UK marriage recognition for Japan Spouse Visa

Hello, I have searched through the previous messages and I haven't seen anything matching this exact problem.

I got married to my Japanese wife this February in Japan at her local town. This all went through without a problem and we are now married.

We have now submitted the paperwork for a spouse visa for me to move to Japan, but the Japanese immigration office have come back wanting proof that our marriage is legally recognized in the UK.

The problem is that the British Embassy says they cannot provide this and that they can only provide the statement that providing the marriage is legal in Japan and would be legal in the UK then in most cases it will be legally recognized in the UK.

From what I can tell this is only something that would get tested if we were planning on moving to the UK. Also, it seems there used to be departments that handled it, but now government cutbacks have closed them down.

We seem to be at a dead end, however given that many British people marry Japanese people and move to Japan, we are clearly not the only people to have to deal with this, so there must be some way of satisfying the Japanese immigration office's requirements.

Any suggestions will be gratefully appreciated.

Ben and Aya

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/upl...

Read above,especially the FAQ parts.

Same thing
https://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+166828
https://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+84873

As you have already found,
a British - Japanese marriage
which has been legally effectively notified first to the mayor of a Japanese municipality
(as in your and her case)
is naturally recognized legally under the U.K. law,
so the U.K. authority no longer provides a letter to prove its legitimacy.

You might have to convince the immigration service officer
of the fact that such a proof no longer exists,
but practically there seems to be a way for you to do without a letter of this kind.

Maybe the U.K. Embassy's staff can help you make a document to explain that fact then the ambassador can verify its content.

Please make sure to attach a translation into Japanese to any of the documents written in a foreign language when you submit it.

Good luck!

Hi,

I'm from UK (England) got married in Japan and didn't encounter this problem when applying for a visa with immigration. We just handed in our Japanese marriage certificate and this satisfied their requirements, received my Visa 2 months later. The marriage is already recongnised in UK / Japan so no proof of marriage from UK is needed.

Good luck!