Japanese Visas For Thai Boys

[tenjinando]

I have been sponsoring two Thai cousins for six years and aiding their grandmother who has raised them. They had asked me to accept them as my sons with their grandmother's permission and I agreed and took all financial responsibility for raising them. I have also sent them through junior high and senior high school. They will both graduate next spring and I want to have them visit me in Japan before going on to two years of post graduate studies. I want to give them a chance to meet my daughter and grandson again, as well as to see how I live in Japan. We need to know what procedures are necessary for them to travel to Japan and what problems they might encounter. I am now a retired university professor and would have to accompany them to Japan as neither has experience travelling nor a good command of English. Any information would be welcomed. Thank you in advance.

[theoldgit]

Good for you sir, I hope the lads appreciate everything you have done for them, I'm sure they do, their success in life will be your reward.

Have a look through this website http://www.jp-vfsglobal-th.com/news.html it should give you the information you need.

Hope the procedure is not too bad, please let us all know how you get on.

[tenjinando]

Thank you for the information. I have been checking the sites you recommended, and I found that they are somewhat difficult to understand. Together with the information on the sites about new provincial application centers with postal service (not too sure what that means), there is another (last) notification telling Thais that they must go to the Japanese embassy in Bangkok! Does anyone have any ideas?

[kunash]

This probably wont be much help to you, but i was going to Japan with my Thai girlfriend, for a short 4 day stay. ( end of a cruise liner holiday ). My girlfriend would have gone to the Japan embassy in BKK. She would need a letter from her employer saying she could have the time off. She would need to produce her bank book and show she had enough funds in her account to support herself for those 4 days ( even though i was sponsoring her ) . these funds should not ba a lump sum. i put about 200,000 in there. plus she would need a sponsor letter from me. I actually phoned the Japan embassy in BKK, and they were quite helpful.

[ThaiVisaExpress]

We just posted one off today we traveled to Sriracha near Pattaya to courier it to the embassy.

[tenjinando]

This probably wont be much help to you, but i was going to Japan with my Thai girlfriend, for a short 4 day stay. ( end of a cruise liner holiday ). My girlfriend would have gone to the Japan embassy in BKK. She would need a letter from her employer saying she could have the time off. She would need to produce her bank book and show she had enough funds in her account to support herself for those 4 days ( even though i was sponsoring her ) . these funds should not ba a lump sum. i put about 200,000 in there. plus she would need a sponsor letter from me. I actually phoned the Japan embassy in BKK, and they were quite helpful.

That is very helpful indeed because it is exactly how I was treated at the Thai consulate in Osaka, Japan, when requesting a two month visa (I am Japanese). At the time I was a professor at the prefectural university and had to "get permission" to travel, show how long I had been employed as a prefectural civil servant, my salary, a guarantor in Japan in the case I couldn't care for my self financially while in Thailand, and an affidavit stating the exact amount I had in my back account. Japanese receive a one month's visa on arrival in Thailand. I don't know why for the life of me so much detailed information is required to get an extra month's visa. But seeing your situation, I am inclined to believe the two countries are having a spat. It was suggested to me to go to Laos for a visa extention for Thailand.

As for my sons case, I cannot afford to have them sent back to Thailand because the Japanese immigration refuses to recognize their "visa" (which is actually just the embassy recommending that the immigration department in Japan accept the requested visa. And, being high school students, all the documentation you mentioned may prove impossible. I am not giving up yet, but they may have to be satisfied having me go to visit them more frequently and give up the idea of trying to show them how I live in Japan and what life is like here.

Thank you for showing me that there is a similar visa problem traveling to and from both countries.

Sincerely,

Kaaru Ando, professor emeritus

[kunash]

We would have also gone to China, - this visa seemed very straightforward ( for my TGF ). Was only the Japan visa that needed more paperwork and preparation, but from what the Japan embassy girl was saying to me, it would not have been a problem obtaining the visa ( famous last words ). In the end we had to cancel the holiday because we now have other, more impertant plans.