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Marriage for a Japanese in the UK 2020/6/24 12:35
Me and my girlfriend may get married in the UK instead of Japan, what are the requirements for her to do this? What documents and steps will she need to take? She's Japanese and lives in Japan.
Also, after we are married in the UK, am I able to apply for a spouse CoE so I can stay in Japan with her?
I'm aware of marriage in Japan and those rules, but our plans have changed because of the virus, so I'm learning about getting married in the UK instead.
Thank you.
by Goosie  

Re: Marriage for a Japanese in the UK 2020/6/24 15:02
Your questions about marriage in the UK should be directed to a UK forum, not a Japan one. Your answers will be based on UK requirements.
by / (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Marriage for a Japanese in the UK 2020/6/24 20:35
That's too bad. Thought you had it all sorted out.

A quick googling/reading on this, it's seem that the UK side is more time/money consuming and more hassle compare to marrying in Japan.

Check with UK immigration and your local registrar office for more detail.

https://www.gov.uk/marriage-visa
https://transferwise.com/us/blog/getting-married-in-the-uk-guide

Also, after we are married in the UK, am I able to apply for a spouse CoE so I can stay in Japan with her?
Your "wife" then need to apply for COE in Japan, send it to you once approve, which you use it to apply for spouse visa at the embassy.
Or you could just try your luck enter on visa waiver (Temporary Visitor), apply for 'change of status'.
If they accept your application and aprroved, then Bob's your uncle.
If not, then just go COE-visa route.
Make sure your"wife" register/notify your marriage to Japan embassy or cityhall(when back in Japan) after you married in UK.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/toko/todoke/koseki/index.html
by @.. (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Marriage for a Japanese in the UK 2020/6/25 10:26
Your question relates to the UK procedures, so you are unlikely to get a "full" answer here on this forum. Check first if a non-resident (she coming from Japan) can get married in the UK. Possibly she might have to apply for fiancé visa to the UK, or she may be able to come as a tourist to the UK.
(I am not familiar of the requirement for gcoming to the UK to get married,h as we got married – me Japanese, my husband EU national – while we lived in the UK as residents. We went through the regular UK process of doing the notification period, etc., before getting married before the marriage registrar, with two witnesses.)


But I can give you some information about what will happen after you get married in the UK.
You get married in the UK according to the UK law, then you get the original copy and a few duplicate copies of the marriage certificate.
Your Japanese wife either (1) takes that certificate to the Embassy of Japan in London, or (2) to her city hall back in Japan, to register the UK-law-based marriage with the Japanese authorities after-the-fact, so that her marriage to you will be entered in her gkosekih (family register) as gMs. So-and-so married Mr. Goosie, a UK national, on yyyy/mm/dd according to the UK law.h
When that entry is made, based on that, you (or she on your behalf) can start the process of applying for CoE as gspouse of Japanese national,h which you use to get the visa to enter Japan as spouse.

(In our case, we returned to Japan later, so we took the UK marriage certificate to the Japanese city hall where we lived in Japan, with the original marriage certificate in English and its Japanese translation (done by myself), my ID and my spousefs ID, to do the after-the-fact registration. Then based on that, we applied for a change of resident status from a work-related status to spouse.)
by AK rate this post as useful

Re: Marriage for a Japanese in the UK 2020/6/25 11:54
Hi Goosie

I've read on the government website that due to Corona virus, all requests for marriage in uk are currently being declined. You may want to check this

https://www.gov.uk/marriages-civil-partnerships

Also, foreigners who do not have indefinite leave to remain need to have a special marriage visa/permit approved by the home office.
After, your wife will have to register your marriage again at either the embassy of her local city hall

TBH, if you marry in Japan on a visitor permit the process is already automatically done in the uk and you dont have to worry about registration again. I would personally go ahead with the process in Japan, also considering that is where you want to live
As it appears you can't do anything in the uk yet anyway, doing it in Japan will overall be less stressful

by Shelly (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Marriage for a Japanese in the UK 2020/6/26 07:19
Thank you everybody who has responded to my question and helped me, I'm very grateful.

@AK
Your response was very detailed and helped me to understand the process a lot more, thank you. I think for her to obtain the marriage visa, she must prove we have a genuine relationship and that it is true we will marry when she comes to the UK - along with basic identification too of course.
I didn't know that she could register the marriage at the Japan Embassy in the UK to register it in Japan too, that's really handy. It means I could start processing my CoE in the UK if we did it. Thanks a lot!

@Shelly
You are definitely right, I think getting married in Japan is easier - they've also resumed notorial appointments at my country's embassy there now too. The only problem is I don't know which country will open up first, the UK is in terrible shape and Japan is doing well, so I don't think Japan will want to let in any British people this year.
But as for Japanese people coming to the UK, maybe that might happen sooner. Your advice is wise and I'll surely keep it in mind, thank you.
by Goosie rate this post as useful

Re: Marriage for a Japanese in the UK 2020/6/26 07:24
I would just want to point out what getting a permanent resident visa means in terms of a foreigner.
If you're happy to start a life in Japan, live there, work there... you got not much to worry.
For example, I wanted to continue my business in Europe, and getting such a visa means I would pay tax in Japan (as well) for the income I make and keep in European banks. Taxation would be done in both countries, although there are some small deduction due to "Double taxation avoidance treaties".

- Pension tax (part time, self employed or no income) almost 200.000Yen a year.
- Medical insurance
- Taxes depending on income. (National tax, prefectural tax, municipal tax)
- Other tax.... many other taxes

Sometimes for a European is hard to understand all those taxes, but living in Japan might be very expensive.
by MirceaM rate this post as useful

Re: Marriage for a Japanese in the UK 2020/6/26 11:10
Goosie,
Please be sure to check with the Embassy of Japan in London how long that takes; we returned to Japan, so I took the marriage certificate in person to the city hall, so our UK marriage was entered right there, but I know that it takes longer time for the marriage to be entered if you report it to an embassy outside Japan. So be sure to check that everything works out in terms of timing, if you were planning to proceed to apply for CoE right after that.


MirceaM,
I believe the OP is currently in the process of getting the gspouse of Japanese national,h so not yet gpermanent resident.h
It is true that when youfve lived in Japan over a certain length of time, there will be tax obligations even for income outside Japan, so you do need to be mindful of that, but other than that, yes, I admit health insurance and things in Japan can be costly, but that is true in every country, and if you keep your residence registered in your home country, that can add to the cost too (my EU husband has officially glefth his country and has no business over there, so all his tax/ pension/ health insurance obligations are solely with Japan).
by AK rate this post as useful

Re: Marriage for a Japanese in the UK 2020/6/27 06:13
@AK even as gspouse of Japanese national" which if he lived under 3 years in Japan is considered "non-permanent resident" which requires him to enroll in the pension system and pay the 16500 Yen per month even though he has no income.
by MirceaM rate this post as useful

Re: Marriage for a Japanese in the UK 2020/6/27 09:56
Tax residency is based on 183 days out of 365 in a country usually irrespective of resident status - if you stay too long, Japan is allowed to tax you on your worldwide income.
It can also be based on assets - like a house or even a car - so not living somewhere does not excuse you paying tax in another country on worldwide income (twice - again).
Those double tax treaties are important as well as "tie-breakers" - pays to know the rules or you can pay all your income in taxes pretty quickly.
by JapanCustomTours rate this post as useful

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