Japan lets US, UK, EU, Canadian and Australian passport holders in for up to 90 days with no visa and nothing to apply for in advance. Indian passports need a visa. At Kansai airport, plan on passing immigration even if you only change planes.
No visa is needed for US, UK, EU, Canadian or Australian passports: they can enter Japan for up to 90 days, so they can leave Kansai airport on a layover. Indian passports need a Japanese visa, applied for before travel, which normally takes about 5 working days. Kansai publishes no airside route between international flights, so plan on passing immigration even to change planes, and ask your airline if your passport needs a visa.
If you stay airside
At Kansai International Airport (KIX), plan on passing Japanese immigration whichever way you connect. The airport describes how to change between international and domestic flights, but publishes no route between two international flights that keeps you airside, and it says that depending on the airline you may have to leave through the arrivals gate and check in again.
- Visa-free passports (US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia and many more): it makes no practical difference. If your connection passes immigration, you’re simply entering Japan for a few hours, which needs nothing extra.
- Passports that need a visa for Japan, including India: ask your airline before you book whether your connection passes immigration and, if it does, whether you need a visa for it.
- Connecting to a domestic flight in Japan (with JAL, ANA or Peach, say): you pass immigration and customs at Kansai, on the 1st floor of Terminal 1, then go up to domestic departures on the 2nd floor. Your first stop in Japan is where you enter the country.
For a long or overnight connection, plan to rest by Terminal 1 after immigration: the 24-hour lounge, the cabins and the hotel are all there (at the airport).
If you want to leave the airport
You’re entering Japan, even for a few hours, so you need permission to do so.
| Passport | What you need to leave Kansai airport |
|---|---|
| US, UK, Ireland | Nothing: visa-free for up to 90 days |
| EU and Schengen countries | Nothing: visa-free for up to 90 days |
| Canada, Australia, New Zealand | Nothing: visa-free for up to 90 days |
| India | A Japanese visa, applied for before you travel |
Visa-free entry
Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs lists more than 70 countries and regions whose citizens can visit without a visa. For almost all of them, including every country in the table above, the stay is up to 90 days. You don’t apply for anything before you fly: permission is given on arrival.
Japan’s visa rules give no minimum passport validity, so travel on a passport that’s valid for your whole trip. Airlines can set their own rule at check-in, so check with yours if your passport expires soon.
A visa for Japan
If your passport isn’t on the exemption list, as India’s isn’t, you need a visa to pass immigration. How you apply depends on where you live:
- In India, and in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, the UAE and a few other places: through a travel agency accredited by Japan’s embassy or consulates there. You get an electronic visa (eVISA), but you can’t apply for it on the eVISA website yourself. The embassy’s website has the details.
- In the US, UK, Canada, Australia and a few other countries: yourself, on the JAPAN eVISA website.
- Anywhere else: at a Japanese embassy or consulate.
A visa normally takes about 5 working days from the day after the application is received, if nothing is missing, so apply well before you fly.
With an eVISA, you show its visa issuance notice at immigration on your phone, online: a screenshot, PDF or printout isn’t accepted. Kansai’s Wi-Fi is free, but have it connected, or data on, before you reach the desk.
If you’re on separate tickets
If you booked two separate flights, nobody transfers your bags. You pass immigration and customs, collect them, and check in again for the next flight. So you need to be able to enter Japan, even if you never plan to leave the airport. On a visa-free passport that needs nothing extra.
At the border
Kansai publishes no queue times, so allow about an hour from landing to the train. Peak arrivals can take longer, and a slow queue costs you time in town, not your flight.
Visit Japan Web is Japan’s online arrival service. It isn’t a visa and it’s optional, but if you register your details before you land, the QR code it gives you works at the combined immigration and customs kiosks: from 8am to 10pm in Terminal 1, and 9am to 9pm in Terminal 2. Outside those hours, or without it, you use the staffed desks.
Before you go landside
- Check whether your bags are checked through to your final destination. If you’re collecting them, leave them at the left-luggage counters in Terminal 1 before you head into town.
- Keep your onward boarding pass, and plan to be back at the airport 90 minutes before departure, or earlier if you still need to check in or drop a bag. Check-in deadlines differ by airline.
- Peach, Jeju Air and Spring Airlines fly from Terminal 2, about 20 minutes from the station by the free shuttle with the wait.
How to get into Osaka, and when to head back: getting into the city.