sirname change

hello.
Im a japanese woman who got married to man from UK.
Im currently living in japan but trying to get a supose visa and
after getting visa, im moving to UK.
and Im still using my maiden name .
I was just wondering how many of people who got international married actually changed their sirname to husband's before they
leave Japan.
and how many of ppl got their name changed once they went to their husbands' country.
im sure thats possible to change my sirname in UK too.
but i was just wondering which is better?
should i change my �ː�'s name in japan?

Your name can be changed only by the Japanese authorities because you are a Japanese national.

- So if you got married in the UK, your UK marriage certificate most likely says that "wife kept her maiden name," I believe, which mine does.

- If you got married in Japan and want to change your family name to your husband's, you need to file for that within 3 or 6? months of marriage, otherwise you need to go through family court procedure, stating the reason why living with your maiden name is inconvenient. I don't know when you got married, but if you change your family name on your "koseki," that will be reflected on your passport, so every one of your ID from that point on will have your husband's family name on it.

By the way, a couple having different family names is nothing unusual in many countries, so I would not find it "necessary" to change.


Speaking about myself, I am a Japanese woman, who got married in the UK to my continental European husband when we used to live in the UK for a few years. I have kept my maiden name. And we live in Japan now.

In my "koseki," I still have my maiden name. On my (of course) Japanese passport, I have my husband's family name written in parenthesis, so that it is easy for us to show that we are married, for example, when we travel outside of Japan or the UK. You can do this when you go renew your passport, so that your name looks like, for example, "Hanako Yamada (Smith)." But this is just for convenience, and the legal name on "koseki" remains "Hanako Yamada."

I imagine that probably you want to keep your maiden name WHILE the UK spouse visa is being processed, so that you don't create any confusion by changing your family name in the midst of the process. If that is the case, it might be easiest (assuming you got married in Japan) to go ahead and change your name on your "koseki" first, get a new passport with that name, then start the UK spouse visa process with the new name.

Well, you might have started that process already...

If you want to change your family name AFTER you receive your UK spouse visa and you move to the UK, you will have to go through the Embassy of Japan/Consulate in London, for example. But the process will be the same. You change your family name in your "koseki" either through reporting to the Japanese authorities or through family court (of Japan), so it will take time.

thank you so much for ur asnwer. it helped me so much.
and here is one more question.
ive heard that i can get my husband's name in ( ) blank right mext to my maiden name on my passport without changing my name in japan .(as long as i have a proof that im married)
and as long as I have that, i can use his surname in uk, is that true???
ive been looking up about it on the internet and ive found quite alot of people actually havent changed their maiden name on japanese koseki, but have that thing on their passport and they are using their husbands' name in uk normally.
if i could use my husband's name like that without changing my name on koseki, i thought that would be easier.
so if you ever have heard about it, id like to hear about it.

Hello again,

As I mentioned above, my name on my passport is like: "Hanako Yamada (Smith)," and on my "koseki" I am still "Hanako Yamada." But I am not sure if the name "Hanako Smith" can be used on "official" papers in the UK.

When traveling outside Japan, we might book our hotel rooms as "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," and so far we have not had any problem, but this is not "official." So to answer your question on whether that can be used in the UK, my answer is "I don't know."

I'm Japanese who got married to an Englishman in the UK. I kept my maiden name, but I used my husband's surname when I was in the UK without any troubles for 15 years, and now we are in Japan. When I was in the UK, I used my Japanese surname only at the Japanese embassy for passport renewal.
I used my husband's surname for bank account, morgage or every possible official documents.
So you don't need to change your Japanese surname to your husband's if you want to keep your name.
My experiences tell that you don't need to worry about anything.
I think more women in the situation keep their names than women who change their names.

Thank you 2 for ur answers!!!
that's exactlly what I was worried about .
then I don't have to change my surname on my japanese koseki
if I can use my husband's without it there like normally for pretty much everything.
I don't really care about maiden name lol
I could change it on koseki but I just didnt see any points since japanese koseki would be nothing in uk apart from my own passport renewal.