Spouse visa with no Work and no Savings?

Hello,

I would like to describe a situation and see if anybody has any similar experience from which to give me any advice :)

I am a citizen of Canada, my wife is a citizen of Japan.
We have been living in Canada for the past three years. My wife has Permanent Resident Status here in Canada. I have lived 6 years in Japan in my life and I speak fluent Japanese.
Our wedding was in Japan and is registered in both countries.
We have a son born in Canada (6 months old) and he is both Canadian and Japanese.
His birth is registered in Japan.

We are now planing to move to Japan for various reasons irrelevent to the discussion :)

My question is so-forth;
We don't have any relevent savings, and even though we are not in financial troubles, we do have the usual credit cards, loans etc. that most young couples have in Canada nowadays. Nothing terrible but no Capital per se.
We have been living in Canada for a while and we have no work in Japan.

My wife and my son are obviously entitled to enter Japan any time they please for any length and with any purpose (tourism, work, etc.) as Japanese nationals, but what about me? I will want to apply for a Spouse VISA, but from what you read do you think my wife can easily sponsor me and/or that I can sponsor myself in any way?

Her mother could in theory be my sponsor, but we're looking for a way to not go through her and do it on our own (Long story short; Japan is a conservative country and having her help us means we have to go by her rules/timing and uphold a debt towards her and if possible we would not want that :) this is not the kind of relationship I want with my in-laws).

We are quite confident we can find work and make a living in Japan relativelty quick, but for this I need a VISA that allows me to work in Japan (Spouse VISA) and because we have a very young child to take care of, it would be difficult for my wife to work full time when we arrive until I can find a work myself. If possible I would like to be working full time ASAP and my wife can work part time and we'll work something out from there.

I would be curious to hear about anyone who went through a similar situation. How trivial is it for me to get a Spouse VISA as a husband and father of japanese national? Does my lack of an employer or saving stop me from getting the VISA or not? It appears you would need to show one year worth of Tax Report to be a sponsor in Japan? If we would want to self-sponsor ourselves how much savings do you think we would need to show in our bank account to satisfy the Immigration Authorities?

A lot of questions I am sorry! But reading this forum has lead me to think it is full of very resourceful people. Thank you in advance for any opinion or experience :)

Regards,

because we have a very young child to take care of, it would be difficult for my wife to work full time when we arrive

Men can take care of children, and do it quite often. You seem to be setting up a lot of obstacles for yourself. Are you sure you want to move?

I need a VISA that allows me to work in Japan (Spouse VISA)

There's actually another kind of visa that allows you to work in Japan - it's called a working visa. It's something to consider if for some reason there are problems with getting a spouse visa.

What do you expect to find here? If people tell you "yes, you will easily get your spouse visa, no problem", then you'll apply for your visa and maybe get it, maybe not. If people tell you "no way", will you think "oh that's too bad" and not apply?

No, you'll apply anyway, so just do it. Any answer you'll get here will have zero relevance at the end of the day.

Unless your wife is on bad terms with her parent(s), for initial set-up in Japan I would suggest relying on her mother. (I know you'd rather not.) Do you have enough savings to live for a while in Japan? Would you be able to rent an apartment with both of you not in employment?

Your wife will be your sponsor (as the Japanese spouse), but if she doesn't have any tax record or current employment to show that she herself can support you, she might have to reply on her parent(s) for financial guarantor. In Japan it is normal for young adults to rely on their parent(s) for signing guarantor letters for apartment rent for example, so I would not consider this a big burden. We used to do that until I was in my late 30s (though we hated it, there was no other way, at least not back then).


The only experiences we've had so far (me Japanese and my non-Japanese husband) that are even remotely similar to yours have been: being unable to rent an apartment without support from my parents back when we were young, and when my spouse applied for a change of resident status from "work" to "spouse" when his contract with a Japanese company was no longer renewed, so with him out of work, and me with limited freelance work.

At that time (the second situation), we wrote up a letter stating the situation, what kind of education/training and career path he had had so far, the circumstances where his contract didn't get renewed, our hope to find new employer soon in such and such field, etc., with a credible story. Back then we were not required to show any bank statement or tax papers, but for your reference I believe for "student" visa the required amount the immigration authorities want to see is either 2 or 3 million yen, for a year's study.

So... without assistance from your wife's mother, you could do something similar - outlining your career so far in Canada, your experience before in Japan, your wife's career so far in Japan/Canada, write up about what kind of job you'd realistically expect to find in Japan, based on what you used to do in Japan, etc. However, (as you say it is a conservative country) they might ask for additional financial guarantor in Japan, which will be your in-law(s).


Another thing you need to take into consideration is timing and how you go about obtaining your spouse visa: if you come in with your family and simply get Temporary Visitor status upon entry, and if/when you find a job, you'll be applying for a Change of Resident Status from Temporary Visitor to a work-permitting one. This could take from a few weeks to three months, during which you cannot yet work.

If you apply for Spouse visa from outside Japan, and come in after you receive it (which might take time), if/when you find work in Japan, you can start your work right off.

You could also see if you can find work from outside Japan. Possibly come in with an employer-sponsored work visa, and then later change to spouse status. Please plan well. Best wishes.

By the way, the "visa" that we are talking about isn't spelled in capital letters :)

Thank you all for your answers :)

@Umami
I know men can take care of children. In fact I do quite more than most! However, no matter how hard I try, I can't produce milk ;) Also, independantly from whether we can or not, my wife has the wish to stay at home with the baby as much as she can. We will do what we need to to make it work, including her working full time if necessary; but I don't think it is that surrealist to have goals and ambitions.
Yes I am sure I want to move.
I know there exist a "work visa" but that requires a sponsorship from an employer, which is relatively hard to get. I was simply wondering which of my options would be the fastest and most painless :)

@Firas
I don't think I was very mysterious about my expectations? Here's to quote myself: "I would be curious to hear about anyone who went through a similar situation" - so I was hoping that. Someone who went through the same thing telling me how it went. Life has taught me that it is very rare you do something that unique that no other human being hasn't done the same before you hehe; so I was hoping to share experience. But if no one relates c'est la vie. As for the fatality of me applying, you are probably right; but that doesn't mean that outside opinion couldn't have an influence on my timing, the way I do it, etc. so this is why I ask.

@AK
Thank you for a more thorough answer. We are NOT on bad terms with my mother-in-law :) I am actually trying not to become in bad terms with her hehe. I'd like to think I know quite well Japanese culture, and human behavior, and I understand her angle and approach towards our situation. She wants to be a good mother figure and make sure we make everything "right". I understand this is still probably our best bet and what we might end up doing. I was just hoping my wife and I would have the leeway to determine what's right and wrong for us alone, now we will have to comply to her vision of the world, that is from a very different perspective, and from someone who in turns does not understand my culture and behavior. I'm a stupid B-gata French boy, probability to clash with japanese traditionnalism is high ;)

What you are talking about next is actually exactly why we're asking :) the difference between applying from Japan, hence having no visa for a while (i am trying to define the "a while" better - and yes I have immigrated 3 times in my life i understand how visa delays work - that doesn't mean that there isn't a median time range :)) or applying from abroad so I can land with the right to work right from the start. Plan B sounds much safer indeed, but that also means we get to Japan later, so this is what we are trying to balance out.

Thank you for your wishes and your correction on the "visa" spelling hehe, you're definitely right ^^;