Authorities in China have confirmed that they have resumed issuing visas for travelers from Japan, thus putting an end to the about three-week suspension following the protest of Tokyo’s tougher COVID-19 requirements applied for tourists from China.
The decision was announced through a statement published by the Chinese Embassy’s website, VisaGuide.World reports.
Authorities in China halted the visa issuance process in Japan on January 10 following
Japan’s requirement of additional COVID-19 tests for citizens from China in late December.
China recently was subject to an increased number of COVID-19 infections which led authorities in many countries worldwide to impose additional travel requirements for arrivals from China in order to stop another surge in the number of Coronavirus infections.
According to the figures provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), authorities in Japan saw a total of,310,939 COVID-19 infection cases since the beginning of the pandemic, while a total of 66,707 people lost their lives due to the virus in the same period.
The figures provided by WHO also show that as of January 23, there have been administered a total of 271,971,415 vaccine doses in Japan.
Authorities in Japan decided to open their borders for individual tourists in October 2022, thus permitting international travellers to enter this territory provided they hold valid vaccination proof instead of testing at airports, unless they show COVID-19 symptoms.
However, following the increase in the number of COVID-19 infection cases that China is currently dealing with, authorities in Japan decided to join the list of countries that imposed additional entry measures for arrivals from China.
Leaders in Japan announced that they decided to oblige all arrivals from China to show a pre-departure negative test result when reaching Japan and also take an additional test upon their arrival.
It has been emphasized that authorities in China also stopped issuing visas to citizens from South Korea after the latter’s authorities took a similar decision for short-term travelers from China.
Earlier this month, the European Union Member States agreed to recommend all bloc’s countries introduce pre-departure testing for all Chinese nationals and random testing on arrivals as a response to the increased number of infections that China has registered.
“The Member States are strongly encouraged to introduce, for all passengers departing from China to the Member States, the requirement for a negative COVID-19 test taken not more than 48 hours prior to departure from China,” the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union pointed out in this regard.
In addition, EU Member States also called on all passengers on flights to and from China to wear face masks.
The post China to Resume Issuing Visas for Travelers from Japan appeared first on VisaGuide.World.
