degree-less with spousal visa?

So here is my situation

Im 20, white american male (good looking ^_~)
no college degree
wanting to live and work in japan

I have a j-gf (who lives in japan) who says she'll marry me.

she dosnt have a college education and works part time.

The marriage would be legit (god knows i love the girl) but will immigration take our (not impressive) incomes or the fact that we might not be living together immediately (because of said poor incomes) into account when reviewing my visa application?

Basically i want to go to Japan, marry my girl, get a visa to work, live with a former host-family of mine while working to save money to get a place with my j-wife.

then insert ambitions and attempts at modeling work and making a band as applicable.

anyone have experiences working degree-less under a spousal visa?

I humbly ask the opinions, experiences and advice of you forum goers in regards to my diabolical scheme.

K,

I don't think combined income is a major issue regarding the spouse visa, but not living together is, and I would say there is a high probability that Immigration would reject your visa application.

The visa might be rejected because we might not be living together to begin with? I thought the fact that my gf works part time and that i wouldnt have an income would be a bigger problem.

Immigration wants to make sure that it is a genuine marriage, i.e. not just for the visa. If you are living separately it will look highly suspicious to Immigration officials. This is the same in any country.

I agree with Dave and Sira. I just applied for and received my own spouse visa and one problem that we ran into is that while we have been living together and been legally married for the last 6 months, our registered addresses didn't match. Immigration said that it looked fishy and that we shouldn't even apply until we resolved that. Of course you could always just register her address as your official residence and not actually live together...

do what smurf says, it's a little white lie and as long as you remember to tell everyone you're living with her at her address (and she does the same) it's all good.

i can sympathize with your situation, even though it's a little strange, i know what it's like to be in your shoes.

good luck!

Is the visa application process all paperwork?

No chance to sit down with an immigration person and explain that i'll be staying with my host-family just during the visa application/ job acquisition process?

i would not bother trying. it would be much simpler if you can both stick to an easy story and make it sound like you're living together.


i wanted to mention something - your ambitions of modeling / music are very unlikely to work, and an immigration officer is also going to pick up on that. i would just say you are going to teach english, which in the end is probably what you will end up doing. modeling and music is nice and all but almost no one can pull off modeling full time, and japan has plenty of talented musicians competing with you. english teacher looks better on an application.

Basically i want to go to Japan, marry my girl, get a visa to work, live with a former host-family of mine while working to save money to get a place with my j-wife.

Is there a reason why you want to live with your former-host family rather than living with your wife (and presumably her family) after you get married? If it is simply to save money then you'll probably save more by living with her family.

The visa might be rejected because we might not be living together to begin with? I thought the fact that my gf works part time and that i wouldnt have an income would be a bigger problem.

An income is not a requirement of a spouse visa, however you will have to provide evidence that you will be financially supported (by either your wife, her family, outside resources, etc.).

Is the visa application process all paperwork?

No chance to sit down with an immigration person and explain that i'll be staying with my host-family just during the visa application/ job acquisition process?

The process is all paperwork, which is to your benefit as it can go very quickly if all your stuff is in order. An interview will just extend the process and not necessarily be to your benefit in this situation.

Since you will be entering Japan on a tourist visa and changing it to a spouse visa you will apply for a change of status of residence. It is one application with 4-5 supporting documents. Be sure to apply for an alien registration card when you arrive as it takes 2 weeks to process.

See this thread for more info on the process:

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+57221

What are you doing to be doing in Japan even if you do get a spousal visa? I mean, you mention modeling and starting up a band but do you have any more realistic plans of how you're going to save up money and be able to support your fiancee and kids?

I say this because I spent about six months in Japan, I have a bachelor's degree from a pretty good university, fluent Japanese (although I admit, I haven't taken the JLPT exam), a Japanese passport, and finding work was still incredibly difficult. I reckon you can teach English and live paycheck to paycheck that way (for a while) but how's that going to help you in your long-term goals of supporting a family and having your own place to live?

What's the rush, you're only 20! How about setting up a plan of what you want to do and succeed in? Right now, you have way too many question marks. "I want to live in work in Japan" is not a good enough reason to pick up and move abroad to a completely different country.

I'm also worried about your phrasing of "I want to live in Japan" followed by "I have a g/f who says she'll marry me." Shouldn't it be the other way around?? Granted this is getting picky but just sit back and think about what you're doing and what you're planning to do.