Moving in to Japan with spouse?

Hello everyone, and first of all thanks for the helpful forum that has been a goldmine for info throughout the past years of visiting and living in Japan.

Long story short, back in 2018 my girlfriend and I met, lived together for a while (without any official documents on that), and shortly after I've left my home country to work in Japan, while she chose to stay home to remain closer to her family.

Years passed and a long-distance relationship is sure hard to maintain, so this February I went back to visit her for a long time and continue living together for another year or so.
However life is random, and all of a sudden our home country decided to make news all over the world just a few days after we've finally come to a thought that all is well and peaceful for the two of us now.

We don't feel safe here anymore, but I still have my job and working visa in Japan, along with a re-entry permit, so our natural decision was to turn the plan around and move together to Japan. Looking at the state of things, myself can just use the re-entry permit to go back, however for my now-fiancè I would have to apply for a CoE and then have her get a Dependent visa to move in with me.

So far we have scheduled and arranged our official marriage, however, a few concerns and questions arose:

1. The CoE application form (located at https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/content/930004048.pdf , specifically part 2R, for Dependent of Designated Activities visa holder) has a field for both Japanese authorities and Foreign authorities marriage registration information. However, I couldn't find if it's either or both of them necessary.
Do I have to somehow register our marriage in Japan before proceeding with the CoE?

2. Contacting the embassy of Japan in Russia, I've been told that due to COVID and extensive mail delays the visa application can be submitted with just a fax/printout copy of the CoE instead of the original.
Would immigration at the airport accept the copy to allow landing and/or issue her residence card? If not, is there a way for me to send the CoE to the airport immigration staff or present it in person during her arrival? Third-party logistics chains are possible but I'm afraid the CoE might get lost in transit.

3. Is there any chance that such a short time (1-2 months possibly) between marriage and application would cause any issues? The whole situation changed nearly overnight hence why we just went to town on that. As proof that we know each other for long I could pretty much provide enormously long chat transcripts, but those would be quite a hefty sum to pay a translator to translate into Japanese, and both of us don't really like taking selfies or photos, so there's at most a dozen of photos of us together throughout the entire relationship...

4. In case of a dependent visa, would my spouse be covered by my own medical and/or social insurance? If yes, would that need our marriage to be registered as per (1), or just having a foreign marriage certificate would be sufficient?


Thanks in advance for your responses.

Since both of your are not Japanese, you dont need to worry about the registering the marriage in Japan. So the "Japanese Autheoritites" bit doesn't apply to you.

I am also very doubtful that her COE your be approved. You a/ are not a citizen, b/ are not long term employed resident.

You can give it a go, but useless you have massive amount of savings. I am in doubt.

If would be better if she gets her own visa under her own terms. eg job etc.

Thanks for your response.

I have been on a working visa since late 2018, so if time spent on a residence status is a problem, I think it should be fine.

Plus the salary is pretty high for the average of my age in my region, not sure what savings could be considered enormous for the matter though.

This is really gas far as I knowh information.

1. As the above poster mentioned, I would not worry about the marriage registration in Japan.

2. No experience with that.
But please note there are two steps: (1) applying for a CoE, then (2) applying for a visa with that CoE once youfve obtained CoE. And i am not sure exactly which step the Embassy was saying that could be done by fax.

3. It should be no problem. Long-standing couples get married in order to be able to stay in a country together. So if you can show some letters/photos with dates, i would not worry.

4. If you are covered by your employerfs social insurance, then as long as you inform your employer that she is dependent, she should be covered. It is up to the employer whether to accept non-Japanese certificate or not. That is for later.

Best wishes.

Although you have had a visa since 2018. You have been out of the country for long periods of time. No taxes paid etc etc.

This may show that you are not stable. I'm only giving you maybe, so no need for your defensiveness. When immigration assesses you as she guarantor, they may not view you stable enough.

As a already said, all you can do is apply. If reject, try other avenues.

Re: AK

Thanks for your response. The part that the Embassy were talking about was the actual visa application \ since mail takes unusually long to get there in these times, they are accepting photocopies of the CoE instead of the actual document, or so it seems. Whether the actuall immigration counter at the airport will be satisfied with a photocopy as well is my point.

Other points are, it seems indeed like H mentioned, only trial and error will show.

Re: H

Oh, no worries, no offense taken! We're here to assess potential issues, not point fingers and bully each other :-)

In fact, I haven't been out of Japan for more than a few weeks ever since 2018 as well, continuously employed too, so on the front of taxes being paid and income received, etc. I guess there should be no issue.

Nevertheless thanks for pointing out that it could be a potential issue.

I wonder also if attaching a simple letter explaining the situation along with the application could help?

Sorry I thought you left Japan for over a year. If you have just left for short periods at a time. Then that won't be an issue.