Visit Japan Web 2026: how to register, fill in immigration and customs, and use the QR code at the airport

What Visit Japan Web is, and whether you have to use it

Every foreign visitor arriving in Japan submits two documents. The first is the disembarkation card for foreigners, usually called the ED card, which goes to immigration. The second is the Declaration of Accompanied Articles and Unaccompanied Articles, which goes to customs. Visit Japan Web lets you complete both online before you fly. It is run by Japan's Digital Agency, and JNTO, the Immigration Services Agency and Japan Customs all point travellers to it.

It is not compulsory. JNTO's entry page says: "Registration is not required, but advance registration makes procedures like tax-free shopping more convenient." The Immigration Services Agency recommends submitting the arrival card through Visit Japan Web for a smoother entry, and Japan Customs recommends it for the declaration, but both still accept paper. Either way, an immigration officer still examines you. The website prepares the paperwork; it does not grant entry.

One change has made many older articles out of date. On 25 January 2024 the immigration and customs codes were merged, so Visit Japan Web now gives you a single QR code for both. Customs adds that codes made in its old Customs Declaration App stopped working on that date. If a guide tells you to use a separate customs app or to carry two codes, it was written before the change.

Because the official service is free, a website that asks you to pay for "Visit Japan Web registration" is not the official one. Check the address before you type in any passport details.

Before you start: what you need and when to do it

Have these ready before you sit down with it:

• Your passport. Scanning the photo page with your phone's camera is the quickest route, and it is required if you want the tax-free QR code.
• An email address you can open straight away. A confirmation code is sent to it during sign-up.
• Your flight to Japan: the airline, the flight number, the arrival date and the city the flight departs from.
• Your first address in Japan: the hotel's name, address, postcode and phone number.
• Passports for family members travelling with you, if you will manage their forms from your account.
• A visa issue number, only if you hold a Japanese visa. Even then it is optional.

When. The Immigration Services Agency asks you to enter your details before you reach the immigration area. Trips can be registered as far ahead as 31 December of the following year, and neither the manual nor the agency sets a minimum number of days before departure. Our advice, not an official rule: set up the account and your passport details whenever suits you, then complete the immigration and customs screens once your flight and first hotel are fixed, typically in the last few days before you fly. Fewer changes mean fewer codes to remake.

Which device. It is one account, so you can type everything on a computer and show the code on your phone. The manual notes that the date calendar may not appear on a PC; if so, type the date as mm/dd/yyyy. Make your final edits online, because changes made offline on different devices may not sync.

Step 1: create an account

1. Open Visit Japan Web, choose your language and select the option to create a new account.
2. Enter an email address of up to 128 characters and a password of at least 10 characters that mixes upper-case letters, lower-case letters, numbers and symbols. The manual's example is Ab1234567+.
3. Agree to the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy and complete the "I am human" check.
4. A confirmation code is emailed to you. Enter it on the same screen, and keep that screen open while you wait: closing it invalidates the code.

If nothing arrives, look in your spam folder, make sure mail from "@vjw.digital.go.jp" is not blocked, and check the address you typed. The screen has buttons to "Reissue confirmation code" and "Change email address".

You log in each time you use the site. Two-step verification with Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator is offered, but the manual is clear that Visit Japan Web "can be used normally without setting" it. If you forget your password, you reset it with a code sent by email.

Step 2: register yourself and your family

The manual calls this "User Registration". Your own details come first, under "Your Details".

Three opening questions. You are asked whether you hold a Japanese passport, whether you hold a re-entry permit, and whether you will use a tax-free QR code. A visitor on a foreign passport without a re-entry permit answers No to the first two. Answer Yes to the third only if you plan to shop tax-free with the QR code: it makes the camera scan compulsory, because the photo of your face from the passport is kept for the tax-free code.

Passport details. Choose "Scan with camera", which the manual recommends, or "Enter information yourself". For the scan, line the passport up with the white guide frame and keep reflected light off the page, since glare can stop it reading; "Start camera" lets you try again. Then check every field:

• passport number, letters and numbers exactly as printed;
• surname and given names, up to 39 characters each;
• nationality, date of birth (there is a "Date of birth unknown" option) and passport expiry date;
• occupation, and your home country and city.

