hey everyone!  i'm new to this site...so my sailor recently took leave to come back to the states to marry me.  he is now back in japan and i'll be buying my plane ticket out before the holidays.   i have so many questions and keep getting different answers from all directions...but here are my main ones>  can i get into japan on a one-way ticket?  or should i buy a roundtrip one w/ the return date being within the 90 day tourist visa period?  i am not command sponsored, but will begin the process of trying...we are doing this on our own dollar and already have off-base housing.  we went to a navy base near my house (in the states) and got my military i.d and enrolled in tri-care...

so, as far as me going to japan for now...what do i need to get a sofa stamp?  here's what i got so far:
marriage certificate
my U.S passport
military i.d
copy of his orders

do i need a copy of the updated page 2 or whatever?  i know he put the request in, but we aren't sure if it's ACTUALLY been updated yet.  is the "page 2" the same thing as his orders? 

i have been warned about how the navy works and that we'll be getting the runaround all the time...i was hoping it wasn't true.    i'm hoping there is SOMEONE out there who can give me the cold, hard facts before i find myself screwed in a foreign country.  thanks all!

Better chance of getting good answers here than most other places. :-)

Best advice (for some of your questions) is to look through the "reporting to Japan" section. There are TONS of answers and inside tips there.

For the SOFA stamp you MUST have command sponsorship, so the faster he gets the paperwork and request in the faster he'll get an answer. He will have to stay on top of the request, I'd recommend giving the command a week to route it, then start asking about the status every other day. Squeaky wheel gets the grease, annoying Sailor gets his paperwork faster. :-)

When are you planning to fly out? If you wait until the sponsorship comes in you may (not 100% sure) get reimbursed for the flight and other moving expenses.

The page 2 is a record of his next of kin and dependants, the orders are what tells him where to go and when. The only thing the 2 have in common is that they're both on paper. He can walk into his personnel office (or admin office) and ask about the page 2 update, and that has to be done before he can request command sponsorship.

Dig around on the site and look for answers and information. :-)

Welcome to Japan!!! (Almost)

thanks!  i'll dig around this site and see what i can find.   i was reading on the navy website that i don't necessarily need to be command sponsored to get a sofa stamp... maybe i'm wrong?   my sailor and i aren't extremely worried about the whole sponsorship thing...while, of course, it would be nice to have flights paid for and everything else, our main concern is that we're ready to be together on the same side of the world FINALLY.  he only has 1 1/2 years left and if necessary, we're ready to use our own money.  so our only issue is, how to get that darn sofa stamp.

Even if you can't get the SOFA stamp there are ways to request to stay in Japan longer. I think there's a thread on this site about what to do.

I could be wrong about NEEDING the stamp... But I'm pretty sure most of the people here on the base have one.

Sponsorship is important for other things too. I'm pretty sure you need it for COLA and OHA to be paid at the "with dependant" level. And having the SOFA stamp makes getting a driver's license much easier.

Good luck!

If you're coming on a tourist visa, the airline probably won't even sell you a one-way ticket. Or they will at least want proof of an onward ticket to a new destination. And even if they sell it to you, they may not let you board. The airlines get in trouble if they board passengers with visa problems.

If you can buy R/T with the possibility of changing the return date that might work. Even if it costs $100 to change the return trip, that's 3 months away so it's not so bad.

I think you have all the documentation you need. If you were command sponsored, you would need to pass medical screening before getting approval to travel. I guess you bypass all this since you're coming on your own. Ignore it for now, and let them figure out how to do screening if/when you become command-sponsored.

If you are ok with eating the cost of the ticket, my advice is come on over, and keep working the issue while you are here. It can become your sole focus, your #1 mission, and in 90 days you certainly ought to be able to beat them into submission. After 90 days, is there a chance to extend your tourist visa if necessary? I don't know the rules about that.

Page 2 should be updated IMMEDIATELY, its something that you go in for, update your information, and boom it's done.  There is no waiting for that.

Command sponsorship, normally will take about 4-6 weeks to complete.  Has to be routed from his department, to admin, to his CO, to CFAY, to CFAY CO, and then back to his ship, so you could only imagine how much of the paperwork shuffle you will go through.  not to mention the overseas screening, which i would start that now stateside if you can.  If you are command sponsored though, you need to have 3 years left on your Rotation date from the time you get the sponsorship.

