Dummy ticket for Japan visa

Why a held reservation works for a Japan application

Japanese tourist visa applications are built around a specific document: the schedule of stay. It is a day-by-day plan naming where you will be and where you will sleep, and it is mandatory. Your flight reservation sits at the top and bottom of that schedule as the arrival and departure anchors.

Because the schedule is so specific, inconsistency is unusually visible. If your itinerary lands at Haneda on the 12th, day one of your schedule is the 12th, and your first hotel night is the 12th. Applicants who submit an approximate schedule with a precise itinerary — or the reverse — get asked for clarification.

Japanese missions process quickly compared with most, often within a week, but the file has to be complete on submission. That makes a reservation with the right dates more useful than an approximate plan you intend to firm up later.

Documents that usually go with it

• Visa application form with a recent photograph
• Flight reservation showing arrival and departure
• Schedule of stay, day by day, with accommodation for each night
• Bank statement and income tax documents for the last two years
• Employment certificate with leave approval
• Guarantee letter and guarantor documents if someone in Japan is sponsoring you

Requirements change. Always confirm against the current official checklist for your application centre.

Mistakes we see on Japan files

• A schedule of stay whose dates do not line up with the flight reservation
• Leaving accommodation blank for nights spent travelling between cities
• Submitting an incomplete file and losing the fast turnaround
• Using an unverifiable itinerary at a mission that processes quickly and checks carefully

Popular routes we reserve for Japan applicants

• Delhi → Tokyo Narita (DEL–NRT)
• Mumbai → Tokyo Haneda (BOM–HND)
• Bengaluru → Tokyo (BLR–NRT)
• Chennai → Osaka (MAA–KIX)
• Delhi → Osaka (DEL–KIX)
• Hyderabad → Nagoya (HYD–NGO)

Getting yours

Fill in your visa application form first so the dates are fixed, then order the reservation two or three days before your appointment with names exactly as printed on the passports you will submit. It arrives within 20 minutes, and you can verify the record locator on the airline's own site before you go.

See also: the full dummy ticket guide, a sample itinerary, hotel reservations, and other destinations.