If your passport has less than six months left, the site displays "Check remaining length of passport", and an expired one shows "Passport expired". Japan's own requirement, in JNTO's words, is a valid passport, but airlines can apply rules of their own; our visa guide explains. The site also asks whether you have checked if you need a visa, and answering No shows where to check.

Edits do not flow through on their own. The manual warns: "Even if Basic Information is revised, the registered information on Immigration clearance and Customs declaration will not be automatically updated." If you correct your passport details after completing the immigration and customs screens, correct those as well.

Adding family members

"You can register up to 10 family members traveling with you," the manual says, meaning people who go through immigration with you at the same time. Each is registered with their own passport details, in the same way as you. The procedures themselves still run per person: "Entry and return procedures will be processed one person at a time."

This matches what immigration asks for. The Immigration Services Agency says each family member needs their own details entered and their own code shown. Visit Japan Web lets one account do that for the whole group, so a parent can carry everyone's codes on one phone and switch between them at the airport.

Step 3: register your trip

From the home screen, choose "Register new planned entry/return". An account can hold up to 100 trips.

Copy or start fresh. You can copy details from a past trip, choose "Copy details from VISA application", or choose "Proceed to registration without copying details". First-time visitors without a visa take the last option. Visa holders can enter their visa issue number, select "Obtain VISA details" and then "Copy these VISA details".

Trip name and date. The name is optional: leave it blank and the arrival date is used instead. The manual says: "You can register plans up to December 31 the following year." On a computer, type the date as mm/dd/yyyy if no calendar appears.

Airline and flight number. Pick the airline from the drop-down, then enter the flight number in digits only, for example 1234; the airline code comes from your choice in the list. If your airline is not listed, choose "ZZ: OTHER AIRLINE" and type the full flight number, letters included, for example AB1234.

Point of embarkation. This is where your flight to Japan departs from. Pick it from the list, where typing part of the name brings up suggestions, or enter it directly if it is not listed; the manual's example is LOS ANGELES. If you change planes on the way, read the note behind the link "If you are connecting multiple flights" before you choose.

Address in Japan. Enter the postcode, which fills in the prefecture and city, then the street address, the hotel name and a contact phone number in digits only. If you are moving around, the place you are booked into first is the natural choice.

Who is travelling. Tick the registered family members who are on this trip.

Linking a visa (optional)

Chapter 5 of the manual covers "Link VISA", which appears only if you answered No to the re-entry permit question. Enter the visa issue number and select "Obtain VISA details". The status then reads "Obtain Japan e-VISA" or "Apply VISA sticker to passport", depending on how your visa was issued, and "Show issuance notice" opens an external site. The link itself is made when you choose to copy the visa details while registering the trip.

It is optional. If the visa number will not go through, you can still register the trip by choosing "Proceed to registration without copying details".

Step 4: health questions, then immigration and customs

Health. The quarantine section, "Confirmation of health condition" in the manual, is a short set of yes/no questions. The site shows information according to your answers.

Immigration: the arrival card on screen. The manual's own summary of this step: "After registering the Disembarkation Card For Foreigner and Declaration of Accompanied Articles and Unaccompanied Articles, you can apply for Immigration clearance and Customs declaration by presenting the QR code to the scan terminal at the airport." Work through it in order:

• Visa details are filled in automatically if you copied or linked a visa.
• Flight. It is carried over from the trip. "For codeshare flights, please enter the main operating flight," meaning the flight number of the airline actually flying the plane, not the partner that sold you the ticket. Changes made here are not copied back to the trip screen.
• Address. The hotel name and place of stay in Latin letters (the manual's example is ZZ HOTEL 123), plus a telephone number in Japan, in digits only.
• Purpose of visit and length of stay. The length is entered as years, months and days. The Immigration Services Agency says many people get this wrong: for a short-term stay such as tourism, business or visiting relatives, enter 90 days or fewer in the days field. A two-week holiday is 0 years, 0 months, 14 days.
• Questions. A page of yes/no questions. Read each one and answer truthfully.

Filling in for the family. After your own immigration screens, the site asks whether to enter accompanying family members "at the same time". Choosing Yes skips some of their screens and copies your customs answers over theirs. If a family member is carrying something you are not, such as goods over the duty-free allowance, choose No and complete their declaration separately.

