Japan ME Visa Approved
Applied for a Japan ME Tourist Visa as a first time traveller to Japan. DIY doc prep.
Since I saw that lawyers and notaries could apply for an ME, I just took my chances to save time and money for having to apply for a visa on every visit.
Profile & Docs:
- Lawyer, notary, 3 yrs work experience (submitted docs to support this)
- Travel History: Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Greece, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam
- Presented 2 bank certificates reflecting my ADB and 1 bank statement worth 6 months (both accounts around 6 digits each)
- Late registered birth cert, so i submitted baptismal cert and Form 137
- I also submitted my round trip tickets and hotel booking confirmation (not required but attached to reinforce fin capacity and intent to return)
I was tbh expecting to just get SE, but fortunately was granted an ME hehe. I think it helped that i indicated in my cover letter that I want to be able to travel again in Japan in the near future without having to reapply for each visit (as I saw some people recommend in this subreddit).
Processing was super quick too: VFS Appointment on 11 Aug, VFS confirmation received on 17 Aug, and passport picked up on 18 Aug morning, so total processing of only 4 BD.
My brother applied for his visa separately under a Business/Conference Application and he also got his visa within just 4 BD. We applied a month in advance cuz our trip to Japan is scheduled for 2nd week of Sept, and we were thinking processing might take about 2 weeks, but Japan visa processing recently seems to be quite fast.
For application prep, like a lot of people say, there’s really no sure way of getting approved. But I think key is really to explain your circumstances well to the Embassy in your cover letter, and support them as much as you can with documents. Things to always keep in mind is to show financial capacity, strong ties to PH, and intent to return.
Reading a lot of the comments and recos here really helped, so thank you !! ☺️
Spreading japan visa approval dust to everyone! ✨✨✨