Marriage in Japan With No Birth Certificate

Hi,

My question is simple but it is borne from a rather complicated situation.

My question is this: Has any foreign nationals residing in Japan been able to get married without at least showing their birth certificate at the city hall? How and where?

My situation is this: My partner is American while I am Australian. We both live and work in Japan. We can get necessary paperwork done at our respective embassies (no impediment to marriage), but it seems, from reading all the forum posts, that at the city hall when we get married (or registered) we would need to produce our birth certificates.

Unfortunately I have misplaced my birth certificate, but it's not a (relatively) simple thing of getting it reissued because I was not born in Australia. I was born in Hong Kong which now belongs to China politically. I have looked on the Hong Kong government website where it seems I might have to physically be in Hong Kong for God-knows-how-long to try to get a replacement. Not to mention the paperwork.

Obviously, working in Japan, I simply do not have the time (or the resources) to go to Hong Kong for any length of time. The Australian government cannot assist.

On Japanese local government websites, most of them do not list birth certificates as necessary documentation for marriage. However on the forums and other sites, most people say they have needed to at least show it. I'm not sure why.

Can anyone help, please? I'm going out of my mind trying to think myself out of this situation.

Thank you.

I have a friend who married a Japanese woman. He didn't mention anything about needing a birth certificate. More likely you will only need the Affidavit of Competency to Marry from your local embassy.

http://www.seiyaku.com/seiyaku/en/discussion/law.html

"Check with the ward or city office whether you need to supply other documentation, such as a certified copy of your birth certificate and its Japanese translation."

It depends entirely on the ward/city in which you'll be married, and it is often not listed on their website. You'll have to check directly with them either by phone or in person to see what you'll need. They should be able to advise you what to do in your specific situation.

Thanks for your replies.

I understand from many websites that it is dependent on the ward/city office as to whether one has to produce a birth certificate or not. However, from reading forums and posts and blogs, I've not come across a case yet where people have not had to produce a birth certificate.

For example:

https://forum.gaijinpot.com/forum/working-in-japan/immigration-legal-s...

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+138583

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+100408

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+68081

My original question stands unanswered, unfortunately. Has any foreign nationals residing in Japan been able to get married without at least showing their birth certificate at the city hall? How and where? Please let me know which city/ward office did not require seeing birth certificates, if possible.

Thank you.

I helped two of my tour guests to get married earlier this year and birth certificates were not required. (Minato city hall office)

My original question stands unanswered, unfortunately. Has any foreign nationals residing in Japan been able to get married without at least showing their birth certificate at the city hall? How and where? Please let me know which city/ward office did not require seeing birth certificates, if possible.

You are supposed to register your marriage in the city/ward in which you reside, so that limits your options somewhat. Best to directly contact the ward that you/your partner resides in to find out their specific requirements, and how they would like you to proceed should they require a birth certificate.

I've married twice in Japan a few years ago and obviously divorced once :).
Never been asked for birth certificate, only Passport and Alien Registration.
Tokyo - Bunkyo-ku Marriage and Divorse
Yokohama - Minami-ku Marriage

You are supposed to register your marriage in the city/ward in which you reside

But that does not apply if you are only visiting. Turn up with the correct documentation and it takes less than an hour. We we did the registration earlier this year both my guests were only in country for 3 weeks and it was no problem. It helps to head to an office that deals with foreigners which is why we went to Minato (on the recommendation of my lawyer who called in advance - they also did some other part of the process for us including some translation).

My partner is American while I am Australian. We both live and work in Japan.

So yes, their residency does matter in this case and limits their ability to shop around for a more lenient ward/city office.

Hi,

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, our residency does matter but I was hoping for some concrete examples of where no birth certificates were asked for before I talk to my ward office so that IF they ask me for one, I would be able to quote some solid examples of where it wasn't asked for and hopefully convince them that such rules are arbitrary and not actually required by the national government.

Anyway, thanks for those who gave me a couple ideas of where to quote when we start asking our city office about what we would need.

Thank you.

I would be able to quote some solid examples of where it wasn't asked for and hopefully convince them that such rules are arbitrary and not actually required by the national government.

Hmm, you can try, but you sure are wasting a lot of needless effort here. Two quick phone calls will tell you if birth certificates are even needed in the first place (many wards have English speaking staff even). Then, assuming they are, you can start compiling your data. It's almost surely futile to try to argue against the system in this way (the clerk you talk to has very little room to interpret the rules as set by the city/ward), but you might get lucky. Can't hurt to try before embarking on the more difficult route to get your birth certificate. What wards do you guys live in? I'm presuming not MInato, Bunkyo or Minami-ku.

Has any foreign nationals residing in Japan been able to get married without at least showing their birth certificate at the city hall? How and where?

It may depend on home countries what documents are needed when a non-Japanese person gets married under the law of Japan;
experience of a foreign person of non-Australian nationality may not lead you (of Australian nationality) to a good solution.
Also, your situation and circumstances at present may differ from his/hers at that time.

So, I recommend that you would not rely on other persons' "solid examples" in the past but confirm what you should do now for this case.

You seem to have not yet got a clear explanation on this matter, neither from the Australian Embassy nor at a municipal office in Japan.
If you read Japanese, please check Questions 2 and 3 and the corresponding answers (, which are among Qs and As offered by Civil Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, Japan) on the webpage of this link.
http://www.moj.go.jp/MINJI/minji15.html

Regarding this case of yours
: It sounds better for you of Australian nationality to prepare both your Certificates of No Impediment (abbreviated as "CNI") and your application form for it, plus translations into Japanese of these two documents each. (The translations may be made by yourself.)
: I suppose that your birth certificate is not required, because your date of birth and birthplace (= Hong Kong) are mentioned clearly by a consul in your CNI.

For a non-Japanese person to get married under the law of Japan, the following fact has to be confirmed
: the fact that the person meets legal conditions (such as age) for a marriage, i.e. he/she has legal capacity for a marriage, under his/her national law.
When the authority of the home country of a non-Japanese person does not issue a certificate of this fact, he/she seems to have to take his/her oath on this fact.

You take your oath on this fact by swearing in the application form for your CNI that you believe that you have no legal impediment in your marriage, i.e. you have legal capacity to get married.

The Australian Embassy seems to think that a CNI can work as a certificate of this fact under the law of Japan.
However, as you notice, in a CNI, a consul for Australia does not directly certify the applicant's legal capacity for a marriage; a consul declares, on the condition that the information which is indicated in the application form is true and accurate, that there is no reason for the applicant not to be able to get married.

So, you seem to have to prepare not only your CNI but also your application form for it.
You can find templates for translations into Japanese of these two documents on the website of the Australian Embassy.
http://japan.embassy.gov.au/tkyo/notarialjpnservices.html#T4

if you can get married without having "birth certificate" in your country, then that document is not necessary, when you get married in Japan.

Thanks for the replies and information.

To omotenashi - I have already applied for the CNI and have the CNI certificate from the Oz embassy. My fiance has got the Affidavit of Competency from the US embassy as well.

I have both the application form and the certificate translated already too. Thanks for the information you gave.