Every year when we go to Japan, we must get "Entertainer" visas. The process is, on the surface, simple:
- Each Sonosians completes a "Certificate Application".
- This application, along with a photocopy of our passports and three passport photos, is sent to our agent in Japan.
- Our agent in Japan takes the applications to the Immigration Authorities in Japan.
- The Immigration Authorities issue a "Certificate of Eligibility" for each Sonosian & send them to our agent in Japan.
- Our agent sends them to us.
- I take the Certificate for each Sonosian, plus their actual passport, plus a completed "Visa Application", plus one passport photo, plus a cover letter on Sonos letterhead saying that I'm allowed to submit & retrieve the passports for the group to the Consulate.
- The Consulate issues visas for each Sonosian.
This year, the first 5 steps of the process went pretty well, as usual. The issues start at step 6, when I take our application packet to the Consulate.
Let's take the "Visa Application Form" as an example. (NOTE: clicking on that link will open/download the PDF)
The first bit looks pretty self explanatory: Name, Sex, Marital Status, Citizenship. But then comes the first "gotcha" question: "Length of stay in Japan intended".
You would think that that is asking you how long you intend to stay in Japan, wouldn't you? For example, "14 days" or "25 days" or "3 days" or something like that. Right?
Well, that's NOT the correct answer to that question, as I found out in 2005. That year, they made me "correct" each application to say "90 days". This is because for US Citizens, the visa is good for 90 days. OK, I can understand that. What if your flight home is delayed for a day, or you decide to stay an extra week, or you're injured and can't leave Japan on the date you intended to leave, or whatever? You would be over-staying your visa & that's illegal. Not good.
In 2006, I put "90 days" as the answer to that question & the Consulate was happy with it. Not this year! THIS year, they had me "correct" each application to read "3 months". Why? Because that's the verbiage that was used on the Certificate of Eligibility.
Next up, the "Passport" line. In the first blank - immediately after the words Refugee or stateless should note title of Travel Document - they want you to put the Country that issued the passport. For example, "USA", or "Finland", or "Canada", etc. How you are supposed to know that, I don't know, but there it is.
Then, you're supposed to put the same text (from the "Authority" section of your passport) in both the blank that is labeled Diplomatic, Ordinary, Official Issued at and the blank that is labeled Issuing authority. I don't know why they have 2 different blanks that are supposed to have the same information -- perhaps there's a type of passport out there that has different information for them. It's not obvious (to me) that those should both have the same info, but whatever.
Next is the "Profession or Occupation" -- but this one actually makes some sense. They do NOT want to know what you do "in real life" - they want to know the profession or occupation that entitles you to have an "Entertainer" visa. For this, every Sonosian puts "artist" and the Consulate is happy.
"Addresses of hotels or names and addresses of persons with whom applicant intends to stay" -- it seems that I always end up missing a bit of the address for this blank. For example, last year we started off in the Tokyo Dome Hotel (our favorite, as you might remember from Jason's An Ode to Tokyo Dome Hotel). The hotel's address is: 1-3-61, Koraku, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo. Last year I left off the "-ku" and so had to correct each and every application. This year, our first hotel is the Hotel New Otani Saga. The itinerary given to me by our agent in Japan lists the address as: 1-2, Yoga-cho, Saga, so that's what I put on the Visa Application form. However, apparently "Saga" is both the name of the city AND the prefecture, so they want me to come back to the Consulate and write in an additional "Saga" after the "Saga" that's already on the Application. Last night, I printed out the page from the hotel's web site that has the address & will take that. It's slightly different than what was on the itinerary, so I need to ask them what they want on the Application.
Then comes the "Dates and duration of previous stays in Japan". Because some of us have been to Japan multiple times, this line can get pretty crowded. Last year, I was able to put "2002 (13 days); 2003 (15 days); 2005 (21 days)" etc. This year, however, they want all the actual dates: "12/8-12/25, 2005" etc.
Finally, the "Signature of applicant". Pretty straight-forward, right? You sign the form & you're done, right? Nope. Your signature on the form must EXACTLY match the signature on your passport, down to the smallest dot or tiddle. This is true even though you may have signed your passport 8 or 9 years ago. Back in 2003, one of the Sonosians (I forget who) signed their form with more loops in the letters than how they signed it on the passport, so I had to have them sign a new form and re-submit it. Yes, it's *that* picky.
So that's the stuff that we have to watch out for for *everyone*. However, this year there were some issues with some of the individual applications, too:
Jim, Cheryl, & Rick have to submit new passport photos. The problem with Jim's & Cheryl's photos is that there is a very small glare on their glasses. The problem with Rick's photo is that he's wearing (slightly) tinted lenses. Those photos were good enough to issue the Certificate, but the Consulate told me "this photo is ok for them, but not for us, please bring another one", so I will have to go back on Monday for that.
JP is a citizen of Finland, but a legal resident of the US. Because the Consulate only issues visas if the "applicant possesses a valid passport and is entitled for the re-entry to a country of which he/she is a national or citizen or a country of his/her residence", I had to take his Green Card to the Consulate to prove that he was entitled to return to the US. They took the Green Card & made a photocopy of it & gave it back to me. Now, it is ILLEGAL for JP to be without his Green Card -- Green Card holders in the US are required to have the GC on their person AT ALL TIMES -- so I picked it up from him that morning & returned it to him that afternoon & we just hope he doesn't get stopped or hospitalized or anything in the time it's gone.
This year, however, they decided that they ALSO wanted to see his Drivers License. They said they needed to see a "second ID". When I pointed out that they already had a copy of his Green Card, they said "it is better if we have a copy of his Drivers License, too". In addition to asking for a copy of the DL to be faxed to them, they want me to bring in the actual physical DL. So, JP faxed a copy of his DL to them this morning & is planning to meet me at the Consulate on Monday morning to show it to them in person.
For Kat, the issue was with her name. On her passport and on the Visa Application form, her last name is hyphenated. However, the Certificate was issued without the hyphen. The Consulate wants her to fax a copy of her Drivers License to them and also wants me to bring it to them in person. The problem is that I can't get the physical license before Monday morning -- Kat lives in LA and is flying to Oakland for rehearsal tomorrow, but she can't leave her DL here with me because she has to get on a plane to go home (which requires a government-issued picture ID) & the Consulate has her passport!
I've left her a voicemail asking how her name is written on her Social Security card. If it's hyphenated, I've asked her to fax it to the Consulate along with her DL. I will then phone the Consulate and speak to our caseworker to see if they would accept the SS card on Monday. Other options are: she takes her DL to the Consulate in LA and they verify it for the Consulate here or she mails it to me (overnight) after she gets home & I take it to the Consulate later in the week (and then I overnight it back to her).
Part of the problem is that we're running out of time. We leave for Japan on Friday morning. I need to pick up the completed passports-with-visas on Thursday. It takes 5 business days to get visas for a group, so the deadline for submitting the applications was yesterday.
Another issue is that the Consulate told me that the last time Rick and Tess re-entered the US, their passports were not stamped by the US border people. Rick says that he saw them do it -- the border people do not always put the entry/exit stamps together (or even on the same page) as they are supposed to, so it's probably on another page. Tess doesn't remember if they stamped hers or not. Our caseworker was not certain if this would be an issue or not (I hope not!) and said that he had to ask the Manager what to do about it. I suspect that the issue is this: without the re-entry stamp, they don't know how long Rick & Tess were out of the country and so don't know if they over-stayed their allowed time in that country.
So that's the sort of picayune stuff that I have to deal with every year when we go to Japan.
