Japan is the only willfully bad actor here.

On the heels of Japan's Covid policy widely understood by political observers to have ulterior motives finally coming to an end, they should do what immigration control authorities in countries around the world frequently do, exercise discretion, common sense, and dare I say it, as this is Japan, some human compassion.

Instead, they appeared to gleefully use the letter of the law as cover to deal with a foreigner in the most heavy handed way possible. Had imprisoning her been an option not risking what I understand to be their already shaky ground within the visa exemption agreement with the US, I think they might've done that.

I'm curious - it certainly seems that the Japanese tour operator is the one at fault. I would agree that UA is not in a position to guarantee the efficacy of Japanese visas, only that you had something that appeared to be a visa on its face, and so is not at fault.

But what has the tour operator offered to do? Have you asked them for compensation? It seems they should be the ones responsible.

If the topic of the piano tour did not come up in your interaction, then I really have no idea what happened here, except an error by the tour company in your visa application or by the agency that issued the visa. I would suggest pushing the tour company to get to the bottom of this and involving your local consulate as needed to make sure your next entry goes smoothly.

Just to add some commentary regarding another poster’s claim that the factory tour was a form of tourism, many immigration departments, including the USA, would consider visiting a factory to be a form of business intent even if we know that it’s really not. It’s just a risk when dealing with very difficult immigration departments who have wide latitude in interpreting a visitor’s intent, so asking the right questions beforehand is essential. I just wanted to make sure this topic did not come up in the OP’s interaction with this particular immigration inspector.

Yes, relied on the tour guide and they failed to fulfill what they promised. They offered to refund me $1000 of the tour package for their mistake. The tour guide also informed me that I may be banned from the re-entering Japan for a period of time to be determined because of this error. I am waiting to hear how long that might be.

There is no difference in a short term business trip or tourist status for US travelers to Japan and vice versa under an agreement with with United States.

The visa requirement is entirely part of temporary covid restrictions and if anything, business trips were given deference under those temporary requirements where tourism was not.

So in 30 hours, no visa would've been required in either case.

Again, discretion could've been easily exercised, but, you know, not all are pleased at the return of gaigin to Japan's pristine land.

I'm wondering if that pdf form was not a visa - but the ERFS that allows you to apply for a visa from the Japanese embassy/consultate. It sounds like you possibly missed the most important step of getting a visa issued in your passport. There might have been some misunderstanding in what the Houston consulate told you - they're not wrong that tourist visas are done through a tour group, but unless you handed your passport over to the tour agency and delegated them the authority to apply for a visa with the consulate and embassy using the ERFS, then you only had the first step completed. The consulate's message is probably that you cannot directly apply for a visa without an agency/business providing you the ERFS.

Understood, but the trip did not happen before Oct 11.

So now it seems possible that the OP received the electronic approval but did not go forward with actually applying for the e-visa online, but that theory I believe would depend on when the trip was booked. IIRC, when Japan initially “opened”, only supervised tours were allowed from designated vendors who took care of the entire process including getting the visa issued.

So question for the OP - did you have an actual visa embossed in your passport or can you post a copy of what you presented to immigration with your personal details redacted? Maybe someone knowledgeable here can recognize what happened.

You could arrange a supervised tour directly with an agency in Japan, which wouldn't be able to get you the visa. They would be then only able to provide the ERFS which you then use to apply with the local consulate. It's not been clear from OP's messages if he used a Japan-based or US-based agency. The e-Visa system only went live latter part of August, so if he had gotten his visa before that, then there is only the physical visa attached to a passport available. There is no e-visa issued prior to I think 19/20th August.

Maybe there is some relatively easy appeal process for that (if worth it), or at least even if you are technically banned for a while, it should be obvious somewhere (in some notes) that this was relatively innocuous and the rare fault of your visa preparer...

Based on bad advice, I showed up at the British Virgin Islands with improper documents by boat. I had an Enhanced Driver’s license because I was told they were a member of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and they weren’t. They lectured me, I gave them a puppy eyes apology and was paroled in.

Japan and Australia are the two difficult allies. Australia will try to work through the problem but their anti-immigration policies have had the spillover effect of stripping border agent’s of granting discretionary admissions which their counterparts in other countries have. British notions of procedural fairness soften the blow a little, but don’t go far enough. Japan is also problematic on criminal inadmissibility. In theory, there is no discretionary waivers even for very old criminal offenses even which have been expunged or pardoned. How Paul McCartney gets into Japan demonstrates there is an exception for the very rich and connected, but they will deny it until the cows come home.

