Japan granted a total of 4.1 million visas to foreigners in 2023, which is three times or 222 percent more than in 2022.
The demand for visas has improved in 2023, reaching around half of the volume of requests recorded in 2019, ahead of the COVID-19 Pandemic. In 2019, Japan granted 8.2 million visas, VisaGuide.World reports.
According to data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, the number of visas issued during the pandemic reached all-time lows. While in 2019, 8.2 million visas were granted, this figure dropped to 1.1 million in 2020, then to 90,000 in 2020 and started to revive in 2022, with 1.2 million visas granted.
Chinese Were Granted More Than Half of All Visas Issued by Japan in 2023
Out of a total of 4.1 million visas granted, 58 per cent of 2.4 million were granted to Chinese applicants, showing that this nationality group is issued most visas.
Filipinos follow second, representing 12 per cent of all visa applicants who received a positive decision on their requests, while others represent nine per cent of visas granted.
Except for Brazilians, all other nationalities that Japan granted most visas to were based in the Asian continent.
The top ten nationalities that received the most visas from Japan in 2023 are as follows:
- Chinese, which obtained 2.4 million visas
- Filipinos – 518,489
- Vietnamese – 327,905
- Indonesians – 19,611
- Indians – 134,718
- Nepalese – 52,073
- Burmese (Myanma) – 41,877
- Russians – 39,555
- Brazilians – 36,757
- Mongolians – 33,811
Shanghai Visa Consulate Issued More Than a Quarter of All Visas
With more than 1.15 million positive decisions regarding visa applications, the Shanghai consulate in China has issued most visas for the year. The share of visas granted via this consulate represents 28 percent of all visas issued.
Consulates located in China are quite common on this list, holding the second position for most visas granted. Consulates in China issued 524,639, or 13 percent of all visas.
Third ranks the consulate in the Philippines, which issued 488,549 visas or 12 per cent of the total.
Guangzhou, Vietnam consulates and the ones located in Indonesia granted 16 percent of visas issued for the year.
In the correct order, these are the consulates that issued most Japanese visas in 2023:
- Shanghai (1.1 million)
- China (524,639)
- The Philippines (488,549)
- Guangzhou (316,666)
- Vietnam (214,151)
- Indonesia (123,356)
- Chongqing (101,037)
- Ho Chi Minh (101,023)
- Shenyang (72,291)
- Dalian (60,775)