Absentee marriage possible?

Hello. My Japanese girlfriend and I are planning to start a life together in Japan this summer, we looked into me coming in as a tourist and then changing status after marrying, but it seems unlikely that immigration would grant the change. My girlfriend�fs sister recommended getting married before I come to Japan (ie. now) and then applying for a COE to exchange for a visa at the Japanese embassy in my home country. I did a search on this and found nothing, is it even possible? Sounds unlikely but the sister seemed quite convinced that this was a good idea.

If you are not marriage you need to find a company who can sponsor you for a visa.
If you are married and you come to Japan short after that can rise up some questions.
Also when you apply for a visa you need to have proofment that you know each other etc.
But if you know each other long before marriage you can always apply for a visa and give it a try. If you are declined you need to wait 6 months before you can re-apply again.

What ever action or option you choose immigration will see your case different than others.
Therefore, a real answer nobody can give you.

Thanks for your thoughts, but my question wasn�ft about a visa. I don�ft need a company sponsor because I will marry a Japanese national and go the spouse visa route. I was asking if it is possible to get married while I am not physically in Japan.

Based on what is written here http://www.transenzjapan.com/blog/international-marriage-in-japan/ it seems possible (the blog author got married while abroad). But, my understanding, is that it depends from the specific city hall. Some of them require both parties to be "physically" present the day of the marriage registration, others don't. Check with the city hall, or just check their webpage and see if this information is specified.

By the way, why do you think you don't qualify for a change of status? Quite a bit of people do that, i.e. get married in Japan, apply before their temporary status expire, and get the visa.

Hey, thanks for the info. It�fs encouraging to hear that this is something that actually exists so I will ask my girlfriend to check with the ward office.

Actually at first we were planning to change status from temporary to spouse visa, but I read more about it and ended up unconvinced this was an option as we are not sure about the �gexceptional circumstances�h criteria. I�fm aware that it is an option that some couples are able to use, but do you know how they manage to get around this requirement?

The standard �gexceptional circumstances�h is the fact that you were not married before to arrive in Japan, so you could not apply for a COE from your country. This does not mean they will automatically accept your application, but people seem to have successfully changed their status in this way. I have no personal experience in this, you may find more info reading answer in this forum as well as the answers in the blog I mentioned.

If you decide to get married with you actually in Japan, you can always try to change your status. In that case you get two months extension on whatever temporary visa you have, and if the application is rejected (on the basis you did not satisfy the condition �gexceptional circumstances�h) you can always apply right away for the COE (docs are basically the same) and wait the answer in your country.

Thanks for the info, it's something we will think about.

In the meantime, no matter which route we take we are going to need a certificate of no impediment from my home country (UK). I assume this needs to be in Japanese but how best to go about obtaining a translated copy?

In the meantime, no matter which route we take we are going to need a certificate of no impediment from my home country (UK). I assume this needs to be in Japanese but how best to go about obtaining a translated copy?

If you are going to be in Japan at the marriage registration, then your embassy will issue that document, check with their website. And for what I know, embassies issue that document in their national language and in Japanese (so no translation would be needed).

If you are in the UK, best would be to check with the local Japanese embassy about what kind of Japanese translation they want. I am not familiar with UK rules, and there may be different "levels" (simple translation, sworn translation, with/without apostille, done by a translator officially associated with the Japanese embassy, etc.)