Full Record of Applying at Top Speed Right After the Announcement
I. Why Visa Infinite Now?
November 28, 2025.
Sumitomo Mitsui Card and Visa announced their top-tier credit card
"Sumitomo Mitsui Card Visa Infinite" member-exclusive
FIFA World Cup 26 Special Program.
The biggest highlight of this program is
being able to hold "advance reservation rights" for Japan national team match tickets before general sales.
World Cup tickets are
a mix of lottery, first-come-first-served, and host country allocations —ultra-competitive tickets.
Now that "advance reservation rights" have been added,
this may be the closest legitimate approach to a "backdoor" in the ticket battle.
But the price of entry is steep.
- Annual fee:99,000 JPY (tax included)
- Credit limit:3 million - 99.99 million JPY(individually set based on screening)
Even so,
"If you want to get closer to Japan's matches at the 2026 World Cup, wouldn't NOT acting be the bigger risk?"
With that reasoning, I decided to apply.
II. Is the 99,000 JPY Annual Fee Really Just "Expensive"?
The biggest sticking point is, of course,the 99,000 JPY annual fee.
However, the Sumitomo Mitsui Card Visa Infinite has a
"new member bonus of 100,000 V-Points for spending 1 million JPY within 3 months".
- Within 3 months after the enrollment month,
- Totalspend 1,000,000 JPY (tax included) or moreand receive
- 100,000 V-Pointsas a gift
(= 1 point = approx. 1 JPY equivalent)
In other words,
- Annual fee: 99,000 JPY
- Bonus: 100,000 points (approx. 100,000 JPY equivalent)
If you meet the conditions,you can almost completely offset the annual fee with points.
(*Benefits are subject to conditions and exclusions, and details may change in the future. Always check the official website for the latest information)
If I were to state this article's message clearly:
Since you're going to spend money on World Cup tickets and travel expenses anyway, consolidate all those payments onto Visa Infinite and recoup the annual fee through points.
That is the bottom line.
If you think of it not as an "expensive card" but as a "card you use with the intent to recoup," the perspective changes significantly.
What Would You Spend 1 Million Yen On? (World Cup + Consolidating Daily Expenses)
"1 million yen" sounds impactful, but
if you plan to "consolidate World Cup prepayments + larger daily expenses," it's not an unrealistic number.
For example, over 3 months:
- Japan national team matches and other popular matchticket costs(for tickets already on sale)
- Partial prepayment for flights (early booking)
- Hometown tax, taxes, insurance premiums — items payable by credit cardAnnual or bulk payments
- Already planned flights or tour costs for other trips
- Appliances, PCs, and other planned replacementone-time large expenses
- Plus daily living costs (groceries, convenience stores, subscriptions, utilities, etc.)
The idea is tointentionally concentrate spending on Visa Infinite for just 3 months.
The tournament is in July, which doesn't overlap with the 3-month bonus period, but
- "tickets are paid for now"
- "consolidate other large expenses into these 3 months"
With this kind of planning,
consolidating "money you'd spend on the World Cup anyway" + "planned large expenses" onto Visa Infinite to recoup the annual fee through points
is a strategy I think is realistically achievable.
(Of course, buying unnecessary things just to hit 1 million yen defeats the purpose — don't do that)
Important Notes About the Screening Process
Here, let me honestly write about one more important point.
The application requirements for Sumitomo Mitsui Card Visa Infinite state:
"In principle, applicants must be 20 years or older with stable, continuous income"
"Issuance is based on Sumitomo Mitsui Card Visa Infinite's proprietary screening criteria"
.
In other words,
- Not everyone is guaranteed to be approved
- Depending on income and credit history,there are naturally cases where the screening is not passed
That is the bottom line.
The strategy described in this article is that
"for those who pass screening and spend 1 million yen within 3 months, the annual fee is easy to effectively recoup"
and
- it does not guarantee passing the screening
- nor does it recommend excessive spending or borrowing
— I want to emphasize these points as important disclaimers.
