Japan Visa Cost for Indians 2026: Embassy Fee, VFS Charges and What You Really Pay

How Much a Japan Visa Costs for Indians (2026 Quick Answer)

An Indian passport holder applying for a Japan visa in India pays two official charges, and nothing else is compulsory. The consular fee is 500 INR. The VFS Global service charge is 800 INR per application. Those two line items added together make 1,300 INR per applicant, as of September 2026.

The 500 INR does not move with the type of entry. The Embassy of Japan in India fee table, effective from 1 July 2026, reads "For Indian Nationals Single or Multiple visa: 500 INR" and adds that a VFS service fee is charged on top. Mumbai and Chennai publish the same figure.

The whole money picture for a straightforward tourist file:

• Consular fee, single or multiple entry - 500 INR
• VFS Global service charge - 800 INR per application, inclusive of all taxes
• Official minimum, the sum of those two lines - 1,300 INR per applicant
• Optional courier return of the passport - 550 INR at the main centres
• Minimum with courier - 1,850 INR per applicant

One date matters more than the rest. The Mumbai consulate publishes its table with an explicit window: applications made between 01 July 2026 and 31 March 2027. Chennai shows the same window, and nothing is published for 1 April 2027 onwards. We recommend checking the fee page of the mission covering your city before you pay.

Embassy Fee - Single Entry, Multiple Entry and Transit

What Indian nationals pay

500 INR, single entry or multiple entry, with no difference between the two. The Mumbai table reads "Indian Nationals Single Entry Visa Rs. 500, Multiple Entry Visa Rs. 500" for applications between 01 July 2026 and 31 March 2027, and Chennai lists identical figures. Payment is in rupees, not yen: Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that as a general rule the fee is paid in the local currency of the country where the issuing mission sits.

What everyone else pays in the same queue

On those same tables, applicants in India without an Indian passport pay 8,650 INR for single entry and 17,350 INR for multiple or double entry from 1 July 2026, roughly seventeen times the Indian single entry rate. The concession follows the passport, not the counter: the Embassy of Japan in the United States publishes an Indian passport holder line at USD 6, against USD 101 single and USD 201 double or multiple for everyone else.

The transit visa is gone

The Embassy's current table states plainly that the transit visa is abolished, and the Embassy of Japan in the United States explains the mechanics: from 1 July 2026 the category was merged into single or double entry, so a traveller passing through Japan applies for an ordinary short stay visa. The previous Mumbai table, covering 01 April 2026 to 30 June 2026, listed transit at Rs. 50 for Indians and Rs. 400 for others; that line has no counterpart in the new one.

Mumbai also lists Rs. 1,750 for extending the validity of a re-entry permit, a charge for residents of Japan rather than tourists.

VFS Global Service Charges and Optional Services

The service charge exists because the missions no longer take files over the counter. The Embassy tells applicants to submit through VFS, with no prior appointment needed, and since 20 April 2026 the Mumbai consulate has stopped accepting applications directly. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms that an agency approved by the mission charges its own handling fee on top of the visa fee.

The amount is 800 INR, inclusive of all taxes, levied per application over and above the visa fee; the VFS Mumbai and Kolkata pages break it down as inclusive of SGST at 9 per cent and CGST at 9 per cent. The one-pagers print several different start dates beside the same 800 INR, so the amount is the part to trust.

Two details catch applicants out. The charge is per application rather than per family, so four passports mean four service charges. And VFS levies it on applicants exempted from paying visa fees, so being excused the consular fee does not excuse the handling fee.

Courier return of the passport is optional, at 550 INR per application inclusive of taxes, for applicants submitting in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Goa, Chennai, Hyderabad, Puducherry, Cochin and Kolkata. Outside those centres it can cost more: the VFS Delhi page shows 1,050 INR and, for applications lodged in Bhutan, 2,650 INR on different visa-type tabs without saying which route each price covers, so we recommend confirming the courier price at the counter rather than budgeting one figure.

Paid extras are otherwise thin: no page opened for this guide lists a biometric charge on top of the 800 INR, or prices for lounge access, form filling, SMS alerts or translation.

