The Japan 5-year multiple-entry visa is officially the "substantially high income" visa (相当高收入人士的多次签证, "multiple-entry visa for persons with a substantially high income and their family members"). Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) says it is valid for 5 years, with up to 90 days per stay. You can use it for tourism, short-term business and visiting relatives or acquaintances. MOFA adds that holders may not carry out business activities that generate revenue or receive any remuneration.
This guide is for Chinese ordinary-passport holders who live in mainland China and apply through the Japanese embassy or consulates there. "The mission" below means the embassy or consulate that covers where you live. Three things to know first:
- The pages cited here give no income figure and no agency fee. None of the pages listed under Official sources sets a yuan amount for salary, tax paid, deposits or property, or for the agency's handling fee. MOFA tells applicants to ask a designated travel agency which documents are needed, the Guangzhou consulate (page dated 31 March 2026) tells anyone interested in this visa to enquire with a designated agency, and the embassy Q&A tells you to ask each agency about its fee. Look for the list of designated agencies on the website of the mission that covers where you live; the Beijing embassy's page is titled "Designated travel agencies for tourism to Japan". This guide names no agency.
- In principle, the embassy does not accept direct applications. The embassy Q&A says so and sends tourist-visa applicants to its designated travel agencies.
- The embassy fee is CNY 1,430 for applications from 1 July 2026, collected only if the visa is approved. The agency charges its own fee on top.
If you are a Chinese national living outside China, MOFA says both the 5-year visa for high-income applicants (90 days per stay) and the 3-year visa (30 days per stay) may be issued to you, and tells you to contact the Japanese embassy or consulate that covers your place of residence.
Who can get it, and who counts as family
The category covers family members as well as the high-income applicant. Only one page defines family. The Chongqing consulate's page (22 November 2016) says family means relatives by blood or marriage within the second degree who live with the applicant or share the same source of living, and that family members can travel alone on the visa. No other page cited here defines family, and the Chongqing page is old and covers only Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou residents.
What you can and cannot do with it
| What the official pages say | |
|---|---|
| Validity | 5 years |
| Stay per visit | Up to 90 days |
| Purpose | Tourism, short-term business, visiting relatives or acquaintances |
| From which trip | The first trip. The embassy says only this tourist visa allows short stays other than tourism from the first visit |
| Destination | Not restricted (embassy tourist-visa page) |
| Not allowed | Business activities that generate revenue, or receiving any remuneration (MOFA) |
| Inviting person or guarantor | MOFA says short business trips and visits to relatives normally need papers from an inviting person or guarantor in Japan. The high-income multiple-entry visa is the exception |
Three terms often get mixed up. The embassy Q&A separates them:
- Validity is the date range printed on the visa. You can enter Japan during it. It cannot be extended.
- Period of stay ("For stay(s) of") is the longest stay the visa allows. On this visa, that is 90 days.
- The stay you actually get is set by the immigration officer at the port of entry and appears on your landing permission. MOFA's validity page adds that you apply for landing and undergo an examination at the port of entry.
Where to apply
Apply to the mission that covers where you live, not where your hukou (household registration) is. The embassy Q&A gives this example: hukou in Tianjin, living in Anhui, means applying at the Shanghai Consulate-General, not the Beijing embassy. If you live in the Beijing embassy's area without a local hukou, you need a temporary residence permit or a residence permit.
| Mission | Covers |
|---|---|
| Embassy in Beijing | Beijing, Tianjin, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Gansu, Henan, Hebei, Hubei, Hunan, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Tibet, Inner Mongolia |
| Shanghai | Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi |
| Guangzhou | Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, Guangxi |
| Shenyang | Liaoning (except Dalian), Jilin, Heilongjiang |
| Dalian office | Dalian |
| Chongqing | Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou |
| Qingdao | Shandong |
| Hong Kong | Hong Kong and Macao SARs |
What a designated travel agency is. It is a travel agency that the mission has approved to take Japan tourist-visa applications. For multiple-entry tourist visas, the embassy says you must file directly with a designated agency, and applications through any other agency or go-between are not allowed. The embassy Q&A also says the embassy does not answer visa questions by WeChat. The Guangzhou page (31 March 2026) adds that the agencies for this visa are not the same as the agencies for business or relatives visas.