I can answer any questions you have related to that, as I went through the same thing with my wife.  As far as coming here and trying to gain SoFA status without Command Sponsorship i have no clue on that though, sorry.

thanks everyone...i think i'm gonna go ahead and buy a roundtrip ticket, just to be safe for within the 90 day time frame... i'm hoping that once i get there and get a sofa stamp, i can just "miss" my flight home? i'm not sure if i'm overthinking everything. haha. i just know it took a LOT to get where we are today and i'd hate for anything to go wrong. :/

I was in the same boat as you, only we had a 2yr old son. We got married about a month before he left to japan.I stayed with our son in the states for about 3 months to finish school. He came down to get my son and i (we bought round trip and aren't command sponsored) and he showed them his orders as well as our military ids and they gave me a sofa stamp. We've been in japan for a little over 3months now, and still going through some paperwork for command sponsor. I even went to vegas a few weeks ago and attempted to fill the forms (you have to fill one out when you get to japan) with a state address, the people at the airport said i had 90 days, and when i showed them my husbands orders and my military id, they told me i should've just said i live here now. they laughed it off and gave me a sofa stamp. Just get the round trip just to be safe, but show them your husbands orders and your military id and state which base your husband is living at. it worked for me. good luck!

What do you mean they "gave you a SOFA stamp?" My experience is the SOFA stamp is something you get on base in Japan AFTER you already entered the country & been here a while. What exactly did they give you in Las Vegas? And who gave it? Japanese embassy? US State Dept?  Military authorities? 

Thanks

The Japanese customs agent at the airport, when they check your passport. They either give you a tourist visa or a sofa stamp. When you enter or leave Japan you have to fill out the embark / disembark customs form, when i came back from my trip to Vegas , I wrote my state address, but the agent told me to next time write my husbands address in Japan so I could get my sofa stamp instead of a tourist visa. When i first arrived in Japan for the very first time 3 months ago I got my sofa stamp.

oh, i also had to show them a copy of my husband's orders and more importantly my military dependant id. We got the non fee passport its for 5yrs, we also got a regular passport which is 10yrs. The non fee passport says " valid only for use in connection with the bearer's residence abroad as a dependent of a member of the american military or naval forces on active duty outside the united states" so I'm pretty sure that helped as well.

ok yeah, I just looked at my passport & see what you mean. I got a stamp at Japanese Immigration, it's basically an entry stamp that says "SOFA" on it. However, it does not permit re-entry to the country unless you go through the whole process again.

There still is another stamp you need to get, or at least I did cuz I'm a contractor. I travel on my tourist visa. When I got the base, a few days later they gave me a very large stamp (full page in my passport) which is the "real" SOFA stamp. It gives me multiple entry approval so I can come & go easily. It has an expiration date of three years. This is COMNAVFORJAPAN's acknowledgement of your SOFA status & it is recognized by Japanese immigration officials.

Yea, when i left to vegas for a week and came back to japan i had to fill out the forms again and get another sofa stamp. When I got onto base all i had to do was show them my military id. They check your ids with this electronic scan thing that you have to register for,they still let me in, they just told me to register it when i get a chance. When i went to register my military id they didn't ask about command sponsorship or my passport, they just wanted my military id and thumb print. I think having the military id is probably the most important thing in my situation. When i was done registering my id, i asked the people in the office if i needed anything more and they said as long as my id is registered into their system under my husbands information i'm good. they told me that there's a sofa stamp when you come into the country and one for base entry, i guess i didn't need the base entry sofa stamp since i'm a dependant with a military id.

So is getting command sponsorship eaiser if you get married before he reports to Japan? Will the Navy pay for your move then? This whole thing confuses me. We are trying to have a March wedding and reports to Japan in May of 2011. He thinks its gonna be weaier for him to report first then send for us. But I think it would be best to get married before he reports to his new command in Japan...

Gm1sHoney, its much easier if you are married before he gets his orders, because then when they give the orders it will be an accompanied tour- Now that is if he is allowed to have dependents, he would have orders to be here for at least 3 years to have you guys come with him. Also its much easier with him to help you with everything that needs to get done, the pack out, the passports- all the doctor appointments for medical screenings- getting to the air port with the kids with 2 parents is much easier than one trust me (my husband flew out a week before us because we had a problem with passports) so I had to endure that 13 hour flight with an 15 month old and a 9 year old I think I lost some sanity from that trip. And alot of the stuff gets done here in the states alot quicker when the military member puts in for it verses the dependent wife/husband, we started outprocessing while my husband was on deployment, things were taking forever but once he got home and started going with me to all the appointments people were much more friendlier and quicker to get their jobs done, sad but true.