Customs: the declaration. Five questions follow, numbered 1/5 to 5/5, with a "Precautions" link. The last asks whether you have unaccompanied articles, meaning goods sent to Japan separately from your luggage, and if so how many. The manual says: "If you are unsure of the quantity, enter '0'."

Where quantities are needed, the personal effects screen has boxes for alcoholic drinks (bottles), cigarettes, heat-not-burn tobacco (boxes), cigars, "others" in grams and perfume in ounces. For other goods, the manual adds: "Items purchased for personal use do not need to be entered if they have a market value of 10,000 yen or less per item." Up to eight items can be listed, each with its currency. The duty-free allowances themselves are in our Japan rules guide, and prescription drugs are covered in the medication guide.

Finish by ticking "The above entry is true and correct" and registering.

At the airport: showing the QR code

Open Visit Japan Web, go to your trip and choose "Display QR Code". A procedure guide appears; select "Agree and display the QR code". The manual describes the result as the screen that "displays the QR code required for immigration clearance and customs declaration": one code covers both. A drop-down switches between family members, and "Confirm the contents of the declaration" shows what you entered.

The Immigration Services Agency says a screenshot of the code is fine. If any details change, correct them and display the code again, because an old screenshot will no longer match.

At immigration. The agency's instruction is simple: display the code and show it to the immigration officer. At airports with joint kiosks, you use a machine first. Immigration and customs run the kiosks together: you hold up your Visit Japan Web code and your IC passport (the type with a chip), and the machine records your passport details, a photo of your face and, for foreign nationals, your fingerprints, and sends your customs declaration at the same time. Then you queue at the booths reserved for kiosk users. To use a kiosk you must have registered both the immigration and the customs sections. Family members go one at a time, each with their own code.

The agency notes that the hours may change with flight schedules. Outside them, or at other airports, show your code at the immigration booth.

At customs. Japan Customs' instruction: "hold the 2D code and your IC passport over the scanner of electronic declaration terminal placed at the customs inspection area. Then you will be able to pass through the electronic declaration gate smoothly." Customs says these e-Gates are in use at seven international airports. A few points from its leaflet:

• The terminal takes a photo of your face for the gate, so remove anything covering it. The photos are deleted as soon as you pass through.
• The procedure is done by each person, but "small children less than 100 cm tall can pass through the gate with a family member".
• Baggage carts are fine, and wheelchair users go through in their wheelchair.
• At some airports it is quicker to use the terminal while you wait for your checked bags.
• You may still be sent to an inspection desk, for example if you have goods over the allowance or unaccompanied articles, and bags can be inspected either way.

If you used a joint kiosk and customs decides you do not need an inspection, you finish customs by walking through a face-recognition gate. If you filled in paper forms instead, hand them over at the immigration booth and the customs desk.

Is there a Visit Japan Web app? Using it offline

The official manual describes Visit Japan Web as a website that runs in your browser, and it explains how to add it to your home screen so that it opens like an app. It does not describe a download from an app store, and this guide follows the manual.

• iPhone (Safari): use "Add to Home Screen".
• Android (Chrome): tap "Add Visit Japan Web to the Home Screen" when the pop-up appears, then "Install". If there is no pop-up, open the ︙ menu and choose "Add to Home screen".
• Computer (Chrome): click the "Install Visit Japan Web" icon in the address bar.

Once installed, much of it works without a connection. The manual says that offline "you can register information about entry/return procedures, check/modify registered details, and display the QR Code required for procedures". That covers the health, immigration and customs screens for a trip you have already created. You need to be online to create an account, log in, register your personal details, add a new trip, link a visa, change which family members are travelling, or change your password or two-step settings. The key line: "For Chapters 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9, you need to login online in advance to operate offline." In practice, log in while you still have a connection, before you board, so the code opens on arrival even without data.

Two cautions from the manual: changes made offline on more than one device may not sync, and data saved only offline can be lost, so go online again after registering. A screenshot of the code makes a sensible backup. For mobile data from the moment you land, see our eSIM guide.

The tax-free QR code

Visit Japan Web can also make a tax-free QR code, which you show at shops "instead of your passport". The manual adds: "Check that the store can use QR Codes before use." The code is created after you arrive, and you can make one even if you did not use Visit Japan Web for immigration: "If you were unable to use Visit Japan Web when entering Japan, it can be used after you enter."

