Spouse Name Change and 1×4 visa extension

Hi everyone,
I have been living in Japan for 4 years now. In each time, I was receiving 1 year visa extension even if my father law (sponsor) was paying taxes.I got 1+1+1+1.
I believe that I was supposed to get the 3 years status in the third time (1+1+3). However, in my third year, my wife decided to use her father's name as a second name instead of mine.
My wife changed her name because Japanese were looking to her as a foreigner especially in the hospital, also they mispronounced her name...She was bothered by that, then she asked for my permission to change her father's name, of course, I didn't refuse. I could not figure out that would cause any problems for me when I want to renew my spouse visa.
One month ago, I went to a lawyer, and explained to him my case in details. While he was checking the documents. He found out that in the koseki tohon that my wife name was changed. He said that most likely that is why the immigration inspectors gave you +1 in the 3rd and 4th . Basically, when I applied to renew my visa in the 4th time, I didn't know about the name change problem.

Anyway, following our lawyer advice, my wife wrote riyuusho 理由書explaining her reasons for the name change.

Note, I paid all my taxes and my father in law (supporter) did as well. I gave them the details that show that I am not having any financial issues in Japan/or any crimes...

I have read many threads here and noticed that the immigration office are very serious while checking spouse visa documents. They never give 3 year extension if they found even a little mistake. This made me so scared.

After my wife wrote riyuusho 理由書 explaining her reasons for the name change, will the inspector still think that there is a problem? What is the mindset of the Japanese immigration inspectors?

I am totally fine if they give me 1 year extension again or even for another 5 years. But, my wife is becoming very frustrated (really more than me). She believes now that because of her name change, I am being punished! I have calmed her down and let her know that there is no big difference between 1 visa, 3 visa, and the PR. Almost all are the same.

In my case, I believe there are only two options:

Option 1: if the inspector reads my wife riyuusho 理由書 letter, he will know that name change is not an issue, and give me 3 years visa.
Option 2: the inspector does not believe my wife riyuusho 理由書 letter, and give me 1 year again. Note, name change happened in the 3rd year. (1+1 after name change+1 applied unknowing about the problem of name change+1).

I am sorry for sharing with you my long story again. What do you think about this situation? thanks in advance.

Yes, the results will either be that you get a 1 year or a 3 year extension. Keep in mind that there really is no difference between the two besides the hassle and minor costs of having to reapply every year, so I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about it.

I think is was more to do with your father in law being retired. Your mother in law only working part time. You only working part time and your wife studying. There is no financial stability.

Yes you got some new information about a name change. But really, did it make a difference even with the extra hoops your wife jumped through? No.

Income is your issue, not name changes.

I truly appreciate your answers.
That's correct, the income could be a problem.To clarify things to the inspectors, I submitted the following this time:
A)Proof that my annual income for last is over 220万円. I paid all my taxes.
B)Father in law: has pension over 250万円 and since last is working as Japanese teacher(アルバイト), so he paid all taxes.
C)We gave them documents that show that we don't pay rent since father in law is the owner of the house.
D)I gave them my bank account copy that shows I saved over 120万円in one year and half(this was my lawyers'idea), which basically means that we are having no financial issues in Japan.
I will be 正社員seishain soon at my work.If it is not related to the name change, then I am sure I will be granted +3 years either this year or the next. Yllwsmrf and Hakata14, thank you so much.

you are a foreigner and your wife is a Japanese. She changed her surname to your surname, when marriage. and then, finally, she changes her surname back to her original name.
is that what you want to say ?

I believe that Japanese can change their surname only by marriage, divorce, or adoption.

by what procedure, did she change the name ?

Hi Ken, thank you for the reply.

you are a foreigner and your wife is a Japanese. She changed her surname to your surname, when marriage. and then, finally, she changes her surname back to her original name.
is that what you want to say ?

Yes, that is what I wanted to say.

I believe that Japanese can change their surname only by marriage, divorce, or adoption. by what procedure, did she change the name ?

She went to the 裁判所Saibansho and requested to use her original name. Her main reasons "People always mispronounce her name, people stare at her too much in the hospital after hearing her name, also she was afraid not finding a job easily when using the Gaijin name, fear of racism". She asked for my permission and I told her it's fine. In Japan, I think it is possible to change her name more than once. She can use my surname again if she goes back to the court. However, my lawyer said it is better not to do so.

I never thought that I will face this problem. I hope what "hakata14" said is correct. If I was receiving +1 due to "lack of good income", I think it would be fine. If it is due to the name change, then my case is more complicated than I thought. I believe that I will keep getting +1 forever. If it is the inspector's birthday,I may have the chance to get +3. After two weeks, I will hear from the immigration. I am waiting for the miracle to happen. If it doesn't happen, I will wait for other several years. What a bad luck! Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu.

I just wanted to let you know that I finally got 3 years visa.
Thank you so much for making this awesome forum.
Should I apply immediately for the PR?

Glad to hear you got the 3-year status.