Well, he goes to training first in san diego from jan to may, my son and I are in Tx... luckily he is 10 and can help a lot. He has already scheduled his packout where he lives now in VA. But if we are added to his orders, will the Navy get our things from texas?

I was told the navy would cover your tickets and shipment of certain household items and belonging if you get command sponsor, but i don't know how long the process is. I'm already here in japan for a lil over three months now, and we applied for command sponsor two months ago and we're still going through some paper work for command sponsorship. I think it would be easier if you got married before he has to report to japan, because then you can get your military card which was pretty fast to get and its really important to have while out here on the bases in japan. you can also apply for the non fee passports, which takes about 2-4weeks to get, so you would have a month in between before he leaves to wait for the passport to arrive. We got married in may2010 and he had to report to japan june2010, since i never left the states before we decided our son and i would visit him in japan and see if i like it there enough to stay. Of course i love being all together so i decided to stay. so i told my husband to get started with the command sponsorship, for the time being my son and i are staying at the beq. I kind of wish my decision was to stay here with my husband from the start,just cause it might be a little easier. But aside from the housing, even without command sponsor it was and still is pretty easy coming to japan and living on base. I'm only explaining what happened to me in my situation and what i was told, so i hope you'll do some more research on it. congrats on your upcoming wedding! ^_^

Oh thanks!!!!! So you got everything done within that month? Thats pretty quick! Even the passport?that makes me feel better knowing it can be done.

i was down here for three months after my husband left for japan, but my husband is the "better safe than sorry" type, so he took me to get my id and passport which was all done in a month. the only difference is we didn't do command sponsorship, so i dont really know much about the medical screening and the shipping of household items and belongings to japan. my sister is living in my apartment with all of our stuff for the time being, and the beq is furnished. My husband did tell me that when we get command sponsorship there will be certain things i would have to do, so im guessing its the medical screening for my son and i.

So are you in on a Visa?

no, on my earlier responses to this post i was explaining how i came to japan and got a sofa stamp on my passport and how i registered my id. when i first arrived in japan my husband filled out my embark / disembark form with his info (long flight with a toddler, so he forgot and put his living info on it instead! haha! guessed it worked out for us) showed them his orders and my military dependant id and the japanese customs agent gave my son and i a sofa stamp that said im in this country for as long as my husband is. as for the base, well its kinda long, just read my earlier post. ^_^

oooh! LOL!!! I even read it! my bad

haha! no problem. i hope it helps, i know i wished i found this site before i came to japan. i was so jumpy,nervous, and scared. i never left my comfort zone, and when i got my sofa stamp at the airport i felt like i did something bad, but it took a while before i found out other people were in the same boat as me and did the same thing. good luck ^_^

Im glad to see some helpful information being shared.

i know i wished i found this site before i came to japan.

Glad you found JB now. Welcome!

We continue to be breaking new ground helping reporting personnel move to Japan. There are great people to help with almost any situation, and getting immediate assistance..

TO MIZBABYBLU- it seems like you're the girl to answer my questions because you've gone through it recently.     i have a few questions:

i don't know how to get a no-fee passport...do you think i'll have a problem with my U.S passport?

also, if they ask for my address when i arrive at the airport, can i put his military address?  even though we have a condo set up, we don't have a mailbox there yet.

my roundtrip plane ticket is officially bought and i leave in less than 1 week.  which is why i'm worried.  WORST case scenario, i enjoy my time w/ him and then get on my return flight.  but i would LOVE to get a sofa stamp to make things easier.  at least that way, by the time the 180 days is up, it's time for his deployment again...and then at THAT time, i can fly back to the states for a visit.

from what i'm reading online, everyone's situation seems different, almost like it all depends on the "immigration security" people's mood that day.  :/  but any specific info would be helpful.  also, my husband will NOT be able to meet me at the airport that day.  so wondering if that might cause a problem as well. 

if anyone could tell me exactly what i need in hand when i arrive at that airport, i would really appreciate it.  thanks!!!!

