Home
Back

Dear visitor, if you know the answer to this question, please post it. Thank you!

Note that this thread has not been updated in a long time, and its content might not be up-to-date anymore.

Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/2/28 13:57
Hi. I've been in Japan on work visas for about 7 years now, and last year I got married to a Japanese national. I'd like to change my status to Spouse of Japanese National, so I've got the forms from the website but have some questions. Hope someone can help.

http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/tetuduki/kanri/shyorui/02.html

http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/tetuduki/kanri/shyorui/Table3-1.html

So according to the MOJ website, I need:

1. Application form

For "Period of stay" we intend to stay in Japan for long term. Should I just put 3 years and hope that length visa is granted, or is it normal to write something to explain no plans to return to my home country?

For the question about "Authorities where marriage was registered" It has a space for Japanese and Foreign authorities. But I only got married here in Japan, so do I leave the foreign one blank, or do I need to get some document from the British Embassy?

2. Photo

Fine.

3. Supporting documents for spouse of Japanese national:

a. Documents certifying that the person concerned is a spouse of the Japanese national and the copy of his or her resident card.

My residence card is fine, I'll take the original and a copy. But what document do I need to certify I am married to a Japanese national? We got married in Japan last year. I received an A4 letter with our names and the date from the ward office, because we submitted our forms on a weekend when the main office was closed. So they just sent us that paper to confirm it's done. But I haven't received any official wedding certificate. Can I get an official marriage certificate from the ward office? What do I need to request? As we got married here, I don't need anything from my home country, right?

b. Documents certifying that the profession and the income of the person concerned or his or her spouse.

Do I need to ask my company for a particular document name, or just a letter-headed document with my employment history and income is fine?

c. A letter of guarantee by the person living in Japan.

I'll put my wife's father as our guarantor.

4. Passport and Residence Card
Ok.



Apologies for the overly long question. I'm not sure about several things, and it's difficult to get time off work to go to the immigration office, so I just want to make sure I've got everything.

Thank you for any help! :-)
by Mike80Japan  

Re: Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/2/28 14:14
1.
- You can write 3 years, and see if they grant you that. They might give you just 1 (as a start). No explanation necessary.

- If you got married in Japan, just leave the foreign one blank. No need to do anything with the British Embassy.

3. a. You would need to get your Japanese spouse to go apply for an official copy of her "koseki" - family register. That will contain a record of her marriage to you. I believe also that she needs to get an official copy of her "juminhyo" - resident record, to show that the two of you live at the same address.

3. b. Do you have an employment contract with your employer? A copy of that might do, or a letter. Immigration "might" ask you for your tax payment record from last year (for resident's tax based on your income in Japan).

3. c. Usually it's the Japanese spouse, who has to fill in the form letter to guarantee that she will be responsible that your conduct in Japan will be appropriate, and that she will be responsible for the cost of travel back to your country if needed (personal guarantor). If the father also needs to come in as an additional financial guarantor is up to her income I guess.


(I am not an immigration or any kind of lawyer, but I (Japanese national) is married to an EU national, we got married in the UK, and after returning to Japan, changed my husband's "work" status to "spouse of Japanese national," so just speaking from experience.)
by AK rate this post as useful

Re: Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/2/28 14:22
Thank you for the quick and helpful reply, AK :-)

I do have a contract from my employer so I'll use that, and I recently received and filed my taxes for the year so I'll take that along too just in case.

My wife is employed with a good income so hopefully she can be the guarantor then.

Thanks again
by Mike80Japan rate this post as useful

Re: Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/2/28 14:24
1. Application form

For "Period of stay" : Put the maximum period available on Visa/Resident Status i.e 5 years.

For the question about "Authorities where marriage was registered" : Japan since you got married in Japan. Leave the foreign blank.

2. Photo

Fine.

3. Supporting documents for spouse of Japanese national:

a. Documents certifying that the person concerned is a spouse of the Japanese national and the copy of his or her resident card.

But what document do I need to certify I am married to a Japanese national?
Koseki Tohon from city hall should have your marriage information.Get that.

b. Documents certifying that the profession and the income of the person concerned or his or her spouse.
Get the company HR to write letter to proof your employment and income.

c. A letter of guarantee by the person living in Japan.