III. Going for Fastest Approval via Late-Night Instant Issuance (11/29 Night)
The benefit announcement stated:
"Advance reservation for Japan national team match tickets starts today」
" it said.
The fact that there's no end date written anywhere is actually scary...
"This is no time to leisurely wait for the physical card," I decided, and
opted to apply via online "late-night instant issuance."
Actual Application Timeline
- Start time: November 29, 2025, approximately 8:48 PM
- Time required: Approximately 5 minutes
- Instant screening result:
- Temporary approval
- Shopping credit limit 50,000 JPY
- Payment method:Single payment only
= "Full screening is still to come, but you can use up to 50,000 JPY starting tonight."
Notes on Late-Night Instant Issuance
- This 50,000 JPY limit is only atemporary limit for late-night instant issuance
- The actual credit limit (3 million - 99.99 million) isset after daytime full screening.
- After full screening, the physical card (numberless) is mailed
- Delivery takesat least about 1 week
This "1 week for mailing"
becomes a real concern when "the ticket advance reservation deadline is unknown."
IV. Emergency Action Plan for Securing Tickets
1. Challenge: Reservation Deadline and Physical Card
The main concerns at this point are these two:
- The ticket advance reservation hasno stated deadline
- Physical card arrival takesapproximately 1 weekestimated
"The reservation might be closed by the time the card arrives"
To avoid this pattern,
how much you can do before the physical card arrivesbecomes crucial.
2. STEP 1: Register on Vpass to "Secure Your Card Number Immediately"
The Sumitomo Mitsui Card Visa Infinite is anumberless card,
and the card number, expiration date, and security code are displayed only on the Vpass app/member websiteare distributed.
This numberless design is essentially alifeline.
- Even without waiting for the physical card,
within the same day to a few days after applying,you can check your card information online. - This means you can start the reservation process before the physical card arrives. The most important action right now is:
Register for Vpass immediately after approval
- Check your card number on the app or website
- Prepare to submit reservation information at any time
- The second critical action is:
3. STEP 2: Ask the Visa Infinite Concierge for "The Real Story"
Contact the Visa Infinite Concierge immediatelyThis is because we need to confirm:.
the specific process and conditions for the ticket advance reservation
whether the temporary member status + Vpass card number can proceed with the reservation
- The actual deadline for the "FIFA World Cup 26 Japan Match Ticket Advance Reservation"
- Whether the reservation can be processed with the Vpass card number + temporary member status
Whether the reservation procedure can actually be executed - Information required for reservation (name, member ID, card details, etc.)
Whether ticket acquisition succeeds or fails hinges on this initial contact with the concierge —
I don't think that's an exaggeration.
V. Summary So Far and Upcoming "Follow-Up Reports"
So far, we've covered:
- The Visa Infinite announcement and decision to apply
- The 99,000 JPY annual fee and thestrategy to recoup it through 3 months of 1 million yen spending
- The mindset of "consolidating World Cup expenses + other large purchases to break even"
- The late-night instant issuance application experience, and
leveraging numberless + Vpass + concierge foremergency action
has been organized.
In future updates, I plan to write follow-ups on topics like:
- We asked the concierge! The real deadline for pre-booking Japan national team match tickets
- How far can you get with just a provisional membership and Vpass? An experiment report
- The full step-by-step process of pre-booking Japan match tickets, and which games we secured (or missed)
The 2026 World Cup in North and Central America
will be a special tournament for both the Japan national team and the fans traveling there.
Since you're going to spend money on World Cup tickets and travel expenses anyway, consolidate all those payments onto Visa Infinite and recoup the annual fee through points.
Whether or not you choose to pursue this strategy is a personal decision,
but at the very least, as a concrete example showing that such an approach exists,
we hope this article helps someone make an informed decision.
Always keep credit screening and spending within a comfortable range.
With that in mind, we hope to continue exploring together what may be the closest legitimate shortcut to getting in.
Comments