1. From the home screen, choose "Preparation for tax-free procedures", then "Create a Tax-free QR Code".
2. The code needs the face photo from your passport scan. If it is missing, the site asks you to "Register the photo of your face in your passport".
3. Photograph the QR code on your landing permission seal, the sticker immigration puts in your passport on arrival. If the camera will not focus, the manual suggests switching cameras.

Each family member has their own code, switched with the drop-down. Make a new one if it expires or if your details are edited; an "Update Tax-free QR code" button appears when it expires. It needs a connection to create and display the first time, after which it shows offline until it expires.

What changes on 1 November 2026

For purchases from 1 November 2026, Japan moves to a refund system. You pay the price including consumption tax, and the tax comes back only after customs confirms at departure that you are taking the goods out of Japan, within 90 days counted from the day after purchase. The refund comes from the shop or a refund agent it uses, and the method, such as bank transfer, card, an app or cash at the airport, depends on the shop.

The customs check happens before you check in your bags, at a terminal or through Visit Japan Web; it cannot be done afterwards. A green result means you are done, while a red one means taking the goods to the customs counter. If any item from a receipt is missing, the whole receipt fails. The Japan Tourism Agency lists the Visit Japan Web option at Narita, Haneda, Kansai, Chubu, New Chitose, Fukuoka and Naha, "within designated areas of international departure lobbies". If you fly within Japan first, the check is done at the airport you leave Japan from. The minimum spend stays at 5,000 yen before tax.

The current manual, version 3.16, does not yet show the departure screens, so follow the instructions at the airport. Our tax-free calculator checks whether a purchase qualifies and how much tax comes back.

When something goes wrong

• No confirmation email. Check spam, unblock "@vjw.digital.go.jp", check the address, then use "Reissue confirmation code". Keep the screen open while you wait.
• The camera will not read your passport. Keep glare off the page, fit it inside the white frame and press "Start camera" to retry. If it still fails, choose "Enter information yourself". That route does not go with Yes to the tax-free question, so answer No for now; when you later create a tax-free code, the site asks you to register your passport photo if it is missing.
• Passport with under six months left. The site warns you, but what decides it is Japan's requirement of a valid passport and your airline's own rules; see the visa guide.
• Your flight or hotel changed. The screens do not always update each other: changes on the immigration screen are not copied back to the trip, and changes to your personal details are not copied to immigration and customs. Check that the immigration screen shows the new details, then display a fresh code and replace any screenshot.
• Codeshare flight. Enter the operating airline's flight, as the manual instructs.
• Flight number rejected. Type digits only, unless you chose "ZZ: OTHER AIRLINE".
• No calendar on a computer. Type the date as mm/dd/yyyy.
• Visa issue number not working. Linking a visa is optional; choose "Proceed to registration without copying details".
• Which phone number to give. The manual's guidance is digits only, with a Japanese mobile number, 09012345678, as its example. If you will not have a Japanese number, ask through the site's help chat rather than guess.
• Anything else. The "?" help icon in the header of each screen opens the FAQ, and "Start a chat session now" opens a chat for anything the FAQ does not answer.

Prefer paper?

Paper is still accepted, and the Immigration Services Agency suggests it for people who are not used to smartphones. Its page shows the paper ED card in three versions, Japanese and English combined with Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese or Korean, plus translation sheets in nine languages: English, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Nepali and Russian. Fill the card in in English or Japanese.

Japan Customs publishes the paper declaration as PDF and Excel files that you can print on A4 before you travel: twelve forms in eleven languages, starting with English (form C-5360-B) and including Korean, Chinese, French, Spanish, Indonesian, Thai, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Portuguese and Malay.

Visit Japan Web also has a travel insurance section, labelled "strongly recommended", which links to JNTO's insurance information, plus a natural disaster notice that links to JNTO pages on disaster and evacuation information. Our travel insurance guide covers what a policy should include, and the pre-trip checklist has everything else to sort before you fly.

To cite or link to this page: Visit Japan Web 2026: how to register, fill in immigration and customs, and use the QR code at the airport — Japan Pocket Guide, https://japanpocketguide.com/plan/visit-japan-web/ Copy