Marriage in Japan - British - Affidavit Help

Hello my name is Daniel (British) and my fiance (Japanese) and I are looking to get married in Spring 2024.

We have done the research and know what documents we need and the process we need to follow in order to get married. That is all fine and we understand.

In order to give some context I am back living in the UK, we met during my time living there and we have been in a relationship for many years. The long term plan now is marriage and us having a life in the UK.

This is where my query starts to come into play. The affidavit is giving me a little bit of a headache and the British Embassy in Tokyo give the broadest answers. I'm pretty sure if I asked them what 2 + 2 was they would say "It is one of the numbers between 1-10". I just cannot get a specific answer from them at all. I'm lucky even if i get a response.

It is to my understanding the affidavit does expire. This is a quote from the official British GOV UK website:

"Check with the municipal office you intend to register your marriage how far in advance you should obtain the Affidavit/Affirmation.
Most municipal offices will only accept documents that were issued within a certain number of months before its submission."

Does this essentially mean even though both my fiance and I know we want to get married in Spring 2024 I need to wait until pretty much right up until our actual marriage month before I can do this affidavit? Since it alludes to the fact my personal identification documents will have an expiry e.g. bank statement (includes living address)
I had already went through the effort of applying for the affidavit online in order to see how to book a date (British embassy couldn't even tell me that when I asked) only to discover a person can only book 2-3 months ahead as appointments very slowly get released.
Honestly the support and guidance given by the embassy is so substandard.

TLDR:
1. Does this essentially mean even though both my fiance and I know we want to get married in Spring 2024 I need to wait until pretty much right up until our actual marriage month before I can do this affidavit?
2. Would I need to apply for a new affidavit closer to the time of marriage and just hope I get an appointment at the British Embassy in Tokyo?

Sorry for the rant. Any support or clarification would be greatly appreciated. Just feel like I'm hitting a wall with what should be actually a very simple step.

Hi Daniel

Only the local ward office of where you plan to get married would 100% know this but in my experience, yes to your questions.

It's exactly what I did, once I knew the date of registering my marriage, I kept an eye on the embassy booking page and literally booked a day a few days ahead of that! Just to be on the safe side.

To be honest, I found asking for help from any entity in japan about foreign marriages lead to even more confusion.
If its not ever so much trouble I would just try and book a date close to your marriage registration, which I know is stressful in itself as you'll be worrying until you have it booked.
But I went through this and it turned out fine I the end

I assume that you want to get married in Japan.
the certificate which you want to have is the proof that you are a single, i.e. not married.
the document must be fresh, because it only shows that you are a single at that date. if the old one is valid, you can make marriages as many times as you want.
generally speaking, the validity of such documents in Japan are three months at maximum after the issued date.

In response to kens comment...

The document you need as a British citizen is the affidavit (that is your sworn declaration of your marital status)

You don't need any other document to prove you're not married *unless you've previously been divorced then you'd probably need decree absolute

Best to check with the ward office about length of validity of the affidavit though because as the embassy has stated on their site that validity differs between ward offices

Not from Britain but went through the same process. The documents, which I also had to order through the embassy of my country in Japan was valid for 3 or 4 months. Getting the appointment was the first issue, as I had to apply with my wife together (aside of not being married it was also about not being related to each other) . The main issue was the date when the documents would be issued and when they're available in Japan, which at least took us 2-3 months, luckily my wife was able to pick them up alone, so no need to fly over just for that. Putting in the paper at the municipal office had too be timed a bit accordingly

Further in response from the input from Max, the affidavit is instant.
You don't have to wait as it's a form you fill out and bring to the embassy yourself and the notary there seals it for you after hearing you declare the truth with raising your right hand.

So no need to worry about timing in that respect.

I'm british and went through all this process myself, the process is a bit different for british citizens compared to many other countries

Hi guys

I just want to say thank you to everyone who responded to my original post. I really appreciate the time you took to respond to me. It makes me feel I'm not alone in this as others have experienced it and had the same worries as me, so thank you.

I ended up emailing the local municipal office in my fiancé's town (had the time so thought why not) and it seems they aren't very strict in her region. As long as I bring the documents I used to show my identification in the affidavit then it appears I'm fine.

For reference I contacted the British embassy via email last Friday and still have received nothing.
So I recommend anyone who sees this post in the future to contact the municipal office of the city you intend to get married in (just as Chris recommended) as they are more on the ball. However, I imagine each experience varies.

One last question to ask - The affidavit only comes into affect the moment you do the oath, sign it and take the paper from the British Embassy?

The affidavit only comes into affect the moment you do the oath, sign it and take the paper from the British Embassy?
That is how it works - not effect before hand.
And BTW, in my experience helping a few people getting married locally (including from the UK and the US), yes, getting the appointment can be tricky, but having some flexibility for day/time helps.

That's right the affidavit is just a worthless piece of paper until you and the embassy bless it, so it's 100% necessary.

That's great news your local ward office is pretty cool with their requirements. Mine went through everything like I was being arrested or something!

One tip to mention just in case, if you're one of those people (like me) who likes to have a birth certificate available at all times, there's a high chance the ward office won't give it back as you're technically able to order another certified copy. So if you're like me then I would get one ordered now so you have a backup certificate.
No matter how much I begged the ward office not to take it as it's hassle to pay for another one (prices a lot more expensive than Japan!) They would not give it back!

Anyway good luck with getting married in japan, if any more questions pop up or you're worried about anything, feel free to ask.

@Chris - that is weird because the occasions I have helped people there was absolutely no requirement for them to retain it. Used the Minato ward office, but no reason for the procedure to be dramatically different.
As a note on the birth certificate - needs to be a full one and not one of those short-form versions.

Yeah I'm going to be taking spare birth certificates. I'm a bit of a worrier by nature, best to be safe than sorry.

I'm going out to Japan for a 5 week stint so regarding the affidavit pick up date there will be plenty of flexibility. I'll be checking the book in date quite regularly as it gets closer to my time to go to Japan.

Thanks again, I thought that was the case with the affidavit. That the effect only begins once the oath has been completed and the document signed. Thanks for confirming that guys. Much appreciated.

@japancustomtours

Yes that's an excellent point, it has to be a full certified copy

Well my ward office wasn't in tokyo so that could be it, every ward office can do things differently just by which staff happens to be working that day. It's likely my ward office was just being extra cautious due to lack of experience with foreign marriages. I'm just sharing my experience so the op can be prepared for if they decide to keep it.
I've also had ward office staff tell me one thing over the phone and then completely backtrack when I got there. I suppose a lot of ward offices outside of tokyo have little experience dealing with foreign matters