Visa rules get easier for China tourists

In a bid to attract free-spending visitors, the government will ease visa requirements for individual Chinese tourists beginning in July, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Tuesday.

Under the new rules, non-tour group visitors from China must have an annual income of 60,000 yuan (about 800,000 yen or $8,695) or possess a "gold" credit card. Current rules require a much higher annual income of 250,000 yuan (3.4 million yen).

Employees of the government or large corporations will also be eligible for the program as will their family members.

The Foreign Ministry estimates the change will expand the pool of eligible visa applicants in China to about 16 million, 10 times the current number.

The Japan Tourism Agency's working group responsible for attracting international visitors approved the new requirements at a meeting Monday.

Japan began issuing visas to individual Chinese tourists last July. The 250,000-yuan income level was intended to deter economic migrants from entering Japan and overstaying their visas.

The government issued 7,688 visas of this type through the end of last year.

According to Chinese government data, annual disposal income per urban dweller was 17,000 yuan (about 230,000 yen) in 2009, 11 times the figure in 1990.

Last year, 1.01 million mainland Chinese visited Japan in groups or individually.

In addition to group-tour visas, Japan began issuing visas to families accompanied by an official guide two years ago.