I'll put my wife's father as our guarantor.
Supporting document from your FIL such as Juminhyo, taxes report etc are required.


4. Passport and Residence Card
Ok.

Congratulation..
by .. (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/2/28 14:55
Thanks, I'll ask my wife to get her family's register Koseki and Juminhyo.

Thank you too!
by Mike80Japan rate this post as useful

Re: Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/2/28 16:27
Yes, you can write 5 years for Spouse status, I forgot about that.

For submitting any document (such as employment contract or tax papers), be sure to take a photocopy of it beforehand, take both the original and the photocopy, and if asked show the copy and the original together (so that they can verify that the copy IS indeed a true copy), and be sure you give them the copy. They don't return any submitted document.

(Of course for "juminhyo" and "koseki," the official duplicates issued by her city hall ARE the copies, so you can just submit them as they are.)
by AK rate this post as useful

Re: Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/2/28 16:35
Good advice, thanks!
by Mike80Japan rate this post as useful

Re: Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/2/28 21:04
the certificate of marriage is the certificate of accepting (by city office) the application (by you) of your marriage registration at that time. it does not prove your marriage is still continuing. they request you are currently married and are living together.
you don't have your koseki. your name is there in her koseki. take her koseki-tohon, i.e. zenbu-jikou-shoumei.
you have your own jyuminhyo, jyumin-toroku.
you should get a family record of jyuminhyo. it have your name and your wife's name in one sheet.(you have to have that one).
if you get her jyuminhyo, it might contain her name only.
make sure that you and your name should be there together in both documents.

a guarantor is a person who guarantee YOU(not your marriage). that person must be closest. therefore, your wife !

it is essential the certificate of your wife's income, certified by city office.
get nouzei-shoumeisho or shotoku-shoumei, something like that at the city office. the document should have information about her total income and the tax amount she payed.
that should be the 2013's income, if she take now. she may add a photocopy of gensen-choushu-hyo of 2014 to prove 2014 income.(then it seems perfect.)
I think a copy of the contract is unnecessary. they only want to know she has income enough for your living.
if her income is not enough, then they ask you the certificate of your income.(if they ask your income certificate, you get your nouzei-shoumei at city office. the contract is not sufficient to prove your income.) they request the certificates which are issued by governmental offices (city office).
all the documents obtained from city office should be issued within 3 months before your application.(the documents are only valid for 3 months.)

the detailed explanation is here in Japanese.
your wife can easily understand what they request.
http://www.moj.go.jp/ONLINE/IMMIGRATION/ZAIRYU_HENKO/zairyu_henko1.htm...

the point uncertain is:
in the official website, they request the marriage certificate from your country, although AK says not necessary.
4 申請人の国籍国(外国)の機関から発行された結婚証明書 1通
by ken (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/2/28 22:39
I would not worry about the last point raised by ken, as the original poster got married by Japanese law in Japan. There is no way that his home country can testify to it. That requirement 4. is only if you got married by the laws of a country other than Japan (for example, we got married in the UK, so we had to bring the British marriage certificate with us, and report it to the Japanese authorities after-the-fact).

And by the way, the Alien Registration System changed rather recently, and the non-Japanese national WILL be in the Japanese spouse's "juminhyo" :) I am happy to see that.
by AK rate this post as useful

Re: Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/2/28 23:13
I am afraid that the government wants to confirm the marriage is valid for both of their countries.
after the marriage in Japanese way, I think they went to the Embassy to take a paperwork to register their marriage in partner's country. the British Embassy will issue them a certificate of marriage acceptance.
if not registered in Britain, he can marry another woman in Britain.

if you read the official website in Japanese, they do not mention "either one is OK". in that case, "both is necessary".

about a minute thing about juminhyo:
either one can be a head of a family. it is not restricted to be a Japanese. he can be a head of a family, I think.
in general, a head of a family is a husband.
that is the difference between koseki and jyuminho.

about koseki:
since a foreigner has no koseki, he can't be a head of koseki.
when his wife was married, his wife's koseki was separated from her parents' koseki. she is now a head of new koseki,koseki-hitto-sha. (she does not belong to her parents koseki.)
now officially, her family means she and he.(no her parents)
if he take her parents koseki, it does not contain her name(her name was transfered) and his name. I hope he understand the difference.
by ken (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/2/28 23:38
ken,

I am afraid you are not familiar with the "registration of out-of-country marriage." At least I know that the British government (British embassy in Japan in this case) does not issue any certificate saying that the Japanese marriage is valid. So long as the "spouse of Japanese national" resident status for Japan is concerned, their Japanese marriage is OK.

