Here s the situation: My 1year pre college visa is about to finish (within 2 weeks) and I m still in negotiation with my (I hope)futur boss to land a job (in the worst case I ll just get an internship) . So I need at least another month . When I was in a language school I happened to talk with a guy who did a round trip Korea Japan to get a 3 month extension . Back then it was just chit chat and I didn t pay much attention . But now I REALLY need that extension and I want to make sure it will go without trouble .
Did anyone here did that ? or at least know the details ?
The japanese immigration really doesn t mind this kind of little trick (I do think that 3 months aren t much a bother for Japan but they re kind of uptight when it comes to immigration .)?
I have a french passport so I m supposed to get a tourist visa without condition , just a bright smile and my passport, but it s the background (use it like an extension) that bothers me .

if it s really a swell idea then do you have any advice about the company/the destination (This guy back then choosed Korea because it was supposed to be the closest , so the cheapest and the quickest too )?

It's called a visa run and people do it all the time. I've heard of people in Thailand making runs to neighboring countries every 3 months over and over. I think most countries have limits, however. Here's a site about thai visa runs: http://www.thaivisa.com/

I'm not an expert, but I don't think you'd have a problem if you left Japan, went to Korea and came back. You should have 90 days.

Haha, yeah here in china, visa runs are very common. A few friends of mine have to do a visa run every 3 months, so it's down to Hong Kong and back up to Shanghai.

Anyone knows how this works in the USA? I've someone who I would like to bring back, of course for 3 months at first, but if we could drive up to Canada and spend some time there and come back, that would be a -literal- lifesaver.

@Asriel it depends on your friend's visa status. Visa runs don't work in the USA for most types of visa. You can extend most visas by applying for an extension, which costs money (a couple of hundred dollars) and requires a pre-booked ticket home and proof of adequate funds for the rest of the stay.

Official details of the procedure are here and here

You can do it a few times. My friend from Italy was able to do it 3 times until he was prevented entry and had to go back to Italy. I wouldn't push my luck though, do it once only and you shouldn't have a problem.

captal Wrote:It's called a visa run and people do it all the time.

People don't do it all the time anymore, because you have a very high chance of getting denied entry and blackmarked after doing it more than twice a year now. Depending on how harmless you look you'll get shit after doing it once too. They've been getting much more strict about immigration over the past 5-10 years.

I've done it once for a 5 month stay in Japan before I got a work visa, and I wouldn't recommend doing it any more than that (had a ticket back to Canada in-hand too).

Basically, you get in shit if you spend more than half of the year in Japan on a tourist waiver, especially if you don't have a plane ticket out of the country when you try to get in.

Before the big rush of foreigners post-2000, you used to be able to do visa runs every three months until you qualified for permanent residency, all the while working under the table teaching English and paying no tax. imo it's a good thing that the loophole is closed.

re: extensions in Japan
They are in principle not possible. When you get in on a "tourist visa", you're actually getting in with no visa (on a waiver), so you can't extend what doesn't exist. Certain countries have 6 month waiver agreements (UK), which is actually a 3 month waiver that can be doubled, but most are just 3. The only people who have an actual tourist visa are people from China and various other developing countries. They have to apply in advance and presumably have security checks done against their names.

The only way to extend without a technically illegal "visa run" is to apply for an emergency extension. These usually only last a few days to a few weeks, and are only issued in cases of medical emergency or if you have some other problem leaving (plane got cancelled and you need to get a new ticket etc).

@Asriel

Don't try the visa run via Canada. You might be refused entry there (ok, for some people that's not a big issue, I have to admit, even though I'm a Canuck), but it immediately raises suspicion when you cross back into the US, and you might be deported. Almost happened to a friend of mine when we drove across the border between Washington and BC, but the Canadian officer was kind enough to make an exception for my Aussie mate (although he did throw in that "you Aussies always overstay your visas."