The Q&A also addresses agencies that say a multiple-entry visa needs only a passport. It says most of them win customers by methods the embassy does not accept, such as high service fees, and tells applicants to apply through a designated agency.
Documents: what the pages list
The list below follows the Japanese version of the embassy page "Documents and fees for tourist visa applications," dated 1 January 2019. The page says originals of all documents must be submitted or shown. It is old, so ask the designated agency for the current list. The page's fee lines predate the 1 July 2026 change and no longer apply.
| # | Document | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Passport | Required |
| 2 | Visa application form with photo | Required |
| 3 | Consent form for handling personal data | Required |
| 4 | Household register or other proof of where you live | Required |
| 5 | Documents that confirm financial capability | Required; see below |
| 6 | Copy of household register, or notarized proof of family relationship | Only if family members apply |
| 7 | Copy of the main applicant's multiple-entry visa | Only if the main applicant already holds the same type |
| 8 | Other relevant documents, such as additional documents | If needed |
Proof of financial capability (item 5) is where the 2019 page asks for one of two things:
- An employment certificate showing position, length of service and annual salary, together with documents that show annual income. The examples are a tax certificate and bank statements for the last six months.
- Documents that show accumulated assets. The examples are a severance pay certificate, a real-estate certificate or a stock dividend certificate.
The Chongqing page (22 November 2016, its own area only) lists a personal income tax payment certificate, a bank deposit certificate or a passbook as examples.
Photo. The embassy Q&A says 4.5 cm x 3.5 cm, white background, taken within six months, with no retouching. The 2019 document page shows 4.5 x 4.5 on the application-form line.
Passport. The Q&A says you can apply if the passport is valid when you enter Japan. It also advises renewing first if the passport would expire during your stay. Insufficient passport validity, or no blank visa page, is on the Q&A's list of reasons an application is not accepted.
Flights and hotels: pages that differ
On whether you may book your own trip, the pages do not say the same thing. Here is each one:
| Page | What it says |
|---|---|
| Embassy tourist-visa page | Only the 5-year visa lets the applicant decide and change flights, ships, lodging and the whole itinerary himself or herself |
| Qingdao consulate, tourist-visa page (1 July 2026) | Its opening paragraph says tourist visas need flights and hotels booked through the designated agency. Its section on this visa then says the applicant arranges flights, ships and lodging and can change the plan |
| Embassy Q&A | The rule that the first trip must follow the itinerary filed at application excludes the 5-year visa |
| Embassy documents page (Japanese version dated 1 January 2019) | For tourist visas other than the 5-year visa, the designated agency must arrange flights and hotels, because it has to manage the itinerary |
| MOFA page for Chinese nationals (Japanese version dated 1 January 2019) | For individual tourist multiple-entry visas in general, the travel agency manages the itinerary and arranges accommodation for the first visit. The paragraph on the 5-year visa does not repeat that sentence |
| Chongqing consulate (22 November 2016) | Asks for a flight and hotel reservation arranged by the designated agency |
The pages differ, so get the current requirement from your agency in writing before you buy any ticket.
Fee
The embassy and consulates in China charge CNY 1,430 for a multiple-entry visa and CNY 715 for a single-entry visa, on applications from 1 July 2026. The embassy fee notice, the Shanghai consulate's fee table (revised 1 July 2026) and the Qingdao notice dated 6 July 2026 list these amounts, and the embassy Q&A gives the same two numbers.
- When you pay. The embassy Q&A says the visa fee is collected when the visa is approved. MOFA says that if no visa is issued, no visa fee is charged.
- Yen figure. MOFA's fee page (Japanese version dated 24 June 2026) gives the same change in yen: about 30,000 yen for a multiple-entry visa and about 15,000 yen for a single-entry visa from 1 July 2026, paid as a general rule in the local currency. MOFA adds that, depending on the purpose of the visit and your nationality, fees may not be required or the amount may differ.