But if they go to live in UK, I know they will not "reject" it either. There is a long story behind this I must say. He can even marry the same Japanese lady again in the UK according to the British law, I know.

If they did NOT get married according to the British law, there is no way that the Japanese government can ask for proof of British marriage. The Japanese marriage according to the Japanese law is sufficient for their stay in Japan.

Believe me, I have done this.

About "koseki": yes, the Japanese national will be the holder/head of the koseki, and her marriage to him Mr. So-and-so from the UK, will be mentioned in HER koseki. That is sufficient as proof of marriage.

"Juminhyo" can be set up differently. I (Japanese national) am still the head of the household in our "juminhyo," with my husband stated in it :)
by AK rate this post as useful

Make sure to bring all the documents with you 2015/3/1 12:38
It is better to have prepared too many documents prior to when you both visit immigration to apply, than be asked for something extra (at the whim of the agent you deal with) and have to make a repeat journey. Document copies are cheap in Japan and can be prepared quickly at municipal office and local tax office. Your work probably gave you a certificate of employment, or can produce such on request as it's a fairly common need for all sorts of things.

A good list can be found here http://www.accessj.com/2013/04/getting-married-in-japan-changing.html although it's from a couple of years ago.

Email the immigration help desk (or get Japanese spouse to do so) in Japanese (English replies might take longer and not be so clear) to ask for the full list of documents required.
If you have those and a copy of the official email reply, the agent isn't likely to over rule and ask for more.
email address is info-tokyo@immi-moj.go.jp as described here in english http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/info/index.html or here in Japanese http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/info/index.html
You could call for the same information, but then you don't have an official written record of the reply.
by Lady Kodaira rate this post as useful

Re: Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/3/1 12:51
@AK
★★★ 婚姻届受理証明書 の 発行申請 ★★★
(省略)
我々は 2部 発行を お願い しました。
1部は 大阪の 在日英国総領事館へ 発送の為。
これは 「イギリスでもこの結婚を認めましたよ」 って言う 書類を 発行してもらう為です。
もう 1部は、自分達で 保存する為。
by ken (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/3/1 18:20
For #1 about the Foreign Authorities registration of the marriage, when I got my spousal visa in July last year we actually asked immigration directly about that, since we married in Japan. They said to leave it blank if you weren't married in another country.

The US doesn't require any sort of confirmation of marriage, just like the UK. So there's nothing there to issue and no registration is required; our Japanese marriage certificate translated is the proof of our marriage; if we wanted a US marriage certificate, we would have to get married in the US. There is no need (and no way!) to report a foreign marriage to US authorities; they don't care. I was honestly surprised about that, but there you go!
by scarreddragon (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/3/1 19:36
ken,

My suspicion is that THAT couple needed some document so that they can show to the UK authorities probably for a visa for the Japanese spouse to live in the UK. (This piece of paper is used in the place of marriage certificate. I am aware of this process too.)

As far as "spouse of Japanese national" status FOR JAPAN is concerned, you leave that box about non-Japanese authoritis blank, this is as far as I know from our experience.
by AK rate this post as useful

Re: Changing work visa to spouse visa 2015/3/1 22:14
AK,
YES. that person(she) wants to have the marriage certificate written in English. I think she is smart. it will prevent "madam butterfly" situation, if a sad thing happens.
also, it will be beneficial, when they move to UK in future.

some website says that immigration office requests to write 上申書, in which they explain the reason why they can't provide that document. that sounds probable.
by ken (guest) rate this post as useful

reply to this thread