Marine Spouse on Accompanied Orders

Hello, I hope this forum is still active because me and my husband desperately need help. My husband is a U.S marine and we are both on accompanied PCS orders for Okinawa Japan, however, I had to do delayed entry because I wasn’t able to get my passport on time; when I did get my passport and entered Japan, it was on a commercial plane ticket and not a command ticket, so I went through Japanese Immigration in Tokyo Haneda airport before making my last connecting flight to Okinawa…Unfortunately, although I had copies of my accompanied PCS orders, military spouse ID, and wrote on my entry slip my reasons for entering japan ( I wrote that I was on accompanied military orders as a spouse ) the guy giving the stamps must not have understood and not cared because he gave me a “landing permission, 90 day temporary visitor” stamp instead and moved me along…I was in a hurry trying to make my connecting flight and didn’t notice the mistake…so here is my situation now, my husband and I are putting in a package for order change to recruitment since we are unable to get housing ( personal reasons ) and we will likely be sent back to the states…I plan to leave early once the package is signed and approved, and go back to the states to stay with family until my husband is sent back as well…the problem is, my passport expires this October 2nd ! And I will most likely still be staying with my husband in hotels for months from now until we get our order change approved…I hadn’t realized the mistake, and now it’s already a few days from October and we’re both unsure what to do and how to obtain a SOFA VISA…As I said before, I am still on accompanied PCS orders with my husband, none of that has been changed yet, and i’m sure I can stay out here in hotels with him just fine by only giving our military ID’s for check in but my issue is what happens when I need to leave back to the states ? Will I be detained at the airport because my passport had expired ? Would I be fined ? I’m just not sure what to do…I’m having my husband email legal today so that hopefully we can be seen and have this mess sorted out by the end of the week but please let me know what the best course of action would be…thank you.

TLDR; Japanese Immigration mistakenly gave me a “landing permission 90 day visitor” stamp on my passport instead of a SOFA VISA despite me being on accompanied PCS orders as a military spouse and having given all necessary documentation ( military ID, official orders, etc. ) and now my passport is expiring in less than a week and I plan to leave back for the states months from now and am unsure what to do to acquire a SOFA VISA urgently…

You need to either (1) go to the immigration bureau, explain the situation, and ask them to extend your Temporary Visitor status as an emergency measure until you get the SOFA status sorted out, or (2) go to the base office where they take care of the SOFA status, and get it changed, then report it to immigration bureau. (I do not know the process for obtaining SOFA status, so please check with the relevant office.)

Your passport is not expiring - it is the status that will expire.

In either case, please do it before your current Temporary Visitor status expires - even if it was a mistake, it IS what you have now, and do not let it expire. You will not be detained, but overstaying could affect your future visits to Japan. So please act before it expires, and do not wait till the end of the week.

Does your passport also expire???? Then you urgently need to get a new one. Speak with your embassy.

…the problem is, my passport expires this October 2nd !
you need to resolve this ASAP, contact embassy to expedite your passport/emergency travel document
https://jp.usembassy.gov/passports/emergency-passport-services/

next since you already in Japan with 90days landing permit and planning to leave soon?(within that 90 days), there is no use whatsover for SOFA since you mentioned ..

so here is my situation now, my husband and I are putting in a package for order change to recruitment since we are unable to get housing ( personal reasons ) and we will likely be sent back to the states…I plan to leave early once the package is signed and approved, and go back to the states to stay with family until my husband is sent back as well

there is no reason to get SOFA now isn't it? you're going back soon, you're in Japan now on visa waivers 90days stays. leave Japan within that 90days, with your new/emergency passport.

so get your soon expiring passport problem resolve ASAP, you cannot leave Japan with expired passport.

Oh I’m sorry I misread your question, so it IS your passport that is expiring, not the 90 days. I thought you were asking about the 90-days…

I’m sorry everyone, I was typing quite fast and realized in the replies my mistake. No my passport is not expiring, I just had it issued and it’s valid for the next 10 years; I meant to say my passport STAMP is expiring on October 2nd…today is already the first, my husband claims to have talked to the S1 in the legal office and they told him that because I’m on official orders it shouldn’t be a problem but I don’t believe that for a moment…as I said before, I plan to leave as soon as his package for our order change is signed and approved; which could be anytime from next month to early next year…so i’ll be out here for a while until then…which brings us all back to my main issue; they gave me a 90day temporary visitor stamp instead of issuing me a SOFA VISA when I originally went through immigration in Haneda, and so my temporary visitor stay that they issued expires tomorrow…what happens when I need to leave back the the states months from now and they see my expired visitor stamp ? I’m scared to imagine how high the fine must be, or the possibility of being detained…so how do I go about getting a SOFA VISA ? who do I contact on base ?Unfortunately I don’t have the time or resources to get an appointment or go to the embassy in Naha by tomorrow so the earliest I can go to the embassy would be maybe the end of the week or next week…please let me know what you think the best course of action is ? I’m having my husband make an appointment with legal on base for consultation and notify his command of the situation…

Your options/outlook and good luck ...

You can do visa run, flyout Japan before your stays expired, to Korea/Taiwan and re-enter Japan with new/fresh 90days stay. And then apply for change to SOFA Status?


https://stjececmsdusgva001.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/public/document...
Above is the link on how to convert to SOFA Status as resident in Japan, (which is this case you're on temporary visitor status)?


you don't have SOFA status, your temp. stays is expired, you will be consider as overstay?
If caught, worse Deprtation, you'll be detained , fined or imprisonment, ban from re-entering Japan 5-10years.

Best, is Departure Order, where you voluntarily 'surrender' at immigration office. You'll be allow to leave Japan WITHOUT detention, ban for 1 year.

Departure Order: https://dsg.or.jp/column/marriage/4933/

*Overstaying the permitted period of stay is punishable with an imprisonment, with/without hard labor, not exceeding three years or a fine not exceeding three million yen.

** what was your intial plan/information on getting SOFA status in the first place?

As far as I know, and my knowledge is limited to the “usual”(non-military) immigration into Japan, NOT the SOFA status at all:

As far as I know, if you entered Japan as Temporary Visitor, which you did, and was given 90 days, you need to leave before it expires, or, if some emergency requires you to stay a bit longer (such as making a mistake with the booking of the return flight, or by chance missing the return flight, are the cases I’ve read about), you ask for an emergency extension of the Temporary Visitor status for a short while, and manage to leave before the extended expiry date comes.

If you fail to do so, you’d be considered an overstayer, and one could possibly get banned from entering Japan for.. a few years, under the “usual” immigration rules. Again by “usual” immigration rules, I am talking about non-military rules.


In your case, since the base’s legal says you should be fine, maybe you are indeed eligible for whatever status the SOFA offers, I simply do not know. (To me, staying on a few more months without doing anything, with an expired status, sounds like a really bad idea, even if you’re leaving.)

It would be best if you can go to immigration office tomorrow. As you had 90 days to “fix” this problem of the immigration officer’s mistake giving you the wrong status on your passport, you could of course be questioned why you didn’t take care of it earlier. But showing up with the orders might quickly solve the problem, who knows, and even if that doesn’t happen, you made the efforts to fix it according to the local rules. Or at least call the immigration bureau? Best wishes.

may I ask you what documents you showed at passport control in the airport, copies (which you or someone unofficial persons made ) or the originals (or the official copies which have powers equivalent with the originals ) ?

I think an immigration staff recognized that your documents are simply unofficial copies.