US Ex-JET Girlfriend Wants to Move In

Hello,

Here's my situation: I'm currently a Master's student on a student visa in Tokyo and my girlfriend is a JET in a different part of Japan. When she finishes, she wants to come live with me. We're both American, and she has a 4-year college degree, speaks pretty good Japanese, and has two years of JET experience.

Our two options are of course to either get married or for her to get a job (or both), since she'll need a new visa after her JET contract ends.

1) First of all, if I understand correctly, marrying me (an American student) would get her a dependent visa rather than a marriage one, correct? What would be the easiest way of doing this? Could we simply sign a marriage certificate in Japan, or would we both have to return to America to complete the legal marriage procedure?

2) As for her finding a job (assuming we didn't get married), she'd rather do something other than teaching English. Looking through job search websites, it looks like most require the applicant to already have a working visa. But how could she have one unless she already had a job? Basically, what steps should she take to go from JET to finding a normal working visa?

3) I suppose a third option would be a student visa. Do you know of any type of language school or whatever that would get her such a visa without having to take classes full-time? She's not really interested in going back to school, so this would be purely for the visa so she could live with me.

I truly appreciate any help you can give me. I've spent hours reading through all sorts of websites and it's very confusing.

Michael

As far as I know 2 foreigners can't get legally married in Japan.

1) I believe two non-Japanese (particularly because both of you do have more than Temporary Visitor status in Japan already) can get married legally in Japan alright. Ask the US Embassy for procedures. Their website gives some information as well. You need to ask yourself if you want to be married under the Japanese law, or under US law (of course you can do ceremonies and things twice if you want to, but you can only get married once under one set of laws).

When you get married, yes, your partner will get Dependent visa (the sole purpose of which is for her to be able to live with you), with part-time work allowed upon separate permit. She can stay in Japan with you, and this will buy her time in trying to find a full-time job (meaning, it's better than being on Temporary Visitor status),

2) She might have to start off teaching English (that's the easiest entry point, though with the current economy that could be difficul as well). I don't know what other professional skills she has, so I would not know right off. You just have to look around for an employer who is interested enough in her skills to hire her and sponsor her for a visa so that she can work for them.

3) Do you know of any type of language school or whatever that would get her such a visa without having to take classes full-time?

Definitely not. WHile "full-time" can mean four hours a day or so (meaning not really full 8-hour days), but student visas are there so that students who are dedicated to studying can remain in Japan to study :)

I agree with AK. The best option is for her to start off by teaching English for a few months at least, with a school that will sponsor her visa- then she is in a position to apply for the jobs that require a visa already (they are looking for people on spouse and working holiday visas, or people who have been previously sponsored). A lot of people I know did this, as it meant they could be in Japan and earning an income while looking for the kind of job they wanted.

I don't know what kind of jobs she is looking at, so I don't know if she has a chance of finding a company that will sponsor in that field.

AK is also correct- student visas are by definition for full-time students.

Thanks very much for the responses!

Just to clarify the work visa issue, could someone explain how sponsorship is supposed to work? I mean, since many jobs I've seen list ''work visa'' as one of the requirements, does that mean they definitely wouldn't be willing to sponsor? And why not? Does it cost them money?

Anyway, how is one supposed to have a work visa when looking for a job? Wouldn't that mean that you already have a job and are secretly looking for a new one at the same time?

Thanks!

Michael,
That means they want people who are (1) on Spouse visa, (2) Permanent Resident, (3) on Working Holiday Visa (though this will be for limited job types), or (4) as you say, already on a work-permitting visa initially sponsored by some other employer, and on the lookout for a new job to switch to. "Work visa" does not necessarily mean employer-sponsored ones :)

Another message they are trying to emphasize by saying "Proper work visa required" is that they are not willing to hire anyone illegally.

It's simply easier for the employers if you already have a work-permitting visa.

There will be some paperwork for the employer, and also they cannot hire you until the visa application/approval procedure is completed; if employers get interested in hiring someone, they would of course prefer to be able to hire immediately. Some employers also might consider those "already on (some kind of) work visa" to be more committed to staying in Japan more on a long-term, rather than simply wanting to come experience some time in Japan. They might not want to risk spending the time and effort to sponsor someone and then have that person leave to go work for someone else soon afterwards :)

Two non-Japanese can definately get married here in Japan. You will need a letter from your embassy stating that you are free to marry, then just go to the town hall.

Don't forget, if your gf is on JET, she will forfit her plane ticket home if she remains in Japan. She can go home and come back however on either a tourist visa or some other arrangement.

I agree with the above about the visa. The easiest thing is to teach English. There are companies in Japan who hire and sponsor non-Japanese as long as they have a specific skill.
Once her visa is taken care of she can look for work through Hello Work.
http://www.hellowork.go.jp/
These will not be the best jobs but it will get her out of teaching and will greatly improve her Japanese. She can also check out daijob
http://www.daijob.com/en/