Getting married

Hi all, firstly I'm sorry if this has been asked my times, but I'm in need of serious advise..

Ok myself and my Japanese girlfriend want to get married,

Her parents and mine are very happy about it, so we have looked into in detail but we gave become confused due to having been giving different information on what paperwork is required.

My partner is from Kagoshima, kanoya city. Her city hall have told her, that I need a CNI and my birth certificate, so anyway I went ahead and arrange one from my home country in the UK.

She has to complete something else, which she is doing.

I then went into the government UK site which says that CNI are not longer valid and that now you have to go to Tokyo for a affidavit and confirmation .
I mentioned this to my partner and she then spoke to her city hall, her confirmed 3 times that this is not required and all they need is my birthday certificate and CNI.

I'm going back to Japan in august and we hope to be married on the 22nd august.

Can someone confirm what the process is..

Her city hall are 100% sure they are correct, yet the UK Tokyo embassy states otherwise..

Thanks for your help :)

please read this information, it will tell what you need to prepare

http://howibecametexan.com/2016/05/30/registering-your-marriage-in-jap...

Than you need to legalize the wedding in the UK also. Once you finished that you can apply for a visa if you intend to move to Japan.

Thank you for your help.

I'm actually moving to Japan by the end of year for my work.

She is also expecting our first child. Prob by Feb/march 2018.

So we have a lot to sort out. I was told after we get married at her city hall in august, after we can apply for the spouse visa straight after.

I'm just simply confused by the fact the embassy states we have to go there, yet her city hall insist a CNI is perfectly ok for them to legally marry us.

By the way the link you sent is for an American so I think they require a different process to the British process.

Thanks for your help anyhow

What best is, just to go to your city hall and ask for a document that state your are not married at this moment with some one else. It is a simple piece of paper which is saying you are single. Once you got that document you need to translate and get an apposital from a translate or UK embassy in Japan.

In my case I got the certification from my city hall in my home country. Send the document to the embassy by post which I translated and got approved. You can also visit the embassy with appointment.

Thank you so much..

I have applied for the CNI in the UK which is the document that proves I'm free to marry.

I then will take this to the city hall in my partner's city of which states they will marry us.

But my question is why do I need to go to the embassy in Tokyo}?? If it's being done at the city hall in her city?

Oh I see a shotgun wedding, eh? Offtopic, but your English is very broken considering you are from U.K.

Sorry for my poor English.

Not looking for a shotgun wedding, But trying to understand the process...

if you get married in UK, which documents are requested, CNI, affidavit, or something else?

Would be nice to show the UK govt site that cause the confusion.

Ken san, don't you read that OP will be marrying in Japan. So your 'If' is irrelevant.

Thank you for everyone's help.

Tomorrow I will call the Tokyo embassy to find out more.

But I have a feeling the CNI and affirmation are similar documents.

Ultimately it's down to the local city hall what documents they want and they clearly stated to my partner 3 times, they want a CNI , passport and birth certificate to proceed with the marriage.

But in any case I can book an appointment in Tokyo embassy and if not required can cancel it if all goes well on 22nd august at the city hall.

"I have applied for the CNI in the UK which is the document that proves I'm free to marry."

if the system, which issues CNI document in UK, still exists, nothing has changed.
if you are in UK, take CNI and bring it. (no need to go to UK Embassy.)
if you are in Japan, you can get affidavit at UK Embassy in Tokyo.
the change is that the Embassy will not handle (or help to get) CNI document.

general rules are that Japan (and city authorities) request the same documents which are required in your country to prove the singleness.

Thank you so much for your help.

This makes so much sence now, so fingers crossed on 22nd the city hall should marry us with CNI, birth certificate and passport. If there a problem I will fly to Tokyo embassy and get affitdavit.

But I'm much more confident that CNI should be fine now

Thank you

You need to translate your documentation before handing in. When I got married I needed to apply an apostille stamp for the documents, which is provided by the embassy. Maybe this has changed.

Some information

https://www.gov.uk/marriage-abroad

Once you get this CNI certificate, you need to fill out a registration of marriage Form (Konin Todoke) which needs to be signed (stamped with hanko by two witnesses. You can get this form at the local Ward/City Office in Japan, and hand it in there along with the above mentioned certificate, your passport, Residence Card if you have, certificate of Family Registry (Koseki tohon) for Japanese nationals, and all the other documents they might ask.

When I got married in Japan, the City Hall where my wife was living supplied us with their requirements and my embassy in Japan told me what they needed to prepare the documents needed to fulfill the requirements from the City Hall.

Anything that needs translating into Japanese, like birth certificates, etc. you can do yourself.

Thank you everyone. I called the embassy this morning and the lady said that the local city hall have the last say on the documents. She said if they said they accept the CNI then it will be fine.

As for a apostille stamp.. this was never mentioned to me.. so I hope it will be ok and approved.

I looked on the internet and it will take 10 days for it to legalised.

The document will not be with me until the 3rd august.. and I leave for Japan on the 18th.. so I'm a bit nervous that I'll run out of time to send it for legalisation..

I will ask my partner to ask the city hall if this is nessasary or not

Thank you again everyone