Do Greek passport holders need a visa for Japan?

No. Greek citizens do not need a visa to visit Japan. Greece is on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ list of countries with a visa exemption arrangement, so you are granted Temporary Visitor status for up to 90 days at the border for tourism, business meetings or visiting relatives. Unlike Germany or the United Kingdom, Greece has no six-month bilateral arrangement, so 90 days is the ceiling.

Visa required

No, visa-free entry

Maximum stay

Up to 90 days, no 6-month bilateral extension

Status granted

Temporary Visitor, issued at landing

Purpose covered

Tourism, business meetings, visiting relatives

Pre-registration

Visit Japan Web, online, free

Cost

Free

Work permitted

No

Entry requirements

• A Greek passport valid for the whole of your stay. The Greek identity card is not a travel document for Japan.
• A return or onward ticket. Immigration lists a return air ticket as the standard evidence that you will leave.
• Evidence that you can pay for the stay, such as a bank balance, if the officer asks.
• An address in Japan: a hotel booking, or the address of the relatives or friends you are staying with.
• Optionally, the Visit Japan Web registration completed before you fly, so the immigration and customs declarations are already on file.

What happens when you arrive

There is nothing to apply for in advance. If you want to save time, register your passport and trip on Visit Japan Web, the Digital Agency service for completing the immigration and customs procedures online. It is free and produces QR codes to show at the counters. Paper declaration forms remain available on the plane.

At immigration you present your passport and are granted landing permission as a Temporary Visitor. The period of stay is stamped or recorded, normally 90 days for Greek passport holders, counted from the day you land.

Extensions are the exception, not the rule. The Immigration Services Agency states that an extension of a Temporary Visitor stay is granted in principle only for genuinely unavoidable humanitarian reasons, for example the need for medical treatment, and is applied for at a regional immigration office before the stay expires.

Good to know

• Greece is not one of the six-month countries. On the same MOFA list, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom carry a note allowing stays of up to six months under older bilateral arrangements. Greece carries no such note, so a Greek passport gets 90 days and the Ministry of Justice extension route described for those countries does not apply to you.
• Bring the passport, not the ταυτότητα. Greeks cross into Italy, Cyprus and the rest of the EU on the national identity card, and the new card looks like something an airline might accept. Japan is outside the EU, the card has no standing there, and Greek carriers and Gulf hubs will refuse boarding to Tokyo without a passport.
• Ninety days is per entry, but it is not a cycle to reset by flying to Seoul and back. Temporary Visitor is a status for short stays, and someone who has spent most of the last year in Japan on back-to-back 90-day entries, whether to be near family, to work remotely or to try out living there, can be questioned or refused landing. Anything longer needs a proper status of residence arranged before you travel.
• The Temporary Visitor status excludes paid work of any kind. Attending meetings, a trade fair or a conference is fine. Being paid by a Japanese employer, or taking seasonal hospitality work, is not, and cannot be fixed by changing status from inside Japan.

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

• Japan travel guide
• Do Mauritians need a visa for Japan?
• Do Guatemalans need a visa for Greece?
• Check visa requirements for any passport

Other passports for Japan

• Finland passport holders visiting Japan
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines passport holders visiting Japan
• Lebanon passport holders visiting Japan
• Georgia passport holders visiting Japan
• Iraq passport holders visiting Japan
• Jamaica passport holders visiting Japan

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against the official sources below on 22 August 2026.

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan — List of Countries and Regions that have Visa Exemption Arrangements with Japan: Greece listed under Europe with no note marker; "90 days for other countries and regions"; Note 8 on 6-month bilateral arrangements does not cover Greece (archived copy of 2026-08-03, mofa.go.jp refuses automated access). Read 2026-08-22.
• Immigration Services Agency of Japan — Status of residence "Temporary Visitor" (在留資格「短期滞在」): activities covered, period of stay of 90, 30 or 15 days, and extension granted in principle only for unavoidable humanitarian reasons such as medical treatment (archived copy of 2025-03-26, moj.go.jp refuses automated access). Read 2026-08-22.
• Digital Agency of Japan — Visit Japan Web: "a service that allows you to perform arrival procedures (immigration, customs) and Tax-free shopping service online" (services.digital.go.jp/en/visit-japan-web, archived copy of 2026-08-03). Read 2026-08-22.

Entry rules change without notice and the official source is always the authority. Confirm with the embassy or immigration portal before you book.