Vaccine Passport Application Guidelines for Japan

As of July 26, 2021, Japan has started giving people access to applying for and receiving vaccine passports for traveling and other purposes. Have you thought about applying for the passport? In this blog, we’ve written out our own version of application guidelines in reference to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s (MHLW) web page for you. Please take a look below.

Vaccine Passport Application Guidelines

Table of Contents

Overview

The vaccine passport is a form of certification to show proof to the immigration department that you’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19. The purpose of it is to help countries control the spread of the new coronavirus. Currently, the vaccine passport is distributed in hard copy. Digital versions are under consideration. The details included in the vaccine passport are as follows:

• Personal information (e.g., name, date of birth, etc.)
• A detailed record of getting the COVID-19 vaccine (e.g., type of vaccine, date of immunization, etc.)

Eligibility

You are eligible to apply for the vaccine passport if you…

• Received the COVID-19 vaccine to follow Japan’s Immunization Act 
  • Priority given to those in the following order: 1) medical personnel, 2) employees who visit their workplaces, 3) those who are in normal circumstances (using the vaccination ticket issued by their municipality), etc.
• Are traveling from Japan to overseas, and your destination country requires the vaccine passport

You are not eligible to apply if you…

• Do not intend to use it when you’re traveling overseas (subject to change)
• Have been vaccinated overseas (in contradiction to Japan’s Immunization Act)

Note: If you’re temporarily returning to Japan as a former Japanese resident living abroad and have been vaccinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, please contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to request a vaccine passport.

Required materials

• Application form
  • Available at your municipal’s office

• Valid passport for traveling overseas
  • Make sure your passport number and the number on your vaccination ticket match. In the case that your passport number changes in between your vaccinations, you will need to reapply for a new vaccine passport after you received your new passport.

• The “Pre-examination only” (予診のみ) section of the vaccination ticket
  • If you do not have it, you will need an official document that has your Individual Number (known as 個人番号 and pronounced as kojin bangō) such as a copy of your residence card. If you do not have any official documents that could provide proof of your Individual Number, you can present your vaccination ticket that shows the address where you received the vaccination.

• Vaccination certificate or official record of your vaccination
• • If you lost either of the two listed items above, you may present a copy of the “Pre-vaccination Screening Questionnaire for COVID-19 Vaccine”

Note: To see if you need any other documents, please check with your municipal’s office.

Where to apply

You can apply for the vaccine passport at your municipal’s office (the office that issued you the vaccination ticket for the COVID-19 vaccine and displayed on your residence card).

If you are vaccinated using vaccination tickets issued by different municipal offices for the first and second time, you will need to visit both offices to apply for the vaccine passport. This is mainly applicable to those who have moved to a different city in between vaccinations.

Smiles hopes this information was useful to you if you plan on applying for the vaccine passport. To view the application details in Japanese by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, please click here.

Related articles:

How to Fill in the Form for the COVID-19 Vaccine Ticket in Japan

COVID-19 Vaccine Update Japan: Q&A’s about Registration, Vaccination Sites, Resources & More