It’s more like Japanese preclearance light.
For the entire month of February, Japan will be trialing its own flavor of overseas immigration checks at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport (TPE). But don’t get your hopes up too much.
Here’s why–
Firstly, there will only be 10 airports in which this Japanese preclearance applies. All are located in Hokkaido & the Tohoku region of northern Honshu island (listed from north to south):
- Asahikawa (AKJ) Hokkaido prefecture
- Hakodate (HKD) Hokkaido
- Akita (AXT) Akita
- Hanamaki (HNA) Iwate
- Sendai (SDJ) Miyagi
- Yamagata (GAJ) Yamagata
- Niigata (KIJ) Niigata
- Fukushima (FKS) Fukushima
- Komatsu (KMQ) Ishikawa
- Takamatsu (TAK) Kagawa
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Tohoku Region, Japan (although Niigata Prefecture isn’t always included), source: https://www.tohokukanko.jp/en/areaguide/index.html
Much of the inbound tourism to these 10 airports originates from Taiwan, since they’re only served by three Taiwanese carriers– China Airlines, Tigerair Taiwan, and Starlux Airlines.
As for how the Japanese preclearance will play out, Japanese travel and transportation news website Traicy can help out. Apparently, while still at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, passengers using this optional service will have their identities verified and cross-checked, photos taken, and fingerprints collected. Upon arrival at the Japanese airport, a second identify verification will be conducted, as well as granting of the passport stamp.
Although the Traicy article mentions that these 10 Japanese airports aren’t efficient with immigration as it is, why does this preclearance seem less so? If you have to get your passport stamped in Japan anyway, what was the point?
Indeed, February was chosen in large part due to significant outbound travel for the Lunar New Year. However, this wasn’t the first time Japan tried out immigration preclearance in Taiwan. A similar concept was available from 2005 to 2009, and then for two weeks last year.
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