What Else You Pay - Documents, Insurance and Courier

In-centre extras are small and clearly priced: photocopying at 2.00 INR per page and a photo booth at 150 INR per applicant, which the Kolkata page specifies covers three photographs. Applicants who bring their own photographs and copies skip both lines.

There is no official fast track on sale. The Mumbai consulate states that processing generally takes a minimum of 5 working days following receipt, that times vary significantly with application volumes, and that it cannot be expedited or prioritised to suit an applicant. Chennai gives the same 5 working days once the file is accepted at VFS there, and notes that files lodged through agencies in other cities can take longer.

Travel insurance and document costs are published by neither the missions nor VFS, and they vary by insurer, trip length and age, so no visa page can give you a figure that holds.

One cost of the electronic visa is easy to miss: an eVISA holder has to show the visa issuance notice live on a mobile device at the airport, and a PDF, photo, screenshot or printed copy is not accepted. Mobile data on departure day is part of that cost.

Total Cost Examples for a Tourist Trip

Each example is arithmetic on the same two official line items, as of September 2026:

• Solo traveller in Mumbai, collecting the passport in person - 500 INR plus 800 INR, so 1,300 INR
• Couple in Chennai with courier return - 1,850 INR each, so 3,700 INR for the two files
• Family of four, photographs taken at the centre - 5,200 INR in official charges, plus 150 INR per person for the photo booth

An Indian travel services publisher reaches the same arithmetic independently, putting the minimum outlay at 1,300 INR with the same courier and photo booth prices; as an aggregator it corroborates the total only.

An agency package is a third number. The Visarun page for Indian applicants quotes USD 75, a USD 40 government fee plus a USD 35 service fee, with 15 to 30 business days of processing; that USD 40 line does not match the 500 INR the Japanese missions charge Indian nationals, so read USD 75 as an agency price and 500 INR as the consular fee. Visarun helps to prepare and check the file, and the decision belongs to the consulate.

Who Pays Nothing - Fee Exemptions

Indian nationals are not on Japan's fee exemption list, which names citizens of the USA, Canada, Bangladesh, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, British Nationals Overseas (Hong Kong), Hong Kong S.A.R. and Macao S.A.R. What Indian passport holders have instead is a concessional rate of 500 INR: a discount, not a waiver.

Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs frames both in one sentence: depending on the purpose of your visit and your nationality, fees may not be required or the amount may differ. The Indian rate sits in the second half of it.

One category genuinely pays nothing, since diplomatic and official visas are free of charge. Even then the exemption stops at the consular fee: VFS levies the service charge on applicants exempted from visa fees, so an exempt applicant still pays 800 INR per application.

Nothing is published about concessions for children, senior citizens or students applying from India, so the safer plan is the full 500 INR and 800 INR per applicant, children included.

Payment, Refunds and What Happens After a Refusal

How you can pay

Accepted payment methods are set per centre, as each VFS one-pager states, and they differ, as of September 2026:

• Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Goa - cash, credit or debit card, and UPI
• Bengaluru - cash and POS or UPI
• Chennai - cash or POS
• Kolkata - cash and POS
• New Delhi - cash and card only, in rupees
• Gurugram, Chandigarh and Lucknow drop-off offices - demand drafts only

The drop-off offices are the strict case: in Gurugram, Chandigarh and Lucknow the visa fee and the service charge go in as separate demand drafts in favour of "VFS Global Services Pvt. Ltd.", one per applicant for each, plus a third for courier where it is used.

Consular and centre pages can disagree: the Mumbai consulate still heads its own fee section "Visa fees (Payment in Cash only)", while VFS Mumbai lists cash, card and UPI. Carrying 1,300 INR in cash is the safer assumption.

What comes back after a refusal

The consular fee is not kept. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that if a visa is not issued, no visa fee will be charged, and VFS states that the visa fee is refunded only if the visa is not approved by the Consulate. The VFS money is another matter: VFS Chennai states that "Service and Courier Charges are non-refundable", and the demand draft instructions repeat it for the 800 INR and 550 INR drafts.

Three neighbouring questions have no published answer: how a refunded fee reaches you, what happens when an application is withdrawn before a decision, and whether a repeat application needs both fees again. The per-application wording points that way, but the missions do not say so.

