Japanese Wife name change (Kanji or Katakana)

a woman is a wife of “c’† under Japanese law, but not a wife of TANAKA. Can she and he prove their marriage under US law ?

Yes, he can show his Japanese and US passport to prove his identity. It works in both countries.

what will happen on her Japanese passport. she gets a US spouse visa stamp on her Japanese passport. But, the passport will be only valid for 10 years. if she try to renew it, what will happen ? she is a spouse of US citizen, but she already married with Japanese “c’† in her koseki.

She will be issued another 10 year passport.
Her being married to a dual-national does not affect her eligibility for a Japanese passport.

if she marry with US citizen, can she get US passport ?

No.

"Mr. Tanaka" on the US marriage certificate will be a US national,

US marriage certificates that I've seen does not contain nationality info. Even if it did, he can show his passports to prove that he has both nationalities. It's not a problem.

I did not know that US marriage certificates did not contain nationality information, that would make it easier.
Still one question - if he showed both passports, would that not create any problem, as Japan does not allow dual nationalities (beyond the age of 22)?

Hi all,

Just want to say thank you again and I appreciate it very much that you are trying to help me out, because this is a very important thing for me. I want to be more clear about my situation so I can get more feedback.

I married my wife in the United States and she went back to JP so she could start her job from April 1st like they normally do over there. Our plan was for her to get some working experience there and save $ before she comes here. Since she went back to JP, it looks as if our only option may be to apply for the spouse visa. However, there is also the issue of changing her name, which I am still confused about. I still have my JP citizenship and I was thinking when I visit her next time, I could present my koseki's, along with hers, and attain my JP passport quickly if possible so she could have kanji for her last name. However, we do not mind taking the katakana way as a last resort, since it is not necessarily the last name that matters for us, but getting her here is the most important.

So in conclusion, we want to apply for the spouse visa so she can come live with me in the United States.

Lady Kodaira: Yes, you have it right! As far as your A & B outcomes are concerned...

A = This process requires me to go to JP, no?

B=Very trick, but yes my thought was to register thye marriage as Japanese/Japanese



AK: Thank you for your response. Yes, I am planning for her to live in the U.S.

- The dual citizenship part is really the tough part because there is always going to be some risk and I am not sure how to handle it exactly. If there's anything else you could add or help with, please inform me.

What I am also wondering is do I need to change her name AT ALL in JP or is it something of preference? I thought I heard that after getting married, we must report our marriage and change her name or something within 3 months. Could anybody clarify that for me?

AK, I also saw what you wrote about things being complicated since we got married in the US and reporting it as a Japanese-Japanese marriage could be difficult.

I am really liking the feedback so far and did not expect this. Thank you guys very much. I guess my whole issue is figuring some of this stuff out and finding out the easiest process as possible. If I can find that out, I would feel much better.

Also... let me just add that I had dinner tonight with one of my coworkers husband and they have a little different situation than us, but basically my coworker (Emi-san) visited her husband in the U.S. as a visitor and said she was visiting him... and then last second they said they want to live together and changed their mind, so then they were able to apply for the green card and she got it in within 5 months. Although that doesn't seem easy as they make it sound... they were suggesting that way and to not change anything about our my wife and I's name... sounds too good to be true but they made it happen

I'd like to hear what you guys think and then we can go from there!

Thanks for clarifying. It's a lot simpler than it first sounded. I was getting confused between who was apply for which visa/passport.

So you are in the US at the moment and your wife is in Japan?
You could do the marriage registration to the koseki system in US, but your wife would need to be there too, to get her passport updated. But I think she could probably do it in Japan without you there, as long as she has permission from you and the right documents. Probably best for her to enquire at the city hall where your family registry is held. It is just a normal Japanese:Japanese registration of a marriage conducted outside Japan.

If you did go to Japan, you wouldn't need to bother with a Japanese passport, though you are supposed to. They will not need to see a passport to change your koseki. Doing the A option in Japan, either on her own, or together. There is very little chance they will pick up on you being a dual national still. And as for the spouse visa, the US don't care whether or not your marriage is registered in Japan or even if your wife hasn't taken your surname (though it might count against you for proving it is a real marriage).

The three month thing - I think there is someone on here who didn't do it in the time, but there was no problem doing it later, just a small fine.

