When people search for a "Japan arrival card", they usually mean two separate forms. The first is the Disembarkation Card for Foreigner, which the Immigration Services Agency uses at the passport desk. The second is the Declaration of Accompanied Articles and Unaccompanied Articles, which Japan Customs requires from every passenger, Japanese citizens included. Since 25 January 2024 the government's Visit Japan Web service has combined both into a single QR code that you show at the airport. Visit Japan Web is free, runs in a browser at vjw.digital.go.jp, and is the online alternative to the paper forms. It is not a visa or a travel authorisation: you still need whatever visa your nationality and purpose require.
Who fills in what
Foreign visitors, and anyone arriving to start a new stay on a Certificate of Eligibility, complete both parts: the disembarkation card and the customs declaration. Foreign residents coming back to Japan with a re-entry permit or special re-entry permission complete only the customs declaration, because they present their residence card at immigration instead of a disembarkation card. Visit Japan Web asks this at the start ("will you enter Japan with a re-entry permit?") and shows only the parts that apply to you. Japanese passport holders also complete only the customs part. The customs declaration is per person, but one account can register up to 10 family members travelling with you, so a parent can prepare the whole family's forms.
Filling in Visit Japan Web, step by step
- Create an account at vjw.digital.go.jp with an email address and a password of at least ten characters that mixes upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and symbols. The service is free.
- Register your details. Scanning the passport photo page fills most fields; check the spelling against the passport afterwards. If the passport has less than six months left, the site shows a warning.
- Add family members travelling with you, if any.
- Register the trip: arrival date, airline and flight number, and your address in Japan. A hotel name is fine for a visit. If you are moving, enter the first address where you will stay.
- Complete "Immigration clearance and Customs declaration" (foreign visitors and new residents) or the customs declaration only (re-entering residents). Answer every customs question, including the one about unaccompanied articles if you have shipped belongings.
- Open the QR code and save it for offline use before you board. Visit Japan Web has an official offline mode, which helps if you land without data.
At the airport
At Narita (Terminal 3), Haneda, Kansai and Fukuoka, integrated kiosks read the QR code and your passport, take your photo and, for foreign nationals, fingerprints, and handle immigration and customs data in one step. Every traveller, children included, uses the kiosk one at a time, and children under 135 cm cannot use it. At New Chitose, Narita, Haneda, Chubu, Kansai, Fukuoka and Naha, customs has electronic declaration terminals and e-gates: you scan the QR code with an IC passport while you wait for bags, then walk through a gate with face recognition. Children under 100 cm can pass through with a family member. At other airports, or if you prefer, you show the QR code to the officers. Visit Japan Web is optional. The Immigration Services Agency still publishes the paper disembarkation card, which airlines usually hand out before landing, and Japan Customs says its paper declaration (form C-5360, in 12 languages) can still be used and printed in advance on A4.
Fill in Visit Japan Web a few days before you fly, not in the arrivals hall. The flight number and address fields are easy at home and awkward in an immigration queue, and if your phone has no signal on landing, the saved offline QR code still works.
If you are moving to Japan: the residence card
If you arrive on a new mid- to long-term status (a work, study or family visa issued on a Certificate of Eligibility), immigration grants your landing permission and, at seven airports, hands you a residence card on the spot: Narita, Haneda, Chubu, Kansai, New Chitose, Hiroshima and Fukuoka. If you land anywhere else, your passport is stamped and the card is posted to you after you register your address at the municipal office. Either way, the Immigration Services Agency requires the moving-in notification within 14 days of settling at your address, and you need the residence card (or your passport, if the card is still to come) to file it. Short-term visitors and anyone granted three months or less do not receive a card. Our Japan country guide at /country-guides/japan covers what you need the card for afterwards: bank accounts, phone contracts and the My Number card.
Shipped belongings: the customs step you cannot redo
If you are sending household goods by sea or air freight, declare them as unaccompanied articles when you land. Japan Customs' own guidance describes the procedure: hand in two copies of the declaration form at the arrival airport, and an officer returns one copy with a Customs seal. You need that sealed copy to clear the shipment later, and Customs states it "cannot redo the above process, whatever the reason may be", including if you lose the copy. Without it, the shipment loses the simplified unaccompanied-baggage route and can be handled as ordinary dutiable goods. Household effects are duty-free if you have lived abroad for more than a year or plan to stay in Japan for more than a year, and if they are cleared within six months of your arrival. Mark every box and the invoice "unaccompanied baggage" with yourself as addressee. The safest approach is to print two copies of form C-5360 before you fly, answer "yes" to unaccompanied articles in Visit Japan Web as well, and go to a staffed customs desk rather than the e-gate.
When you leave again
Residents leaving temporarily use the "ED card for re-entry" at departure immigration. Under special re-entry permission you can be away for up to one year (or until your status expires, if sooner) without applying in advance, as long as you carry your residence card and a valid passport. For longer absences you need a re-entry permit from a regional immigration office before you go, valid for up to five years. If you are leaving Japan for good, you hand the residence card to the immigration officer at the airport. Every departing passenger also pays the International Tourist Tax, which rose from ¥1,000 to ¥3,000 per departure on 1 July 2026. Airlines collect it in the fare. Children under two and transit passengers leaving within 24 hours are not taxed.
What changes next: JESTA
Japan has legislated an electronic travel authorisation, JESTA, for visa-exempt short-term visitors, similar to the US ESTA or the UK ETA. The amended Immigration Control Act creating it was enacted in 2026, and the Immigration Services Agency says the JESTA provisions take effect on a date set by cabinet order no later than 31 March 2029. The government has said it is aiming for fiscal 2028, which runs from April 2028 to March 2029. The fee and the application site are not yet published. Until the Immigration Services Agency announces a start date, visa-exempt visitors do not need any pre-travel authorisation for Japan.
Key Takeaway
Before you fly to Japan, complete Visit Japan Web: the disembarkation card plus the customs declaration if you are a visitor or a new resident, the customs declaration only if you are a resident coming back. Save the QR code offline. If you are moving, land at one of the seven residence-card airports if you can, register your address within 14 days, and declare shipped belongings on arrival with a sealed two-copy customs form, because Customs will not repeat that step later.