Spouse visa for gays possible?

Hello there.

My friend is married to a Japanese man and they are now planning to move to Japan next year.

They have married in Austria. I am not sure if that will be valid in Japan but is it possible for gay couples to get a spouse visa or something similar, somehow?

Nope sorry as same sex partner not recognised as a spouse.

Well , not a spouse visa, but there are stories out there of getting a gdesignated activity g visa.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2015/06/10/issues/foreign-sex-c...

Itfs not straight forward. So possibly getting a student (or work or WHV) first would be good. And then best to hire an immigration lawyer.

The governmentfs position seems to be: if a same-sex couple who got married in a country where such marriage is officially acknowledged, AND if the laws of the countries of citizenship of the two persons allow same-sex marriages, then if one happens to come to Japan for work/study, the other party can either be recognized as gdependenth (acknowledged as legal partner) or given gdesignated activitiesh status.
However, I believe there was a case where one party was Japanese; in this case, as Japan does not recognize same-sex marriages, the second condition I mentioned above is not met, so the non-Japanese partner is not recognized as the legal partner, thus not eligible for gspouse of Japanese nationalh status.

I have once consulted an immigration lawyer on behalf of a non-Japanese, same-sex couple (one of them has a steady job in Japan), and the answer I got was that yes it is coming to be recognized, but it is no easy, and that it would help if the partner had some kind of employment potential so that he too is able to make a living.

also note the people on dependent visas are not allowed to work the same number of hours as regular Japanese Nationals or people on spousal visas. I have a friend who's only depending Visa here and she's not allowed to work more than 20 or so hours a week.

The limit is 28 hours per week for a dependent on a permit (not 20). And is per week, not an average.