The easing of rules, effective from February 15, will affect people initially travelling for “business purposes and for cultural or intellectual figures”, the foreign ministry said in a statement. Subsequent visits on the same visa can be social in nature, the Japan Times reported.
Currently, Indian and Vietnamese nationals can obtain multiple-entry visas of up to five years’ duration. The change will grant them 10-year visas. The 10-year visas will be the longest that Japan will issue, the ministry said.
Holders of such multiple-entry visas will be restricted to visiting Japan for business purposes or academic exchanges but can then re-enter multiple times for tourism or to meet friends and families, the ministry said.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the planned visa relaxations during a visit to India in December 2015 and also at a summit with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party, in September 2015.
“These measures are expected to further advance people-to-people exchanges with Vietnam and India,” the ministry added. (IANS)