- Agency fee. The designated agency charges its own handling fee in addition to the visa fee (embassy Q&A, MOFA fee page, Qingdao notice).
How long it takes, and whether you can get an eVISA
Processing. The embassy Q&A gives 5 working days for a tourist visa, counted from the day after the mission accepts the file from the designated agency, if the examination has no problem. The Shanghai consulate's page calls the 5th working day the earliest issue date. That clock leaves out:
- the days the agency needs before it files (a few working days, per the Shanghai page);
- the days after issue until the agency gets the visa to you (a few working days, a little less for an eVISA, per the Shanghai page), and the return of the passport (per the Q&A);
- any case that takes longer. The Q&A says a result may not come within the period.
As a rule the mission cannot issue early at your request. The Q&A's exception is humanitarian cases, for example the death or serious illness of a family member in Japan, and the Guangzhou page (31 March 2026) says this visa cannot be issued early even for a business trip. The embassy does not answer questions about case status. MOFA's processing page (5 December 2022) says that when an application has a problem, the embassy sends it to Tokyo, and a visa may take more than a month. The Q&A sets no fixed number of days before departure for applying.
eVISA. MOFA's JAPAN eVISA page covers single-entry short-term tourism visas. For Chinese nationals living in China, the stay is 15 or 30 days. The embassy Q&A says the same: eVISAs are issued only for single-entry tourism stays of up to 30 days. A 5-year visa is multiple-entry, so by these pages it is not an eVISA case.
5-year, 3-year or single-entry: how they compare
| 5-year multiple | 3-year multiple | Single-entry individual tourist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| For | Substantially high income, and family | Sufficient financial capability, and family; or two or more trips to Japan on certain individual tourist visas in the last three years (MOFA). Okinawa and Tohoku variants exist; they need at least one night there on the first trip | Certain financial capability, and family; also students at listed Chinese universities (bachelor, master, doctoral) or graduates within three years |
| Validity | 5 years | 3 years | 3 months (embassy page) |
| Stay per visit | Up to 90 days | Up to 30 days | 15 or 30 days, decided by the mission |
| Short visits other than tourism | From the first trip | From the second trip | Not covered: MOFA says business or relatives visits need a separate short-term visa |
| Flights and lodging | You may arrange them (see the table above) | The designated agency manages the first trip | You prepare the itinerary; the designated agency arranges flights and hotels and files the application |
| Embassy fee | CNY 1,430 | CNY 1,430 | CNY 715 |
The 3-year and 5-year multiple-entry visas carry the same embassy fee. The student route is for single-entry only. It is not a way to a 5-year visa. For the 3-year visa in more detail, see the Japan 3-year multiple-entry visa guide.
Which should you choose
- 5-year visa: you are in the "substantially high income" category and expect to visit Japan repeatedly, or need short business trips or relative visits from your first trip.
- 3-year visa: 30 days per stay is enough, and either you meet the "sufficient financial capability" category or you have travelled to Japan twice or more in the last three years on certain individual tourist visas. For the Okinawa or Tohoku variant, your first trip must include at least one night there.
- Single-entry: you travel once, or you are a student or recent graduate of a listed university.
The designated agency tells you which documents to prepare. The mission decides whether to issue the visa.
Passports, refusals and problems
- New passport. If you renew your passport and your nationality, name, sex and date of birth do not change, you can enter Japan with the new passport together with the old passport that holds the valid visa.
- Lost passport. If the passport with the visa is lost, a loss certificate from the police or another government office goes in through the designated agency. If you then need to enter on a new passport, you must apply again.
- Already holding a visa. An application from someone who currently holds a valid visa or a re-entry permit is on the Q&A's list of cases where an application is not accepted.
- After a refusal. In principle, you cannot file a new application for the same purpose within six months; the Q&A lists this among the cases where an application is not accepted. The embassy may accept one for a humanitarian reason, such as the death or serious illness of a family member in Japan. It does not give the reason for a refusal.
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