This article is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails. Read the Japanese original（日本語版を読む）
An extension of a 短期滞在 visa is permitted only where there are truly unavoidable special circumstances, on humanitarian or practical grounds. An application to extend purely for sightseeing or leisure is not accepted at all. It is also said that nationality makes a difference to how hard screening is.
A company employee has been asked about extending a stay by a Mexican friend who is in Japan on 短期滞在 for sightseeing.
Yes. It is limited to truly unavoidable special circumstances, on humanitarian or practical grounds.
An extension of a 短期滞在 visa, that is, 在留期間更新許可申請 (Application for Extension of Period of Stay), is permitted only where there are truly unavoidable special circumstances, on humanitarian or practical grounds. Applications to extend purely for sightseeing, leisure or recreation — I am enjoying Japan so much that I want to keep sightseeing for another 1 month, or I have not managed to travel everywhere yet — are not accepted at all at the counter of the 出入国在留管理庁 (Immigration Services Agency of Japan), and are refused, or not even received. The 短期滞在 visa is by nature a status that assumes a temporary stay. If it could easily be extended inside Japan, it could become a route by which foreign nationals who do not meet the requirements for a work visa repeat extensions and in effect settle in Japan or work illegally. Screening is therefore extremely conservative.
Hospital treatment for illness or injury, unforeseen events, humanitarian reasons, and being in the middle of a change of status.
If your friend has not run into trouble of this kind, he has to leave Japan once before the 90 days of his permitted stay run out.
It is said that grouping by nationality makes a difference to how strict screening is.
The 出入国在留管理庁 classifies the nationalities of the world into several groups (visa-exempt countries, countries requiring an ordinary visa, countries subject to strict screening, and so on), and is said to gauge the trustworthiness of each country from past statistics, such as rates of illegal residence and numbers of cases of illegal work in Japan. Mexico has a visa exemption arrangement with Japan and is rated as reasonably trustworthy as a country. So if special circumstances did arise and an extension were applied for, the chance of an examiner viewing it with suspicion is said to be relatively low, as long as the documents are consistent, and the procedure tends to go smoothly. By contrast, for a country requiring an ordinary visa, where the traveller cannot come to Japan without first obtaining a 短期滞在 visa at an embassy with a strict guarantor, screening of an extension inside Japan is said to be even stricter, and the volume of supporting evidence required and the scrutiny of the consistency of the written explanation are said to be on a different level from those for visa-exempt countries.
No. Applications to extend purely for sightseeing, leisure or recreation are not accepted at all, and are refused or not even received.
They include hospital treatment for illness or injury, unforeseen events such as a disaster or the closure of an airport, humanitarian reasons such as a relative's critical illness or a funeral, and the special case of being in the middle of a transfer to a status-based visa.
Because their country is rated as trustworthy, screening of an extension application based on special circumstances is said to tend to go relatively smoothly.
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This page is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails.