No Space on Passport
 

I have an upcoming trip to Japan next week, and I just realized I have no space on my passport the entry sticker on my passport. I have tried getting an emergency appointment prior to my trip, but none are available. Would I be denied entry at immigration if there is no space on my passport the landing sticker?

No. If the airline is doing its job, it will deny you boarding, and you won't even get close to immigration.
If you make it as far as Japanese immigration and you literally have no space in the passport, you will probably be denied entry. If you have no empty pages but space on a page for a sticker and a stamp ... and you're charming and lucky, you might get in.

OP,
Depending on where you live, you might be able to go to one of the Passport Agencies that can issue on the same day. You'll need to have proof of imminent travel and all of your pictures, application, etc. with you when get there. I've had to do it a couple of times in San Francisco and in Washington DC once walk-in and a couple more with an appointment on the next day. All of them were pre-COVID but a couple of friends have had three day fly out orders in the last year or so and they were able to get to an agency and get one that day.

State Department website is <https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast.html>

Hope it works out for you.

I got lucky once in that situation. Had no space left and travelled to Japan. Check-in personnel did not check if passport had space. At immigration, the officer flipped all the pages, sighed, looked puzzled, looked at me … and without me having to beg, decided to place the stick horizontally and partially covering another stamp in one of the pages.

I then went on to Singapore, where I got scolded by suggesting the immigration officer he could stamp on page number “x”. It would fit, tightly, but fit. The officer took personal offense, raised his voice, and said I would not be allowed in. I was very nice throughout all the process, apologized, mentioned the passport issuing authority in my country was shut down for the lack of official passport paper (which was true). He then sent me to a separate room, where another officer asked me 10,000 questions, after which he stamped me in. Exactly were I had suggested the other officer could stamp …

In Singapore, I was able to contact my Embassy. Explained the situation, also got kind of lectured by them, but was able to issue a new passport in the following day.

Not a comfortable situation …

I was actually thinking about this topic. I have to say I'm not really impressed with how Japanese officials are placing the sticker on my passport. This means it'll take up more space than necessary and may mean I'll run out of pages before it's time to renew.

Cannot second this.. my sticker+stamps start at the VERY (top-)left; next year/one is like really tightly below the upper one (whole page free otherwise).
Also sticker+stamp is considerably small. Not like full page funky-blinky making the passport impossible to stay closed by itself and so on..

Or comparing that to other countries where they just slam the stamp into the middle of the empty page...

No, JP immigration is not a space waster in my experience..

My most recent Japanese stamp could be placed a bit closer to the top left corner of the blank page so I can squeeze more stamps/stickers in. Instead, there is a bit of space on the top and to the left of the stamp. The dude could have made a better effort.

I've requested that the Japanese immigration officers place the stamps on specific pages, and they always comply. (My passport real estate is also nearing Hong Kong levels of crowding) However, the stamp is a bit oversized; ah, at least there's no more departure card to fill out.

I used to relish getting stamps. Now it's just a pain. Ironically, that's where Hong Kong gets a plus (no more stamps), and a minus (that stupid easily lost chit which prints out). Macau is the same.

My last passport was so full, someone even stamped the other side of the photo page. Got stuck at Cairo immigration for an hour trying to explain the deal.

I had a look at some old passports, and I found one where Japan (and a few other countries) placed the stamp on the last few pages listed as "Endorsements", which aren't supposed to hold visas or entry stamps. This wasn't out of necessity; I suspect that the agent opened the passport and this was the first blank page he saw. In fairness, that version of the US passport didn't really differentiate this page from visa pages as much as previous ones did. I did once get criticized in Switzerland because my (also Swiss) entry stamp was placed on one of these Endorsement pages and it's not supposed to be (not sure if he expected me to correct the entry agent???)

That all said, I would not travel without sufficient space in the passport for all expected stamps, plus some buffer. Not all airlines check, and the risk of getting turned back at immigration is high. If you're in the US, you can contact your rep or senator, sometimes their offices can help for emergency travel doc cases.

And if you visit Japan often enough + qualify for TTP, go for the TTP

Application in progress...

How will this address the potential problem?

When you use TTP machine to enter, the visitor entry is printed on the rear of TTP card (no passport sticker).

Downside = some retailers may not be familiar enough with the TTP card and deny tax-free.

When you use TTP machine to enter, the visitor entry is printed on the rear of TTP card (no passport sticker). Someone had an image into his thread.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trus...-2016-a-7.html.

https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/publicatio...ine_index.html


Downside = some retailers may not be familiar enough with the TTP card and deny tax-free.

You have to enter japan to do secondary, so it still won't solve the current problem, and an airline can deny boarding with no space left (though i've never seen one actually check my passport that closely)

I was able to use it at any place I went to for tax free, including a train hobby shop. You still need to have your passport, but every place accepted the TTP card, though some places (looking at you donki) needed some prodding.

true. It's more for long term planning (if you do visit Japan enough to collect their stickers , TPP would help reduce how fast you run out of pages (and help avoid some of the immigration queues if possible)