marino, Barbados, Denmark) 'tourist visas', then you can still extend your stay by a few days or weeks but you do need to prove your case. Take as much back-up documentation to the Immigration Bureau as possible. Typical reasons are a course of study whose final date is a few days after the visa expires, ill-health requiring recuperation etc. Unlike for lucky Liechtensteiners this process is not nearly such a formality and can be rejected. Making a habit of coming to Japan regularly and for long periods as a 'tourist', will reduce the likelihood for approval for extension, as will coming from countries Immigration aren't so fond of.

Japan Student Visa

If you are a university student then you can't pretend that your course finishes after the final date on the visa because all Japanese universities finish at the same time (before the standard student visa expiry date). If you have changed your course you might now require an extension however, in which case your university can help you.If you are a pre-college student, the visa duration depends on the type of school you're attending (Japanese schools begin the new school year in April, many 'international' ones in September) and how the school sponsored you. Up to one more year's extension can be granted, but since the reason you might need to extend is that you didn't graduate because you didn't attend school enough - grounds for refusing extension - this is not necessarily easy. Sometimes Immigration will accept a letter of apology for being such a slacker, but they need not. Either way, the school must provide academic records, records of attendance and proof that you are still at the school.

Japan Work Visa

If you are on a work visa and are still employed, extending the visa should not be difficult and most companies will take care of the paperwork. They need to provide documentation giving details of the job, including current salary.

Other Visas

All other cases and visas depend on how much longer you want to stay, how sound your reasons are, how well you can prove them, what kind of visa you were on before, for how long, and how well-behaved you have been. Less fairly, it depends on whether the Immigration official dealing with your case is having a bad day, what the visa record / reputation of your countrymen / women is.

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