The Embassy's anti-fraud notice is worth a look: the visa fee and the service charge on its page are all an applicant has to pay, and the Embassy never asks for payment by telephone or email. Applications are accepted only from three months before the travel date.

Recent Changes (2025-2026)

The July 2026 revision was global and steep. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms the Cabinet Order on consular fees was amended with effect from 1 July 2026, taking the fee to approximately 15,000 yen for single entry and approximately 30,000 yen for multiple entry. Its superseded page, still online, records the baseline replaced: about 3,000 yen single entry, 6,000 yen double or multiple and 700 yen transit. Japanese trade media reported the same jump beforehand, though Indian applicants never pay in yen.

Indian passport holders were left where they stood. Business Today reported on 7 July 2026 that they continue to pay Rs 500 for both single and multiple entry while other nationals moved to Rs 8,650 and Rs 17,350, and that Japan abolished the separate transit category for all nationalities. Outlook Traveller reported on 1 July 2026 that Indian travellers had been "exempted" from the hike; the 500 INR is confirmed by the missions, but "exempted" is loose, since Indians kept a concessional rate rather than a release from the fee.

Two process changes matter for the budget: since 20 April 2026 the Mumbai consulate has not accepted applications directly, and the JAPAN eVISA system has run in India since 1 April 2024, filed through the VFS centres too.

Old fee tables are still live, and they look official

An older transit visa page on the Embassy's own domain is still online with a table dated 1 April 2020, showing Rs. 550 for single or multiple entry and Rs. 50 for transit. The VFS one-pagers for Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata still show the pre-July 2026 figures for non-Indian applicants, 1,750 INR single and 3,450 INR multiple, and a transit line at 50 INR. It helps to read the effective date above any fee table and treat anything that does not say 1 July 2026 as out of date.

FAQ

How much does a Japan visa cost for an Indian citizen in 2026?

1,300 INR per applicant as a minimum: a 500 INR consular fee set by the Embassy of Japan plus an 800 INR VFS Global service charge. Optional courier adds 550 INR at the main centres.

Is a multiple entry Japan visa more expensive than a single entry one for Indians?

No. The Japanese missions in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai all list 500 INR for both single and multiple entry for Indian nationals, and the Mumbai and Chennai tables run to 31 March 2027.

Can I still get a Japan transit visa?

No. The Embassy's current fee table states the transit visa is abolished, and from 1 July 2026 the category was merged into single or double entry, at the ordinary 500 INR for Indian nationals.

Does the eVISA cost less than a sticker visa?

Nothing published suggests it does. Indian applicants apply for the eVISA through the Japan Visa Application Centers run by VFS Global and submit as before, receiving a visa in electronic form instead of a sticker, so the 800 INR still applies. It covers single entry tourism of up to 90 days.

Why do Indians pay so much less than other nationalities?

The concession follows the passport: the Embassy of Japan in the United States publishes an Indian passport holder rate of USD 6 against USD 101 for everyone else. Japan's foreign ministry says only that fees differ by purpose of visit and nationality, and no mission publishes the arrangement behind the rate.

Do I get my money back if my visa is refused?

Partly. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that if a visa is not issued, no visa fee will be charged, and VFS confirms the visa fee is refunded only if the visa is not approved by the Consulate. Service and courier charges are non-refundable.

Can I pay the Japan visa fee by card or UPI?

It depends on the centre. Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Goa accept cash, card and UPI. Bengaluru takes cash and POS or UPI, Chennai cash or POS, Kolkata cash and POS, New Delhi cash and card in rupees. The Gurugram, Chandigarh and Lucknow drop-off offices require demand drafts.

Is there a lower fee for children, senior citizens or students?

No official page opened for this guide publishes a rate below 500 INR for those groups. The safer plan is the full 500 INR plus 800 INR per applicant, children included.

How long is the 500 INR rate published for?

Until 31 March 2027. The Mumbai and Chennai tables are bounded at that date, and no table has been published for applications on or after 1 April 2027, so we recommend rechecking the mission's fee page before applying.