I think we have a terminology issue here. The visa is not "filed with the correct authorities" - it's issued by the correct authorities. It sounds to me that they filled out the visa application but did not (fully) submit ("file") it. A properly filled out but unfiled visa application is not a visa that's not filed with the correct authorities - it's not a visa at all. It's kind of like filling out an application for a passport but then forgetting to send it into the State Department: a copy of your application isn't a "passport not filed with the correct authorities" - it's not a passport at all in any sense of the word - it's just an application for one that was never filed properly. I think my guess here is correct, as I can't think of any other set of circumstances that would be consistent with what you said above.

This is such an unfortunate set of circumstances, and I'm sorry to hear it. It sounds like you did everything you thought you needed to: you first contacted the consulate, who told you you needed a Japanese tour operator to arrange for things. You did so, and relied on them to do the paperwork, not knowing the distinction between an ERFS certificate and a visa. And, the airline didn't catch it. Had you been following the thread here on FT on such matters, you probably would have caught it, but you were probably doing more important things, like saving your patients' lives.

As a point of order, he was refused entry, not deported. Deportation happens after you're admitted (or otherwise get into the country illegally). The question on the arrival card does ask "Any history of deportation or refusal of entry?" so in that regard it's moot case, as you'll always have to answer Yes to that question. But any affect on future admissibility that apply to people that have been previous deported would not apply to this situation unless they also apply to people that have been refused entry. I don't know how Japan works in this regard, and "contact the consulate" is probably good advice in this case, even though I think that advice can be overused in some other situations.

The airlines can't really charge the customer for the return because they weren't the ones requesting the transportation. If anything, the airline would charge the government of Japan because they were the ones demanding the passenger be put on the plane. Besides, there might not have been a charge anyway considering they would (likely) have a credit for canceling their original return.

If the OP never had a visa for entry then how did UA let the passengers board in the first place? That part doesn't make sense, at least on the surface.

This doesn't seem like much of a refund. If it was the travel agency's mistake (BTW, how did you find this travel agent?), there should be a complete refund, including the cost of your RT plane tickets, airport transportation, any prepayments or cancellation fees for hotels, etc. (but not lost salary). Normally travel documents are the passenger's responsibility, but if you're paying a travel agent who says "here's your visa" when it's not a visa, that would seem clearly to be the travel agent's fault.

Is the travel agent saying that the visa application wasn't filed with *any* Japanese government agency or that it was filed but it was filed with the wrong agency? Could there have been miscommunication (does the travel agent have good English, assuming you used a travel agent in Japan?) with the travel agent sending you a document that you needed to use to get a visa but the travel agent not explaining this to you? Could it be that the travel agent doesn't understand the process at all and is inexperienced in dealing with foreigners who need visas (under the now out-of-date rules)? Were you instructed to show the emailed "visa document" to your airline and to border officials?

Did the travel agent send you something in Japanese or in English or both? Did the document say "VISA"?

It sounds like you and your son had a traumatic experience.

I am not sure what happened to you but it seems to me that you were "denied entry" rather than "deported."

Getting deported happens, for example, when people overstay their visas or get caught in violation of the terms of their visas. In such cases, they are typically prohibited from entering to Japan for some time. If you were denied entry because of an error in documentation you may find that you are free to enter Japan when you have satisfactory documentation. As of today (October 11) there is no longer a visa requirement, so the documentation requirements are minimal. Of course, you should check with a Japanese embassy.

Speaking from personal experience of having been denied entry to Canada over 20 years ago - It has not prevented me from visiting and even working there, but it does mean that I get called for secondary interview when I arrive. That's inconvenient and time consuming but not disastrous.

I think that there are two points that you need to deal with:

1) Establish what happened and what was at fault with your documentation
You need to establish what was wrong with the documentation that you had.
It's possible that the agent made an error in the application. In that case, I think it's likely that you can get some compensation from the agent. (I am not a lawyer).
It's also possible that the agent issued you with the certificate for ERFS registration, which you were required to take to a Japanese embassy to get a visa issued. In that case it may be difficult to establish who is at fault. Were you instructed to get on the plane with just the certificate?

