I can't tell you how impressed I am with the helpfulness, professionalism and service provided by…read morethe US Consulate in Sydney. I had to jump thru all sorts of hoops to get extra passport pages and a duplicate passport issued. The American Citizen Service desk agreed to help - even without an appointment and were incredibly efficient and consultative. From the security guards, to the window agents to the Consular Officer, everyone was an absolute model of sterling service. Thank you!

Today I went in to apply for a visa for entry into Japan for academic purposes. I was first faced…read moreby the security guard that was very impatient and rude, and asked me to come back later in the day. I complied, thinking that they must of been very busy as I noticed it was packed today. I came back at 2pm and the line has dwindled. I queued up and was served by a lady with black hair. Now, I have applied several times before and had all my documents ready, including my financials, invitations, passport and everything. Based off my appearance, I was straight away met with a look that called for discrimination. She had a really ugly face to behold, and her behaviour was very rude, rolling her eyes several times when looking at my passport. She asked me for another invitation letter, along with three months worth of bank statements. THREE MONTHS? I have never been asked that before. A term deposit account was more than sufficient for my previous visa grants. The whole time I was being served I had kept my patience and cool under control, but her requests were very out of the ordinary. Only when she noticed the reason why I was applying did she ease up on her attitude, but it left a very deep impression. TL;DR: I was met with eyes of discrimination. My application did not get processed and I was turned away twice in a day. Be warned if you ever go to Japan and need a visa from the General Consulate of Japan in Sydney. Believe me, Japan is a great place and very fun, but the process of getting a visa in Sydney, unfortunately, is not.

I second Tim's opinion (the review before me)…read more The process for Visa application is a pain in general, and the visa application process at the Consulate General of Japan in Sydney is a pain on a whole different level. I have applied for numerous visas at various Embassies and Consulates, and none was as bad as my experience with the Japanese Consulate in Sydney. I have been to the Consulate many times and am still unable to get my visa, since I was turned down. I totally understand that they were inundated with visa applications (which they might have been unprepared for), but they could certainly use an online booking system, such as the system currently used by the German Consulate in Sydney, and many other countries' consulates, I believe.

I had a great experience here getting a visa for Brazil for my partner and my daughter ( I'm lucky…read moreenough to have two passports so no need visa for me :) They were very professional, no hassle about documents ( after doing a lots of research we thought we had not enough documents) and extremely nice. Overall good experience.