The documents needed for application are pretty similar between Spouse and PR. If I were you, I would enjoy the current 3-year one, meaning, I would just wait till around the end of second year to apply for PR, nothing to hurry about, possibly with better income situation at that time? (I hope things change for the better.) If you apply now, they will just see exactly the same documents you've just submitted.
(From a Japanese married to a non-Japanese, who just applied for PR after years on Spouse status).

You can start work on your application as the paperwork takes a bit of time to put together. It needs to be submitted with about 1 year left on your residency, so you have some time. Then again, you may want to hold off on the application a bit if your financial situation has the chance to improve.

Hi ustagaijin,
I have good experience in this spouse visa. As long as your marriage is real and you are living together, that name change dont matter. You are paying tax too. You can mention in 理由書.
Immigration follow the law on written paper. You should get 3 years visa. I also faced problems on 1 year spouse visa in the daily life. But my wife helped me for everything.
Manytimes, unworthy person also pass the rule and they get PR of japan. Dont worrymuch. I also faced similar situation. You have good character too. Immigration cannot hold you on visa just because your wife changed the name.
I had a friend who got 1 years visa 5 times. Then he argued with immigration and he got 3 years visa and got PR later.
Your case, immigration will be checking the status of the marriage for few years and they will give 3 years visa after stability of married life is established.

I also asked a immigration lawyer in general, why manytimes PR or spouse visa is given to the person having criminal background. The laweyer replied that "Even if the spouse has criminal background, he satisfy those visa condition in many cases"

I also asked a immigration lawyer in general, why manytimes PR or spouse visa is given to the person having criminal background. The laweyer replied that "Even if the spouse has criminal background, he satisfy those visa condition in many cases"

And as we have pointed out to you before, a criminal background does not automatically exclude someone from getting PR, citizenship or other resident statuses. It is only one of many factors that are considered.

Guest40 and Yllwsmrf, thank you so much for the answers.

Yllwsmrf, I always love reading your concise and to the point replies. But, I am confused little bit here.

It is only one of many factors that are considered

I am not really sure about the other factors. Can you give me examples please?

I actually read many threads on several forums and still not having a clue. They say,
-Income should not be a problem if you apply for the PR.
-Having a criminal record should not be a problem when you apply for the PR.

This somehow gives me the impression that having the PR is easier than having +3 years for the spouse visa holders. I really want to know what makes the PR easy or hard?

Again, I would like to thank you for all your active support. I truly appreciate your efforts. 宜しくお願い致します。

It's not that your income level or having a criminal record definitely won't be a problem when applying for PR. It depends on the severity of each case.

I am not really sure about the other factors. Can you give me examples please?


Well the obvious ones are minimum stay requirements - have you actually met the mininum levels? Many mistakenly think you should apply one year before you make the minimum so that your next status is PR. That is not correct.

Current resident status - Do you currently hold an appropriate residency status and period of stay to apply for PR?

Income levels - are you able to support yourself? Do you have a guarantor that is capable of supporting you?

Criminal record - Do you have a significant record that could disqualify you?

Then there are the more nebulous ones such as your contribution to Japanese Society, which you have to make a statement about.

Keep in mind, I'm not an immigration lawyer so I don't know what the thresholds that immigration uses. But presumably your application could be denied due to one really large deficiency or several smaller deficiencies combined.

This somehow gives me the impression that having the PR is easier than having +3 years for the spouse visa holders. I really want to know what makes the PR easy or hard?

I would say that they are about equal difficulty, but neither are particularly hard to qualify for. Basically and as long as you have been in Japan long enough and are stable enough than it should just be a matter of time before you get a 3 year period of stay. And then PR is essentially the next step. I guess PR applications undergo more scrutiny and require previous residence (such as a 3 year spouse prerequisite, or 10 years working), so it has more requirements to fulfill than a typical spouse visa.

Your answers are simply superb. I agree with all what you said!

I believe this summarizes the whole thing.

"But presumably your application could be denied due to one really large deficiency or several smaller deficiencies combined".

I prepared all the documents for the PR application.I can definitely apply by myself. But, I don't want to make any stupid mistakes that can lead to a list PR application being denied.
After tomorrow, I am meeting the immigration lawyer that helped me last time.

Special thanks to all those who shared with me their experience with the immigration bureau in Japan. Also, thanks a lot moderators of this awesome website. Keep up the good work.
本当にありがとうございます。
宜しくお願い致します。

justagaijin (guest)
Now you will surely get the 3 years visa in 6th extension. As I just told above that my friend also got 1+1+1+1+1+3-PR.
5 years continuous marriage is considered to be stable. They just check stability initially.

Guest40,
Thank you for the response.
May be, you missed it.As I said before, I have received 3 years in the 5th renewal. It went like this: Tourist visa (3months)then 1/1/1/1/3.
In the 5th time, I asked a lawyer for help. His tips convinced the inspectors to write the 3 years.
After tomorrow I am visiting him to check the documents for the PR.