2) Establish whether you are subject to any restriction on entry to Japan
First of all, I think you need to clear up the confusion about what happened (see point 1 above) and then discuss the matter with a Japanese embassy or consulate. I presume that you received some paperwork when you were sent back to the US? Keep it all to document what happened,.

I hope that you can recover quickly from the trauma and that you soon get clarity on what went wrong and what you can do about it. I feel optimistic that you will be able to visit Japan again soon.

Do we pretend the contract of carriage doesn't exist or that somehow it's not being agreed to when we purchase a ticket?

Rule 19 from United's (posted in the 2nd reply of this thread) clearly indicates the passenger is agreeing to pay the applicable fare for being returned on government order. And United isn't the only one with this language.

Delta in Rule 16b of their contract of carriage (https://www.delta.com/us/en/legal/co...f-carriage-igr)


Similarly in AA's contract of carriage (https://www.aa.com/content/images/ta...nal-tariff.pdf), rule 45b(2)
And no, that's not a mistake that the quotes are exactly the same, all the carriers use the exact same language with regards to this situation. I won't quote the United contract of carriage since it was previously posted, but yes it is the exact same language too if you don't want to look back at that post. My gut is this is standard language published by IATA and you will find it on every airline that has an international tariff.

Yes they could have a credit for the return, since this was hopefully a round trip, and that would likely be applied. But if the fare had a Saturday night stay or other minimum stay requirement, which a good majority of international round trip do unless they are unrestricted fares, that was no longer being met, the airline could come back on that front too. Basically the rule in each of them allows the airline, at their discretion, to charge the applicable fare for what is actually flown because that is what the passenger is agreeing to allow them to do by accepting the contract of carriage and choosing to fly on the airline.

Trying to extract even more money from a customer, who's already paid many thousands, in this situation is a losing proposition for any airline. It's probably why I've never personally heard of an airline actually going ahead with such a boneheaded move.

In practical terms, you're probably right. I also haven't heard of a situation where the airline came after a passenger for a fare difference because, for example, a minimum stay requirement wasn't met. I'd also think it's fairly rare for the airline to try to collect a fare at all from a passenger that was denied entry but traveling on a one-way ticket. In this case, they'd certainly be returned in economy, regardless of the original class of service. However, if the passenger has a round-trip ticket, you can take it to the bank that the airline will consider the flight back to have used the return portion of the original ticket.

I have never had to apply for a visa for entering Japan. Since when was this a requirement?

Visa waivers for all foreign passports were suspended through the pandemic. Visa waiver program restarted yesterday - October 11.

During the bogus covid "reopening" with North Korea like minder requirements for tourists introduced a number of months ago.

That's great it worked out for you, but I would never expect an immigration official of any country to be flexible in such a situation. Had the roles been reversed and a foreign national tried to enter the US without proper documents, the outcome would have been the exact same.

I think this has already been mentioned but the tour agency could not have applied for the visa on OPs behalf. They would have had to either go to the consulate, or apply for an eVisa themselves. Since that did not happen, my bet is the tour guide sent the ERFS but no actual visa was issued as I am not sure what other PDF the tour agency could have even sent to remotely be confused for a visa.

​​​​​​That being the case, I don't believe the tour guide is necessarily at fault here, and all parties have some degree of culpability: Japan authorities for perhaps not being more clear that an ERFS is not a visa (the US usually writes this on official documents so as to avoid confusion), OP for not looking into the requirements more thoroughly, and United for letting them board with just an ERFS.

OP, I am deeply sorry you experienced this. It sounds like you have a strong reverence for Japan (judging by your piano selection) and intended to honor all of the (former) egregious entry requirements.

I would focus on the possible errors with the travel agency. Please DM me at any time if you would like to be connected with reputable counsel in Tokyo with deep experience representing non-Japanese in Japan civil matters.