@babyblu, just to correct some terminology (I don't want others to get confused): What you have in your passport is NOT a SOFA stamp. It is simply an entry stamp from Japanese immigration saying you entered the country in SOFA status. It is NOT a SOFA stamp.

A SOFA stamp is issued by AMERICAN (not Japanese) authorities. You can get it on the military base in Japan. The SOFA stamp is good for the duration of your tour here in Japan, it gives permission for multiple entry/re-entry so you can come & go to Japan freely without concern about immigration status. It is a large stamp; it takes up a full page in your passport. It's all in English, it says CNFJ at the top, and it cites a COMUSJAPAN instruction.

It may not matter much to you because in general it's easy for US citizen dependents to come and go. But I'm a contractor; I don't have military orders. My wife is a Thai citizen, and without the REAL SOFA stamp she wouldn't be able to get past immigration at the airport. This big SOFA stamp is what gets her into the country, so for some people it's very important to go to base legal or PSD or wherever and get the SOFA stamp once they arrive at their duty station. In Iwakuni, it is issued at the PMO office.

@abc... It won't matter whether your husband meets you at the airport or not since he cannot meet you until you get past immigration. He'll be in the arrival lobby. So whatever happens, you'll be done with all the immigration paperwork before you see him & there's no way he'd be able to come to your assistance.

You won't be able to get a no-fee passport by the time you travel, but others have said that if you apply for one, then just bringing a copy of your application form is a help. It sounds weird, but that's what they said. Either way, I don't think it's a big deal. Many people come over without a no-fee passport whatsoever.

Have multiple copies of your husband's orders plus your ID card & passport. Have your husbands Japanese cell phone number handy in case there's a problem finding him. If you have to call him, just ask any stranger if you can use their cell phone for a quick call; I'm sure someone will help. Also, have available your condo mailing address AND your husbands FPO mailing address. You WILL be required to list one or the other. Maybe get the Japanese mailing address of the Navy Lodge & just say you're going there. That's perfectly normal for a new arrival and should suffice.

Just a bit of general advice when you reach the immigration counter: Look & act confident, like this is the most normal thing in the world. Don't be tentative or apologetic about being unsure of what to do. You are right that it depends on their mood, and if they see you confidently expecting approval, they will be that much more inclined to grant it.

@thai guy- My passport said sofa and it expires when my husbands tour is over. I was told a normal tourist visa stamp shows the duration of how long the stamp is good for, in Japan its 90 days. On my passport it just shows the date you entered the country under the status of forces agreement. I was explaining to abc and gm1 about my situation since we're all practically in the same boat. It will be different with your situation since your a contractor and your wife's a thai citizen and we're all spouses (or soon to be) of active duty military personnel. I'm sure your right in your situation,as for mine, that's all i needed to do and i just wanted to share my experience. ^_^
@abc-if you already have a passport you don't really need a no-fee passport, i just got one because my husband just wanted me to get one issued from the military. When you get to customs just write your husbands base on the form, so they know you and your husband is on a US base, they don't need the exact address if its on base. A copy of his orders, my husbands orders didn't even have our names on it, and most importantly your military dependant id. when i first came to japan, my husband came back to the states to pick us up. I stayed in japan for a month before i went on vacation to vegas for a week on my own and when i came back i filled in my state address and when the customs agent told me i had 90days i showed him my husbands orders and my military id and said i was staying there, i told him i was a little confused but the agent was really nice and understanding and told me if i ever leave japan again and came back just write my husbands base instead. When i came back from vegas i had checked in all my bags and the only thing i had with me in my purse was my husbands orders, my military id, and my passport.
I got a stamp that said sofa at the airport and i registered my id on base and i haven't had problem being here. I come and go on base all the time (my son loves the huge slides they have out in town) , i'm able to shop at the commissary and nex. The first time i came to japan with my husband there was a shuttle at the airport that dropped us off on base, but we had to wait a while for it. My husband said to call whoever's sponsoring your husband and let them know your flight number, what date, and time so they can assign you a guaranteed seat on the shuttle back to base. there should be a shuttle for every base, but i think you should do more research and definitely have your husband call his sponsor.
    If you want you can ask your husband's sponsor what address to put down, most people that live on base don't have mail boxes and get mail through thier command. So if it gives you a little more reassurance you can put down your husbands command address instead.

