Marriage and Spouse Visa

Hi Everyone,

I've been reading this forum and saw many similar cases to mine so I wanted to see if you guys could help me out with my situation:

I met a Japanese colleague during an international tradeshow and we fell in love and have been in a long distance relationship for about 7 months. We are planning on getting married in my country (Argentina - but I'm currently relocated in the US) at the end of the year and then in Japan in February (She is currently relocated in Hong Kong).

My first question is: Is the paperwork difficult to get married in Japan if we have the paperwork proving the marriage in my home country ? Or do you have any suggestions to simplify this process ?

After getting married we obviously want to live together so our first option is to do an internal disclosure in the company (around October this year) and ask if they can relocate us together. If the answer is no, then our Plan B would be for me to quit and go live with her.

As I mentioned previously, she is currently relocated in Hong Kong and we don't know where her next assignment will be. Now lets suppose she goes back to Japan, if I were to get a Spouse Visa, could I work freely in Japan ? I've read different things about this on the internet and just wanted to see if someone here could help me clarify this.

Is a Spouse Visa the best option to live with her in Japan and work freely or do you think another type of Visa is better ? I would of course go to Japan jobless and would try to find a job over there.

Thanks everyone for the help !

Is the paperwork difficult to get married in Japan if we have the paperwork proving the marriage in my home country ?
Note that you only get married once, if you marry in Argentina, you register that marriage in Japan, you do not marry in Japan a second time. Contact the Argentinian embassy in Japan on what you need to provide at the City Hall in Japan to register your marriage, how to certify those documents and what needs to be translated. The Japanese embassy in Argentina can help your fiancee in getting all the paperwork that she needs to provide in Argentina to get married.
I married in Japan, I found that was by far the easiest in my case :-)

As for the Spouse Visa, look into the 'Spouse or Child of Japanese Nationals' option, in that case no restrictions apply and you're allowed to work; however, the spouse or a dependent of a person on a working visa or another kind of visa, is not allowed to work (but that would not apply in your case.)

But contact the Japanese embassy in your home country and the Argentinian embassy in Japan about all these questions.

Spouse visa allow you to work any job, no restriction. It is the next best option to longterm or PR.

If you get married in Argentina, you should ask your future wife to register/inform your marriage at Japanese embassy in Japan.
There is no need to get married again in Japan.
Once your marriage is recorded in Japanese system then you can proceed with the spouse visa application.

Note that there are two ways of going about the application,
1. Apply from outside Japan via COE route.
http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/tetuduki/kanri/shyorui/01.html

2. Change of Status, application within Japan.
Where you come to Japan on Temporary Visitor visa/status and apply for change to Spouse visa.
http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/tetuduki/kanri/shyorui/02.html

If a Japanese national wants to marry outside of Japan depending on that country’s marriage laws, the Japanese national may have to submit a certificate of marriage qualification (kon-in-yoken-gubi-shomeisho 婚姻要件具備証明書).
This is available from their regional branch of the Legal Affairs Bureau (地方法務局). Further information is available on the Legal Affairs Bureau website (http://houmukyoku.moj.go.jp ).

Embassy Notification: The foreign spouse must notify the embassy of his or her country of the marriage, as the country of the foreign spouse requires notification.

Family registration: Unless a Japanese is the head of the family register, a new register will be issued. The name of the foreign spouse will be inscribed in the register.

Nationality: Although the nationality of the Japanese spouse is not changed due to marriage, the Japanese national may gain foreign nationality as a second nationality, depending on the law of the foreign spouse’s home country

Hi Everyone !

Thank you all so much for the quick responses. I was not aware we only had to marry in one country only.

I will be in Japan in 3 weeks and will visit the Argetine Embassy to ask what is required to marry in Japan.

I will also try contacting the Japanese Embassy in Argentina to see what is required for my girlfriend to get married in Argentina and we will decide based on which country is easier :D.

I'll keep you posted in case the findings are helpful.

Again, thanks to everyone !

Regards.