Sorry to hear this. It's little comfort, but you are just the latest of probably a hundred thousand people to get rogered by the Government of Japan during this period. The ridiculous xenophobic policies of this government needlessly scarred the lives of many non-Japanese by forcibly separating families and driving international students and new hires into poverty and hardship. Sadly you caught the tail end of it. (I didn't see my wife for two years because of their hospitality)

With the rules constantly changing and documentation online sometimes unclear, it's understandable that mistakes could be made. As some others have suggested, the most likely cause was that your travel agent did not fully understand the visa procedures. Travel agents have been instructed to issue a PDF document to their clients called the "Certificate for Completion of Registration issued by the ERFS" (ERFS). Here in the UK, we'd then take the ERFS to the Embassy of Japan along with the tourist visa application form and have a physical visa issued in the passport. However, in the US, Japanese missions are trialling an eVisa system. Although it's possible for your travel agent to apply for this on your behalf, the website suggests this is only allowed if you lack the capacity to do so yourself. If you have no memory of visiting https://www.evisa.mofa.go.jp/ and completing an application yourself, it is most likely that you didn't have a visa at all.

Even though the visa waiver programme is now back in effect, it'd be worth hearing from you if you ever determine what happened. People who are applying for work/study visas through the eVisa system could still get caught out

delete accidental double post

So, there was not a visa issued at all, and the preparer and/or client were not even aware of that...It looks like misunderstanding and/or miscommunication...

But then the question becomes how did UA not catch that he didn't have a visa at all?

Probably lack of experience of what a visa for Japan would look like, since there is usually a visa waiver program for US citizens.

That pdf should have clearly displayed though either "VISA" or "This is not a VISA", IMO.

The check-in agent would probably have used an IATA database provided to the airlines where you plug in the nationality of the traveller and the destination. This system will provide a text overview of the requirements when they were last updated, but it's hardly detailed enough to make an accurate judgement. These agents are being asked to be immigration agents for a hundred different countries with virtually no training. Especially when you consider this agent can be at an outstation that has no flights to Japan.

You'll find that there is a significant difference between the visa checks done by Japanese airline staff and European or US airline staff. For Japanese airline staff, checking Japanese visas + MySOS is their bread and butter. They follow internal guidance rather than generic IATA info.

This is not a UA issue at all! If anything, UA stepped up heroically by opping-up OP to J class.

I suppose that's the "good side of the coin" as I've had arguments with US agents thinking I didn't have proper docs when I did.

More likely "we can just use her return ticket" vs the usual "we need to eat the return fare like we do 99% of the time with immigration refusal".

That can be sorted out on the back end with some force of will and elbow grease. The 12 hours in US-legacy carrier basic economy can not!

Right - TIMATIC would pop up and say "visa is required", and OP would wave an official-looking document issued by Japan and say it's a visa. Not at all hard for a counter agent to make a mistake like that.

From what I understand the vast majority of involuntary returns are travelers on one-way ticket identified as likely illegal workers.

I'll bet J travelers on a week long ticket are almost never seen in this position.

The instructions are far more detailed than that, causing more grief than clarity in a lot of situations:


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...dd0a681a7.jpeg

OP, this is just an incredible story and a very sad one. So sorry to hear about the trouble here. I have no advice to offer that's any better than the other commenters. I only hope that your case was truly an anomaly.

However, I've noted a lot of the responses in this thread discuss Japanese xenophobia and the immigration officer's unwillingness to be helpful for something that was about to change in just a matter of days. Not to say that this isn't the case, but I'm old enough to remember when Northwest Airlines started flights from Tokyo to Portland, OR in 2000 and quickly became known in Japanese circles as "Deportland" as they regularly would deny entry to Asian travelers at dramatically high rates compared to other ports of entry. There was even an incident of strip-searching a businesswoman with what seems like little to no cause. At the time I was living in Tokyo, and my Japanese colleagues basically refused to take that flight (Northwest was our corporate airline at the time), and they would take other connections, even longer ones, to avoid it.

I, myself, was looking forward to a trip to Japan next summer. I'm hoping that I don't have to rethink that - especially when traveling with my family.

Seattle Times article: https://archive.seattletimes.com/arc...1&slug=4041807
NY Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/31/u...h-the-ins.html

In ignorance that a third party can't apply for a eVisa, the agent could have done exactly that. The agent would have gotten an official visa pdf file to forward. With some imagination it also fits the "visa was appropriately filled out but she had not filed it with the correct authorities" story.

The most important question regarding this situation is, were you able to use the lounge before your forced departure?

I'll just third the suggestion that OP actually had a "Certificate for Completion of Registration to the ERFS System" and not an actual visa. If it was an e-visa, the PDF would say "Visa Issuance Notice" and have a visa number written on it. The travel agent should have explained how to apply for the visa, and if not, this entire situation is their fault.