Documents for British to marry in Japan?

Hello guys. First post, nice to meet you!

Me and my Japanese Gf of 3 years are getting married in March, I will be going there as a tourist for a couple of week and then returning to the UK, soon to apply for spouse VISA afterwards.

I was just wondering what documents I needed for marriage, I�fve read lots of outdated and confusing information online, where can I get the affirmation to marry? Can I get it in the UK, or do I need an appointment at the embassy in Tokyo? Also, what even is a CNI?? My girlfriend called the city hall about marriage and they said I need affirmation from either japan or I can get it from the UK, but from what I read online I can only get it from Tokyo.

Who should we use as witnesses? Is 2 of my girlfriends family okay?

Thank you guys. Sorry for the rambling guys, the date is getting closer and still confused about a lot of things.

I was just wondering what documents I needed for marriage,
I've assisted two couples get married in Tokyo, one from the US, the other from the UK. The documents were slightly different and the process changed a little as well. As you GF is Japanese she can do the translations of the documents and filling in the application for marriage (which is actually free, the certificate costs a few hundred yen.)

Documents they found that they needed were:
- Passports
- Birth certificates - long form with parents details
- Id with proof of address (drivers license for example)

It was £50 for the affidavit from the UK Embassy - not sure if that has increased or not.

or do I need an appointment at the embassy in Tokyo?
Yes.

Who should we use as witnesses? Is 2 of my girlfriends family okay?
Yes - that is fine.

There you are. In addition to JapanCustomTours

https://www.gov.uk/marriage-abroad/y/japan/opposite_sex

Also as your GF to confirm with local ward/city hall where you'll be registering your marriage as different ward/city hall may have different requirements. Just to be save.

Definitely get hold of your Original birth certificate as the cityhall people would scrutinised it against their list of birth cert.

Any translation of document other than Japanese for Japan side usage can be done by your GF or anyone. No need for professional/official translation.

Thanks
Guys! Do I don�ft need a Certifiate of no impediment or anything like that?? Also do I get the affirmation all completed on appointment day? Thanks!

You and your girlfriend will first choose the style to get legally married: whether the Japanese style or the U.K. style.

In any of the two styles, it has to be confirmed that you/she have/has legal capacity [no impediment] to contract marriage under your/her home country law.  

(A) You and she get married in the Japanese style: A certificate of your legal capacity is required.
(B) You and she get married in the U.K. style: A certificate of her legal capacity is required.

She should notify (the mayor of) the Japanese municipality managing her family register of her getting married.

You NEED either one, CNI or affidavit.

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.

Check with British embassy in Japan on appointment and affidavit issuance to confirm.

READ this https://www.gov.uk/guidance/notarial-and-documentary-services-guide-fo...

It says :

Q. How long does the process take? Would it be possible to receive a completed
affirmation/affidavit on the day?
A. The process usually takes 30 minutes as long as the documents you provide are
correct, in which case you will be able to get a completed affirmation/affidavit on
the day.

It can cost an American about 10 thousand dollars to marry an foreign er,with all the government fees an the attorney fees, associated with having their spouse reside in.America , everybody should know this before decide to.marry a person a foreigner,but their should not be a price,no one willing to pay for the one they love

What was this last message hahaha. Does only the UK style marriage get notarized in the UK? The plan is to live in the UK afterwards so it is better to have UK style marriage? Where in japan do we do this? Okay so I shall get the CNI and leave out the affirmation from the UK embassy.

Well, it seems that you would like to have a visa / the status of residence (#) for a spouse of a Japanese national.

In that case, (compared to when you and she choose the U.K. style,) getting married in the Japanese style sounds more suitable, because that is a more direct way to have the marriage written on her family register [ koseki ].

(#) A visa and the status of residence are sometimes confused both in Japanese and in English. A U.K. national is, for a short-term stay in Japan without engagement in paid activities, basically not required to obtain a visa to enter Japan.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/short/novisa.html

Maybe she does not know which municipality manages her family register.
(That is not very uncommon among Japanese people, I suppose.)
The same can be said about two Japanese witnesses.

One quick and relatively certain way to find out this municipality is to obtain a copy of the resident record [ juumin-hyou ] with honseki-chi indicated.

Honseki-chi is the area of the municipality where honseki (= the address written on the family register) is, in other words the municipality who manages the family register.

When she submits the marriage notification form at the office of another municipality, a transcript (= full copy) of her family register [ koseki touhon ] is necessary.

(For a computerized family register, instead of a transcript, a certificate of all the registered matters is issued.)  

- Civil Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Justice:
Questions and answers (in Japanese) about family register
regarding international marriage, childbirth overseas, etc.
http://www.moj.go.jp/MINJI/minji15.html

We will be moving to the UK a few months after with her being on a spouse visa, so I'm asking, will our marriage be recognized in the UK?

I also was very confused about the affirmation or CNI, I will get the CNI from my local registry office here in the UK and use that for the marriage application instead, do I need to have it approved by the UK embassy in Tokyo though? I saw somebody say they got the CNI and then posted it to the UK embassy to get approved or something.

Thank you for all the help guys, this really helps me a lot. Please stick around if possible, I shall be asking a lot more, xD!!!

A clear example with people-friendly explanation of how to fill in a marriage notification form is available on the website of City of Kobe.  
http://www.city.kobe.lg.jp/life/registration/koseki/img/konin_gaikokuj...

