Dummy ticket (flight reservation) for Japan visa: the schedule VFS asks for

What the Japan checklist asks for

• A document showing your flight (or cruise) schedule to and from Japan.
• An itinerary in Japan with your hotel information and your contact details while you are there.
• Your latest income tax return, or a bank statement for the last six months.
• Submission at the VFS Global Japan centre for your consular jurisdiction, up to three months before travel.
• If you live outside India, a check of whether you can apply directly on the Japan eVISA portal.

Japan: the options side by side

What the VFS checklist actually says

The VFS Japan checklist for a tourism visa without a guarantor, New Delhi jurisdiction (dated May 2024), asks for a “Document to show the flight/cruise schedule to/from Japan” and an “Itinerary in Japan (including hotel information, contact information while in Japan)”, along with your latest income tax return or a six-month bank statement.

Note what it does not say. It asks for a document showing the schedule, not a purchased or “confirmed” ticket, although many websites describe it that way. A genuine airline reservation in your name, held without payment, shows the schedule. Never submit an edited ticket PDF: the checklist does not even need a paid one, and a false document is a far bigger problem than a missing one.

Making the itinerary, flights and hotels agree

The itinerary in Japan is the document that ties the file together. Lay it out day by day: day one is the date your flight lands, the last day is the date it leaves, and every night in between names a hotel with its address, matching your hotel reservations. Add a phone number or email where you can be reached, since the checklist asks for contact information while in Japan.

If you visit another country in the middle of the trip, remember that the eVISA is single entry: the flight schedule should show one arrival in Japan and one departure, and a second entry needs a visa that allows it. The checklist accepts a cruise schedule, but the eVISA covers entry by air, so cruise travellers should ask VFS which visa they will receive.

VFS centres and your consular jurisdiction

Indians resident in India apply through VFS Global’s Japan Visa Application Centres, and the centre depends on where you live. New Delhi covers the north and north-east, including Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Mumbai covers Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Kolkata covers West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha; Chennai covers Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Puducherry; Bengaluru covers Karnataka. The Consulate-General in Mumbai moved its applications to VFS from 20 April 2026.

Eligible applicants receive a digital eVISA, launched for India in April 2024 for tourism: single entry, entry by air, stays of up to 90 days. Indians living in some other countries, reported to include the US, UK, Singapore, Australia and Saudi Arabia, can apply on the eVISA portal directly; UAE residents should check whether they are covered.

Timing: five working days at minimum

Processing is given as a minimum of 5 working days, and you can apply up to three months before travel. That is quick by the standards of the US, the UK or Canada, but still longer than an airline will hold an unpaid booking.

Order the reservation for the day you submit at your jurisdiction’s VFS centre, or the evening before at most, and check the names and dates against your passport before you go. The airline sets the hold and can end it at any time, so it will usually lapse before the decision; the reservation documents the schedule you submitted. Five days is a minimum, not a promise, so leave room in your travel dates.

Flying from India to Japan

Your reservation should follow a route you could realistically fly. These are common options; schedules change, so the desk confirms what is bookable for your dates.

Mistakes to avoid with a Japan application

• Buying a non-refundable fare because a website said Japan needs a “confirmed ticket”. The checklist asks for a document showing the schedule.
• An itinerary in Japan that starts or ends on a different day from the flights.
• Hotel reservations that leave a night uncovered, or an itinerary without hotel addresses and contact details.
• Submitting at a VFS centre that does not serve your state’s jurisdiction.
• Planning to leave Japan and return on a single-entry eVISA.
• Waiting for JESTA. Japan’s planned travel authorisation is for visa-exempt nationalities, not Indians.

Dummy ticket and hotel bookings, matched to your itinerary

We do not send one loose document. The desk matches the flight reservation and every hotel booking to your itinerary: the same dates, the same cities, and no night left uncovered. These are the real documents of one order for a Switzerland visa file, issued on 5 November 2026: one flight reservation and four hotel bookings that cover all 9 nights between the two flights. Personal details are blacked out; everything else is as issued.

• Flight reservationEtihad, Hyderabad (HYD) to Zurich (ZRH), status Confirmed
• Hotel booking, ZurichMEININGER Hotel Zürich Greencity, 3 nights
• Hotel booking, GenevaB&B HOTEL Geneva Airport, 3 nights
• Hotel booking, LucerneSeminarhotel Romerohaus, 2 nights
• Hotel booking, Zurich AirportLeonardo Hotel Zurich Airport, 1 night

Open the full documents and the day-by-day table: flight and hotels matched date by date

How to get your Japan flight reservation

Japan questions, answered