Sticky situation with heritage visa

Hello! I have a bit of a complicated story and I hope someone can help.

My husband is a naturalized American citizen, born in Peru but moved to Japan as a baby and grew there until he was 9 years old. Although his Grandmother was a Japanese citizen, his parents actually migrated to Japan on a special visa for Peruvian and Brazilian workers in the 1980's. Now in our early 30's we had the dream of moving to Japan to start our family. I didn't grow up in Japan, but I taught there as a Pre-k and Elementary school English teacher, and I think Japan is a really wonderful place to raise children.

My husband is eligible for a heritage visa because his Grandmother, but his family has since migrated out of Japan, and he has no close connections with anyone there having moved away at 9 years old. And even though we have many Japanese friends, we know the probability of finding someone who would sponsor is very unlikely. I did ask a friend once in my early 20's if he would sponsor me for an apartment, even with a well paying job. Not only did he tell me no, he told me many Japanese warn their children not to guarantee gaijin.

This is our problem. See, my husband is a self-taught web developer and he received a programming job offer with a real nice salary (especially for Japan) in Tokyo, but because he doesn't have a degree in his field, or 10 years work experience (he has about 6 years exp), he is not eligible for a work visa. He did the legwork and obtained his koseki to get around the work visa situation, but we realized we need a guarantor living in Japan to sign for him. And not like a apartment rental guarantor...apparently it's illegal to hire a service like this for visa purposes.

I've considered applying to teach English again, so we can get the visa through me, but that complicates our plan of starting a family. I don't want to get into a commitment that I'm going to quit early. The point was to rely on his visa, so I can continue running my own online business and raise the babies at home. Regardless, we'd still have the issue of finding a guarantor eventually, and so, I'm just not sure what to do.

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated, thanks!

It pisses me off (excuse the expression) to hear some Japanese gfriendh of yours telling you things like that. I (=Japanese) have been raised by my parents to look at the individual to determine if I can trust someone or not. NOT based on whether that person is Japanese or non-Japanese.

I, in addition to being the guarantor for my non-Japanese husbandfs permanent resident status, am a guarantor for a non-Japanese friendfs fatherfs PR application, and a guarantor for that friendfs apartment rental agreement.

So let me get this straight – you need a guarantor for your husbandfs what?? For the visa/resident status? Can his employer help him with it? The visa application gguarantorh only guarantees that the applicant obeys all Japanese laws and regulations, and that the guarantor will be responsible for the expenses to return to home country gifh he/she ever needs to and lacks the means to do thatc


About you potentially applying for a visa: then youfd be sponsored by your employer, and youfd be the guarantor for his application, is that what you mean? The hitch with that is that if you do the application at the same time, you would not yet be living in Japan, so that immigration might ask him for another guarantor anywaysc

Thank you. I was disappointed when my friend couldn't guarantee me, but we were in our early 20's, I think he was just scared. I've always been so nervous asking after that....but maybe it would be worth trying again.

My husband can apply for a heritage visa because he's sansei, but he needs a guarantor in Japan first. The consulate has told me his job cannot be his guarantor.

My husband unfortunately cannot apply for a work visa because he does not have a degree in computer programming. The only work visa for foreigners without restriction on type of university degree are for teaching English. All other jobs need you to have a degree in that field or an amount of years of experience. For digital designers, if you do not have a degree, 3 years experience is enough for a work visa. But for programmers, you must have 10 years experience. My husband only has 6-7 years experience. We spoke to an immigration lawyer, he said it's not enough for a work visa.

I think no matter what, our biggest issue will be to find a guarantor :(

When this non-Japanese friend asked me to be her fatherfs guarantor for his PR application, she showed some hesitation, I could tell shefd thought about whether to ask me or not for some time, and in a way I could understand why. Maybe she was rejected before too. And she hurried to tell me it is gjusth a guarantor, not for financial obligations and things like thatc and I KNEW it because I have done this guarantor thing for my own husband.

Immigration lawyersf websites describe the responsibilities of gguarantorh in this case to be more of a character guarantor, just an assurance for them to see that the applicant has some ties with Japan, not financial and prosecutable (like in gjoint and several responsibilitiesh). You might get your immigration lawyer to describe the responsibilities in a way that a friend of your might find it less burdensome to take onc

I guess the immigration authorities assume that for heritage visa he would have someone in Japan who is relatedc I have by the way noted that the guarantor in this case needs to be either a Japanese national or a PR (permanent resident), so you would not be able to fulfill this role even if you found employment in Japan.

Another thing: you seem to be considering Japan to raise family and stay in, but has your immigration lawyer gave you estimated prospects of this "heritage visa" (or long-term resident) visa applicants getting a multi-year visa from the first instance?

Best wishes for everything.

Sorry to hear about your situation and the reaction of your friend.
But being a guarantor brings responsibilities which people may not want to be responsible for.

You need to find someone close to you who can be a guarantor or a company.

I hope you can find away