Getting through the Immigration Bureau: Extending your period of stay

💬 Put a thing before をお願いします to ask for it politely: 水をお願いします "water, please". Staff also use it to ask for your documents.

🇯🇵 Foreign residents are required to carry their 在留カード "residence card" at all times. Have both documents ready before your number is called.

🇯🇵 Hand documents over with both hands, turned so the staff member can read them. It's a small gesture that comes across as polite.

💬 申請 (shinsei) means "application" and 書 (sho) means "document." 書 shows up at the end of many paperwork words, like 領収書 "receipt."

💬 ましたか turns a verb into a polite past question: 書きます "write" becomes 書きましたか "did you write?" Swap the verb: 食べましたか "did you eat?"

💬 は here is said (wa), not (ha). It marks 申請書 "application form" as the topic: "as for the form, did you write it?"

💬 てあります describes something someone already did that is still in place: 貼る "to stick" becomes 貼ってあります "has been stuck on". The ね at the end asks you to confirm.

🇯🇵 The application needs an ID photo of a set size (4cm×3cm), usually from one of the photo booths found at stations. Glue it on before you arrive.

💬 札 is said (fuda), but here it softens to (fuda) → 番号札 (bangō-fuda). The long (ō) in (bangō) also needs to be held.

🇯🇵 Immigration offices run on numbered tickets, often from a machine where you first pick your type of application. Without one you won't be called, even if the room looks empty.

💬 あちら is the polite version of あそこ "over there", which is why you'll hear it from staff. こちら "this way" works the same way.

💬 Wrapping a verb as お + stem + ください makes a very polite request. 待って becomes お待ちください.

💬 Wrap a verb as お + verb + ください for a polite request: 待つ "wait" becomes お待ちください. You'll hear it constantly from staff in shops and offices.

💬 かかります means "to take" when talking about time or money. Ask いくらかかりますか "how much does it cost?"

💬 ぐらい after a number means "about": 三十分ぐらい (sanjuppun gurai) "about thirty minutes".

💬 お + verb + します is the humble way staff describe what they will do for you. 呼びます "call" becomes お呼びします.

🇯🇵 Keep your number ticket handy and watch the display screens. Numbers often appear on screen without being announced aloud.

💬 わかりました is literally "I've understood", and it works like "got it" or "okay". It's a polite way to accept instructions.