ThaiGuy--You need some props! I so appreciate all the time & effort you put into this site to help people out. I hope to do the same once I arrive. You spell it out for us & take the time to answer even the smallest of questions. And you post pics! Thank you for ALL you've done to help us out.

I have a friend who arrived in Japan in September (with a ticket paid for by DOD) and had her tourist passport stamped with a 90day visa after showing her military ID as well as a copy of her husbands orders. She has been dealing with PSD trying to get the multiple re-entry stamp for a while. They told her that she needed a letter of dependency from his command before they would issue the stamp. She got the letter after getting the run around and then they told her that she had to go to Yokohama to the Immigration Office to have her visa extended. I went with her to Yokohama yesterday and they didn't understand what PSD was talking about with extending the visa. What they ended up doing was canceling the tourist visa (because she is SOFA sponsored) and they put a stamp in her passport saying that she is a SOFA sponsored dependent. Now PSD says that they will give her the multiple re-entry stamp after she applies for her no-fee passport, which she is doing now. I hope everything works out for you, goodluck.

Now that's a good question. Will they give you a SOFA stamp if you have a "regular" passport or is it only issued if you have a "no-fee" passport? That may settle some running around for people. And does it matter which passport regarding citizenship, status, civilian, etc.

And yes, to get that SOFA stamp as a dependent you do need to get that letter of dependency. Also orders and family entry approval are needed in the process. Make sure you have everything settled before going around circles.

Now that is really weird because when I went on vacation to Austraila I gave immigration heading out of Okinawa my commerical passport. They gave me a sofa stamp in that one and this weird little ticket thing(they stapled it to one of the pages) then immigration used the ticket thingy in Tokyo on my return. I even showed immigration from Okinawa that I had a sofa stamp in my no fee pasport and they said it was okay and that doing what they did in my commercial would make it easyer to get back in. So what was the big deal about putting a sofa stamp in a commercial pasport?

@missmeliss: Glad to help out. I try to be as factual & encouraging as I can, and I hope you have a chance to help other people out after you get settled in here.

@FBMom: What happened to your friend is what I was talking about. PSD will give the SOFA stamp, it has nothing whatsoever to do with Japanese immigration. Here's a clue: Whenever PSD tells you you have to go somewhere & get another document, double or triple check. Seems like most of the time they are blowing you off, and just telling you anything that comes to mind to make you go away. You read about it all the time on this site. Sorry your friend got the runaround.

I am the Public Affairs Officer at USNH Yokosuka and thought I would pass on some information about overseas screening and command sponsorship that I feel is important to this discussion. Some folks may not know there are different healthcare benefits for dependents based on command sponorship and if you have completed overseas screening.


Naval Hospital Yokosuka Commanding Officer published this blog regarding overseas screening on the Official DOD site recently and it is very timely to this discussion.


http://www.dodlive.mil/index.php/20...irst-step/


In addition, here is a comparison of benefits between command sponsored beneficiaries and non-command sponsored beneficiaries for your consideration.



COMMAND SPONSORED: Command sponsored beneficiaries who have completed overseas screening and move to Japan with their sponsor are eligible for TRICARE PRIME which provides:

- Priority access to medical care at military treatment facilities (MTF) in Japan.

- Financial support at host nation hospitals (no out of pocket expense) for care beyond what is available at the MTF.

- MTF case managers who assist and guide beneficiaries through the treatment process if you are referred to a host nation hospital for care.

- Medical evacuation eligibility and priority to hospitals in Okinawa, Hawaii or CONUS for treatment that cannot be provided by a local MTF or a host nation hospital.



NON-COMMAND SPONSORED: Non-command sponsored beneficiaries who have not been through overseas screening and move to Japan on their own are eligible for TRICARE STANDARD which provides:

- Space available medical care at military treatment facilities overseas.

- Sponsor is responsible for 100% of all medical costs accrued at host nation hospitals prior to discharge. Claim for reimbursement, which can be tens of thousands of dollars, can be submitted to TRICARE after discharge but up-front costs are the responsibility of the sponsor.

- Host nation hospitals do not take “rate” into consideration when billing patients for care. They will charge an E-4 the same price as an O-6 for treatment.

- MTF Case Managers are assigned to patients on a case by case basis.

- Medical evacuation is space available and unfunded. Which means the sponsor is responsible for 100% of all costs associated with evacuation, if they have room for you. If space is not available, the sponsor is responsible for cost of travel to a MTF that can accommodate your medical needs.