(1) You and she set a day for the marriage notification (during your stay in Japan) when both the U.K. Embassy Tokyo and a Japanese municipal office (e.g. Chiyoda City Office) are open.

(2) She prepares for the marriage notification: finding two Japanese witnesses (who each have reached the age 20), filling in her part of the notification form, etc.

(3) Each witness fills in the witness's part of the notification form and puts his/her seal.

(4) You get necessary papers ready for making an affidavit.
https://www.gov.uk/marriage-abroad/y/japan/opposite_sex

(5) You come to Japan.

(6) You fill in your part of the marriage notification form.

(7) On the day for the marriage notification, you bring your necessary papers to the U.K. Embassy Tokyo, then make there an affidavit.

(8) You and she visit the municipal office; you bring there your affidavit and passport; she brings there her necessary papers (including the notification form), her personal seal and her (legally-authorized) ID certificate.

(9) She puts her seal on the marriage notification form, then submits the form with all the other necessary papers including your affidavit.

(10) After the marriage notification is accepted, she applies for a certificate of acceptance of marriage notification [ kon'in-todoke juri shoumei-sho ]; then she hands you this certificate.

Logically a marriage notification form can be submitted at any time; however, if she submits the notification form in late business hours or a closed day for the municipal office, it may take a few days to obtain a certificate of acceptance.

I recommend she takes two sheets of the notification form, one for a draft and the other for submission, leaves the date of notification unwritten until the day, and writes it when she actually submits the form.

Successfully accomplishing the procedure of marriage notification, you and she get necessary papers ready for your applying for a visa / the status of residence (for a spouse of a Japanese national).

Those papers may include her koseki touhon which is newly issued after the marriage notification is accepted.

The UK recognises Japanese marriages. There is a lot of information in this thread but what you are trying to do is actually incredibly simple. Get your translated affidavit/CNI, take it to the local ward office along with any other documents they require (birth certificate, passport, etc). Get married and enter into the family register. That alone is more than enough for you to have a Japanese marriage that will be recognised in the UK.

Thank you LIZ, and thankyou the poster above, but that�fs really confusing and you�fre still not answering my question about needing a CNI or actually getting one in japan. Surely if I have a CNI from the UK I don�ft need to have an appointment at the embassy or need to go there for any reason?

Thanks!

LIZ:
Get married and enter into the family register.

Actually, you do not enter into her family register, because you are not a Japanese person.
The fact that she got married with you is written on her family register.

goblinburger:
Surely if I have a CNI from the UK I don�ft need to have an appointment at the embassy or need to go there for any reason?

Presumably you don't need to have your same document verified twice by the UK authority.

As long as you bring all the necessary UK documents to Japan
and they are, when she notifies her marriage with you,
both valid and usable for that procedure,
I presume you would not need to visit the UK Embassy.

I will get the CNI from my local registry office here in the UK and use that for the marriage application instead

When you do that way,
you have to make sure that the certificate will not get expired or be too old to be used.

The best solution which I think of is
that you make your affidavit
at the Embassy Tokyo or the Consulate-General Osaka
then she notifies her marriage at a Japanese municipal office,
successively on the same day,
so that a time lag between the two steps would not cause any problem.

(Currently you and she are likely to get married soon in March,
in which case I suppose the certificate which you will get would not become too old.)

In March 2019, the 21st is expected to be the only public holiday in Japan.

We will be moving to the UK a few months after with her being on a spouse visa

Oh, now I think I see the whole picture....
So, will this marriage lead not to your visa but to her visa?
Then, I may have misread the corresponding part of your previous post; please ignore my information about your visa.

will our marriage be recognized in the UK?

Generally, it will.

The below explanation on the UK government webpage of my above link sounds to be the most certain answer to this question.

In "After you get married" section, it goes:
You don�ft need to register your marriage in the UK. It should be recognised in the UK if:
- you followed the correct process according to the law in Japan
- it would be allowed under UK law

Marriage are only a legal and moral contract for two people,that they pledge love and hopes and dreams for the future, something government, should not be involved with,but in America,they have immigration officer,who can question the validity of a marriage

In the two cases I have had experience with there was no need to "register" the marriage as both the UK and US recognise the process in Japan. For the couple from the UK who did their research, they did not mention a CNI, and simply visited the UK Embassy here in Tokyo. You might want to get your GF to call the city office and check their requirements.
They did not actually need a certificate, but chose to get one - took 20 minutes. In your case, applying for a visa for your future wife, I expect you would need one for the application process.

Double, triple confirm with your GF in Japan , where you will be registering your marriage in Japan as different municipal have slightly different rules/requirement. And they are very nitpick about their documents. Your problem usually start here.

Read this pdf file.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/upl...

Actually, you do not enter into her family register, because you are not a Japanese person.
The fact that she got married with you is written on her family register.
???
Yes, the marriage will be written on her family register because it will be entered into it.

I don�ft know if it�fs even possible to marry without entering it I Tom the register, but doing so would definitely be a bad idea.

@OP I did a bit of checking. This information is from Arakawa ward office, I don�ft know if it differs from place to place. It sounds like they would want to see an affidavit from the British embassy in Tokyo. You may also be able to use a document obtained in the UK and translated into Japanese, I don�ft know. But in Arakawa at least, for sure you can get what you are looking for from the British embassy. I�fve had appointments there a couple of times, no reason they shouldn�ft be able to get what you are looking for vey simply and quickly.