There are a number of reasons it is better to get the Japanese system squared up properly. But one of you has to change their name. Usually, the wife joins her husband's family register, but it is possible for you to join your wife's and take her name. Might make the situation even more complicated that way.

To recap, if your wife wants to take your surname for legal purpose or have it in her passport, she needs to register the marriage in Japan. If she wants it in kanji, you must do it as a Japanese:Japanese marriage and have her transferred to your family register. This needs to be done via the office where your koseki is held. It might even be possible to do it all by post, though it will take longer. Once she has her/your koseki tohon with being married to you on it, she can head to her nearest regional passport office and get her passport update with her new name.

generally, koseki-tohon is valid only for 3 months. koseki-tohon is not a birth certificate, but a copy of your koseki-record on the issued date.
you need a fresh koseki-tohon to register your marriage.

if he showed both passports, would that not create any problem, as Japan does not allow dual nationalities (beyond the age of 22)?

No, it wouldn't cause any problems at all. Dual-nationals can present their foreign passport to add their overseas name to their Japanese passport; convert their overseas license to a Japanese license; or anything else that requires proof of their overseas identity.

What I am also wondering is do I need to change her name AT ALL in JP or is it something of preference?

In Japanese-Japanese marriages, the couple needs to have the family name aligned (usually the wife changes to the husband's).
In Japanese-non-Japanese marriages, the name does not have to be aligned, this is by preference. I for one (Japanese) got married to a non-Japanese, and we are keeping our famiy names. (No children involved here, so things are simple.)

I thought I heard that after getting married, we must report our marriage and change her name or something within 3 months. Could anybody clarify that for me?

A Japanese national going through major status change (such as marriages) must report the marriage to the Japanese authorities within... 3 or 6 months I forgot. I failed to do that, becasue we got married in the UK and did not report it until... a year or two later maybe, because at that time we had no plans to return to Japan (well, things happen...)

But later, I reported my UK law-based marriage to my EU national husband (by taking the UK marriage certificate and its translation to the city hall where we lived), and my marriage to him got written down in the "remarks" column of my koseki. It still remains my koseki, so no change was needed.

No need to change the name if she does not want to. But if she wants to, I believe there is a limited window of time for a simple process (or again 3 or 6 months I am not sure), otherwise she has to go through family proceedings. Maybe you heard those two together :)


To . (guest),
Thanks!

Whoops, in my last paragraph, I wanted to say:
"...otherwise she has to go through family COURT proceedings." My bad.

it is 3 months.
http://www.moj.go.jp/MINJI/minji15.html#name4
it is better to report your marriage, especially if your wife want to report your baby to have Japanese nationality.

it is better to report your marriage, especially if your wife want to report your baby to have Japanese nationality.

FYI, any future children will get Japanese nationality by virtue of their mother being Japanese. No marriage report necessary. However, the marriage report may affect whether the father's is on the birth certificate of any children born in Japan. It's probably too early for the OP to be thinking about this stuff though.

Lady Kodaira:

- Yes I am in the US and she is in JP working now. Our plan is for her to take my last name in JP, as she has already done so in the US and also because it is less complicated it seems. Thank you very much for your comments. I appreciate it!

Ken: My dad is in JP now and picked up some copies just in case of my koseki to bring to me. Thank you for clarifying the 3 month validation for the koseki. Also, thank you very much for the link.

AK: Thank you for the information regarding the name change.

Hi all, just wanted to give an update and see what you guys think.

I think we will start the name changing process soon. We do not care about the kanji last name, so we will either take it in katakana or English.

From what I have seen on this forum is that I could register the marriage here in the U.S. but if she wanted to update her passport I would need to send her the necessary documents OR she could come here to do it. Is that correct?

I'm wondering how many marriage certificate forms I should have for her. She was thinking she may need two. I got one after we got married and thinking to buy a couple more just in case in the next couple days.

Thank you!

Hello any update on your situation?

I am sort of in a similar situation but I was told by the consulate that I MUST renounce my Japanese Passport in order to proceed with the name change on my wifes passport. So its either I throw away my US citizenship and become Japanese or renounce my Japanese passport and become US citizen.

I would like to know how you got by.

Thanks!