I am an Australian citizen, and have applied for a Japanese working holiday visa, which it sounds as though I will receive in 2 days time.
I am travelling to Japan in one month, but only for a 10 day visit that I had planned before applying for the working holiday visa.
The working holiday visa is sort of a contingency in that I'm still not sure I will ever use, but I turned 31 a week ago so I thought I would apply as it was my last chance, and it is valid for entry for 12 months from issue so it buys me some time to decide.
What I would really like to know is if anyone has any experience with travelling to a country (or better yet Japan!) with a working holiday visa, but entering on the usual visa waiver or tourist visa instead, and preserving their working holiday visa for later use.
Is this possible? What did you need to do to make it happen? Was it as simple as asking the immigration agent?
In which countries is it possible?
I emailed the Japanese consulate before applying for the visa to confirm that I could do this, and got the following response, which seems to indicate it is possible for Japan, but I still don't know exactly how.
Once I have received the visa, if I travel to Japan, do I have to use this visa, or can I enter and exit on a tourist visa once first, and use the working holiday visa later in the year?
Possible.