Tokyo Games Personnel Given Long-Stay Visas

July 28, 2019

Tokyo- With about a year to go until the start of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the Japanese government began a special initiative allowing foreign people involved in the preparations for the upcoming games to obtain long-term visas.

The visas are expected to be given to about 700 or more people, such as those from the International Olympic Committee, sports federations, television stations with broadcasting rights and sponsor corporations.

It is the first time for Japan to issue special visas for people involved in the summer or winter Olympics and Paralympics held in the country. Foreign personnel involved in the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games, the 1972 Sapporo Winter Games and the 1998 Nagano Winter Games had to apply for back-to-back short-term visas to extend their stays.

The Tokyo Games organizing committee requested that the government grant long-term visas on the grounds that the upcoming Olympics and Paralympics will be larger in scale than the past games in Japan.

On June 17, the government added individuals nominated by the organizing committee to the list of those eligible to receive long-term stay permits under the Designated Activities visa category. The category is usually applied to amateur sports players and people working for diplomats.

Three types of visas allowing holders to stay for three months, six months and a year, respectively, are issued to people involved in the Tokyo Games. The permits can be renewed through around summer 2021, when post-games work is expected to be completed.

Holders of these visas will be allowed to bring their spouses and children to Japan.