In a policy notice published on 25 February 2026 Japan announced that visa applicants in Chennai, Kochi, Hyderabad, Puducherry and the already-pilot city of Bengaluru must pre-book a time-slot online before they can lodge papers at VFS Global. Walk-in submissions will be refused.
![Japan makes appointments mandatory at five VFS centres in India from 2 March 2026]()
For applicants looking for a streamlined way to navigate these new requirements, VisaHQ’s India portal (https://www.visahq.com/india/) offers an end-to-end scheduling and document-checking service. The platform can monitor slot releases across all five VFS centres, flag earlier openings, and ensure paperwork meets Japan’s latest standards—saving both leisure travellers and corporate mobility managers valuable time.
The change is part of a wider Asian roll-out of appointment-only processing aimed at crowd control during cherry-blossom and autumn-foliage peaks. For Indian leisure and MICE operators the immediate impact is longer lead times: popular March-April departures will now require appointment availability as well as flight and hotel inventory. Corporate mobility teams should block slots as soon as travel is authorised, since same-week appointments are unlikely once the rule takes hold. Applicants must first complete the online form, pay any fees and then choose a slot in the VFS portal; a confirmation letter must be shown on entry to the visa centre. VFS says rescheduling is possible but warns that missing an appointment counts as a no-show, forcing applicants to wait 24 hours before the system allows a fresh booking. The measure dovetails with Japan’s long-term digital roadmap. Tokyo plans to introduce an electronic travel authorisation (JESTA) for visa-exempt passengers by 2028; officials told Japanese media the current appointment system will feed data into that platform. Travel counsellors should update travellers from satellite cities—such as Visakhapatnam or Trichy—that they may face an overnight stop to attend their nearest appointment-mandated VFS centre. Those filing in Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata remain unaffected for now, but sources indicate the model could be extended nationwide before the summer rush.
For applicants looking for a streamlined way to navigate these new requirements, VisaHQ’s India portal (https://www.visahq.com/india/) offers an end-to-end scheduling and document-checking service. The platform can monitor slot releases across all five VFS centres, flag earlier openings, and ensure paperwork meets Japan’s latest standards—saving both leisure travellers and corporate mobility managers valuable time.
The change is part of a wider Asian roll-out of appointment-only processing aimed at crowd control during cherry-blossom and autumn-foliage peaks. For Indian leisure and MICE operators the immediate impact is longer lead times: popular March-April departures will now require appointment availability as well as flight and hotel inventory. Corporate mobility teams should block slots as soon as travel is authorised, since same-week appointments are unlikely once the rule takes hold. Applicants must first complete the online form, pay any fees and then choose a slot in the VFS portal; a confirmation letter must be shown on entry to the visa centre. VFS says rescheduling is possible but warns that missing an appointment counts as a no-show, forcing applicants to wait 24 hours before the system allows a fresh booking. The measure dovetails with Japan’s long-term digital roadmap. Tokyo plans to introduce an electronic travel authorisation (JESTA) for visa-exempt passengers by 2028; officials told Japanese media the current appointment system will feed data into that platform. Travel counsellors should update travellers from satellite cities—such as Visakhapatnam or Trichy—that they may face an overnight stop to attend their nearest appointment-mandated VFS centre. Those filing in Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata remain unaffected for now, but sources indicate the model could be extended nationwide before the summer rush.
