Dependent visa

Hello everyone,
My boyfriend and I are here in Japan under a pre-college student visa. I've found a teaching job very far from the city I am currently studying, so I have to move and would like my boyfriend to come with me. I will change my status from pre-college student to worker, is there any possibility for my boyfriend to come with me? I mean can we marry here in Japan and can he obtain a dependent visa without leaving the country? I have searched the Mofa website but cannot find anything. Thank you very much for your reply!

If he was your husband you might be able to get one. Though I believe you need to show financial papers and show his dependency on you, though I'm not sure of the specifics.

If he were just your boyfriend, then no. You two would have to be married first.

I don't know which country you are from, but if you have the documents with you that you might need to get married, get married, and then you get one of the work-permitting visas, yes, then he can apply to change to Dependent status.

To change to Dependent status, I believe you do need documents like the marriage certificate and your employment contract (evidencing your financial means); if you are in the second year of your contract, they ask for statement of tax payment for the previous year.

If you have been on Pre-college visa, that means both of you, maybe, have been studying the Japanese language? He will not be looking for another school in the new city to pursue studying the language?

Maybe if you have been studying in Japan long enough so that you (and your boyfriend) have the separate permit from Immigration for part-time work? If you get employed and get the full work-permitting visa, and if your husband changes to Dependent visa, he will once again need to apply for that special permit for part-time work, I believe.

Standard processing time for the application is anywhere between 1 - 3 months, so you might want to plan carefully for the change :)

Thank you for your replies! Well, my boyfriend is looking for a school near my job place, but after expiring of his pre-college visa I would like to find a way to let him stay without leaving Japan. Otherwise can he go home and come back to Japan on a turist visa and then marry me? I do not know what to do, my embassy (we are Italian) told me that we have to ask a permission to marry to our municipal ward office (and they can reject it), but at our ward there is nobody who can speak English and our Japanese is very poor! Does anyone of you had or have heard about such similar experience? Thank you for any help you may give me!

but after expiring of his pre-college visa I would like to find a way to let him stay without leaving Japan

- I know what you mean, but just to be sure - never let it "expire" while staying in Japan (meaning, never overstay on a visa) before he applies for a change in status :)

- About the marriage itself, I cannot say anything - I believe that for two non-Japanese nationals to get married in Japan according to the Japanese laws, you need to be residents of Japan/have an address in Japan (so if you are both students here that should be fine), and just report it to the municipal city hall. I don't know if papers like birth certificates and statement of no impediment are required for that. I am not familiar with the fact where the municipal ward office/city hall "can reject" your marriage, but local ward offices where they are not familiar with processes involving non-Japanese might :(

There was a long thread by an American couple who were just visiting Japan and successfully registered their marriage in Japan (Japan law based marriage) so it should be possible, though.

- Another way would be for you to get married under Italian law - I don't know if you are somehow able to do this with the Italian embassy in Japan, or you have to go back to Italy, but you will need to check on this with the embassy. If you get married, for example, in Italy under Italian law, come with your marriage certificate, then you can register your Italian marriage after-the-fact with the Japanese authorities, then he should be able to apply for a dependent status.