Dunno how many of you guys knew this, but when I went to collect my card today, the lady at the office told me that I don’t have to go to immigration! All you need is a my number card, zairyu card, computer, ic card reader and then you have to download some software from the Key Infrastructure website. (They can never make it easy huh.) but at least I don’t have to queue up for hours in the cold. Has anyone tried this? What was your experience?
7 comments
Yes. I renewed my visa online the day it was made available. (march 16th I think)
Took 2 months to renew.
Very hard to use and you have to install like 3 stuff on your PC to make it work.A lot of people know about it, but some of them can’t even get the website to detect the IC card.
This will surely get better over time. There were a lot of posts from frustrated applicants that couldn’t get it to work when this option became available. The requirements of the system for hardware and browsers used were quite narrow IIRC.
Yes, there are many posts and guides regarding this in this sub. Also people have mixed reaction on it.
I tried to do it last month, but it was kinda hassle for me.
I went to immigration and process was done within an hour.
Didn’t know this! Thanks!
Just ordered an IC card since I’ll be renewing in the next couple months.
Slow. Lots of error messages. Needs a card reader and some additional software for your computer.
Better to go to immigration directly imo, unless you live somewhere super remote.
Doing it online should make it easier and faster. But in its current state, it’s slower and harder. So unfortunately, I’m still gonna go and do it in person until they bring the online system up to modern standards.
If you can get over the hump of getting it set up, the process is well worth the time saved on a trip I think. I submitted about two weeks ago and am still waiting on the result. For reference, it takes me about a 4 hours round trip with a 1-2 hour wait typically. It took about 2 hours in total for me to submit everything online. The 2 hours included the installing and figuring out the card reader and getting it to actually work. Should be golden on the next renewal though.