Marriage in Japan + visa within 90 days?

I will come to Japan in summer (in country now but leaving in two weeks). I will be entering on 90 day visa waiver. My girlfriend and I will marry here in Tokyo at at ward office.

I have saved logs of Line chats dating back to when we first met, including daily phone calls usually hours in length from when I was in my home country and we couldn�ft meet, plus my Line chats with her dad and sister, plus a fair number of handwritten notes and letters. We have photos of us together on dates, in her home, on holiday in Kanazawa, photos of me meeting her family, matching tickets for Shinkansen, various tourist attractions, etc. It�fs difficult to imagine that immigration will look at us and decide that our relationship is not legitimate, no problems there. We can also demonstrate that my girlfriend�fs income can carry the both of us while I search for a job, while far from being rich, she makes enough to get by. In total I have spent around 180 days in Japan without issue, never had a problem entering or leaving the country and the only contact I have ever had with Japanese police officers was when I needed directions. Again, no problems. My Japanese is wobbly, but I can communicate. If I want to say something in Japanese, I can say it, but frequently sound like a bit of an idiot in doing so. But I can, and do get by in Japan.

However we are concerned having read stories of visa applications taking months and months. Is there a chance that a change of residence from temporary visitor to spouse of Japanese national will also take a long time? I�fm absolutely not prepared to overstay or break any laws. But marriage now and going the COE route for summer entry with spouse visa is not an option. For reasons relating to her father, we simply can not get married until July-August time. Any advice? Thanks for reading.

ask immigration and they can inform you the best

Unfortunately nothing is guarantee. Plenty of people go through the process in less than 3 months (my CoE, for instance, arrived in about 6 weeks), but for others takes longer. The only thing you can do is to be sure your application is submitted with all the proper documentation and book a return flight for the very end of 90 days.

No problem. They grant the spouse visa even for overstayers if japanese wife sponsor. You should be fine.

I'm pretty sure the offer some kind of temp visa while the application process is happening. Immigration would be your best bet to ask.

Marriage visa is the most easiest visa to enter in Japan than any other category. Your Japanese spouse must take your guarantee, that`s the most important. This visa dont require any education, Japanese language ability, skills. Many overstayers who have jail history(Overstay and other minor crimes) in the past got PR too.

I did the same thing you are planning to do, few years ago. Came to Japan, got married and applied for Spouse visa. Immigration said i could stay until a final decision was taken on my visa (more than the tourist visa length, if necessary) It came in like 1 month.

If you apply for a change of status of residence (not a COE), they should give you 2 months on the top of your original 90 days. The "official" average processing time is 1-3 months, so you should have enough time, but is not a given.

If you come into Japan, get married to your Japanese girlfriend, and complete the application for change of resident status BEFORE the initial 90-day period ends, you will get a stamp in your passport saying (I forgot the exact wording) that your application is being processed/under review, and you can stay until the immigration authorities makes a decision, which might be a few weeks, or longer. (Our personal experience is that we once changed my husband's status from one of the work visas to spouse of Japanese, and I believe it was done in a few weeks, though we were married for several years before that already.)

While I have read about overstayers getting "spouse of Japanese national" status, those applications are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and of course I recommend not to overstay in the first place. As you say you intend not to do that, that is fine :)

Even if you end your 90 days tourist visa, it's fine but not reccommended as others said.
It is based from case-to-case basic from the immigration, so better ask them for further informations :)

I got my spouse visa last year and applied just a bit "after" my 90 days ended. But, since I did this with the help of a lawyer, the immigration stamped the extension of stay on my passport and went fine until the result came out. Got the spouse visa after 2 weeks.

So yeah, it's technically possible to obtain the status change before 90 days. Some (lawyers, especially) says that immigration is unlikely to change status of residence from a visitor stamp unless there aren't particular circumstances between the applicant and the J-spouse.