Do you need a re entry permit?

EMERGENCY! I need a re-entry permit to Japan in a week! =o?

• Hello there! I'm a very confused college student who needs help as soon as possible! I studied in Japan last semester as a study abroad student, and at the time did not know if I would be accepted back to the school to study there again THIS semester. However, I have just found out that I have been accepted, but the school semester starts in a week there, and I have to leave for Japan for then! However, I ALSO have just discovered that on top of all of this, I need a re-entry permit to get back into the country??? Or otherwise my VISA will become VOID when I return??? Does anyone know how this works and what I can do? Does this mean that I need to get another letter of eligibility from my school and get a new VISA so I can get back in, even though my VISA is for a year? I'm so confused and so scared! Any immediate help will really be appreciated! Thank you so much!

• Answer:

  I know how it works. I'm afraid your visa has already been cancelled. You have to get a re-entry permit before leaving Japan, you can't get it now. You need a new visa, so do what the other person says and get to your nearest embassy ASAP. Plead for urgent help. If you behaved yourself last time they might be helpful but they'll have no chance of getting it to you in a week. A month, perhaps, but even that might be stretching it. 'Does this mean that I need to get another letter of eligibility from my school and get a new VISA so I can get back in' Yes. Your school should have advised you about all this before you left Japan. It doesn't matter how long your visa was valid for, a visa is just permission to enter ONCE. Without a re-entry permit it can't be extended and as I said, you have to get one before leaving Japan. Ironically, it only takes a couple of hours to get one.