Getting married and registering it?

Hi all,

Here's my situation: Getting married to my j-fiance in Hawaii next year. We are currently in a long distance relationship. Me in Australia and her in Japan. I would like to apply for a spouse visa after that so we can start our new life in Japan together. However, we have decided to come back to Australia first after the wedding to apply for the spouse visa, spend a few months here then once I receive it, quit my job and move to Japan with her.

How do we go about doing the registering of our marriage process? (Koseki Tohon?) Do I need to go back to Japan first to register it with her then to Australia after? Or could she do it alone on our behalf? Also what is needed to register our marriage in Japan...I read once you have, you don't need to register it in Australia as well.

Tonight we were talking on skype about our plans and she mentioned something about writing a letter of intent to marry(?) a month before marriage and also about a CNI. She also mentioned that I needed the following things, but for what I've forgotten:

- gaikokujinsyoumeisyo
- passport
- syusseitodoke
- syusseitodokenowake
- koinnmusyougaisyoumeisyo
- kisaijikousyoumeisyo�©yakusyo de
- shinnjyutusyo

So, obviously I wasn't paying attention to her tonight as I had other things like researching for a hotel in Hawaii to have our wedding at. But from what I've mentioned about, is it for the registration of our marriage in Japan? or for my spouse visa? Sorry folks it's way past my bedtime and my brain is fried from overthinking and stressing out about this and our wedding plans lol.

Also I don't know how to get an ID or proof that I'm single...As an Australian citizen, I've never come across such an ID. How do I get it?

Apologies for all the questions, but it would be greatly appreciated if some helpful, experienced person with valuable info could share that with me in regards to my current issue on this thread.

Thanks all in advance.

RJ

Once you get your paperwork together (your fiancee can go to the town office and get the paperwork to fill out from there for marriage), you both have to sign the marriage paper and then it is just a matter of taking the form to the town office where she (or the two of you) live. You cannot take it to some random town office. I believe one of you can just drop off the marriage form as long as both of you have signed it. They register it in the system, and then you are married, takes only a few minutes. Anyway, there is not too much paperwork from what I remember, but you do need the paper from your embassy that says you are legally able to marry. Here is the page from your embassy site that tells you how to get it:
http://www.australia.or.jp/en/consular/marriage/
When you guys move here you can do all that anyway, as you will have a few months as a tourist (processing the spouse visa takes a month or two anyway0. Once you guys do the marriage paper and everything taken care of, then you have to fill out the whole spouse visa packet, which I had my Japanese spouse do. :) You need to prove the validity of your relationship, record all of the dates you met and the contact you have had, and include pics of you guys over the time you have been together. Once you go to immigration and turn in your spouse visa application, they will give you a stamp in your passport that says you are waiting for your visa application to be processed, and you do not have to leave Japan even if your tourist visa or whatever expires during that time. It's not as difficult as it sounds, but you do have to make sure you bring all the correct papers. Congratulations on your marriage~!

Thanks for your reply Ayame.

So the fact that we are getting married in Hawaii is not recognised in Japan? We still have to register our marriage at her local ward office?

Hmmm, if that's the case then I might have to take a detour to Japan after our honeymoon before I go back to Australia and from my understanding, we have to register our marriage on her dad's koseki tohon as well.

How about if we apply for the spouse visa from Australia? Do we still need the CNI form? See we are not marrying in either Japan or Australia but in Hawaii. So this could be a different situation.

What about a Notices of Intended Marriage? Do we need that too?

Thanks.

Ok there are three distinct steps that you need to follow: get married, register your marriage, apply for spouse visa.

If you are planning on getting legally married in Hawaii then you need to follow the marriage requirements for that state. They can be found here:

http://hawaii.gov/health/vital-records/vital-records/marriage/index.ht...

After getting married you have 90 days to register your marriage in Japan. Your wife can do that at her city hall, and she will have to create new koseki of her own. See these pages for more info:

http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/toko/todoke/koseki/index.html
http://www.nic-nagoya.or.jp/en/dailyliving/your_family/marriage.htm
http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+90747

After you've done all that you can apply for a spouse visa. You can do that either from outside of Japan or come to Japan on a tourist waiver and apply for a visa status change from within the country. The first requires more paperwork, but sounds like a better option if you plan to continue working while it processes. I'm not sure about all the documents your gf listed, and it seems that you guys aren't on the same page on the steps to take (i.e. what country you'll be marrying in, where to register, apply for visa, etc.). I would recommend figuring out where you want to apply for the visa (inside or outside Japan) and then posting again. Also try contacting your local Japanese embassy for guidance.

No I think that if you get married in another country, you still have to do the marriage paper here. The CNI is necessary to make the wedding paper here. The CNI is nothing complicated, it is just paper you sign that says you are not married and that it has been 6 months since any divorce.
You do not even really need to get legally married in Hawaii, you still have to do all the Japanese marriage papers when you come here from what I understand. You should contact your embassy. I am not from Australia, so I don't know the specifics about applying for the spouse visa from there. What I was trying to say in the last post, is don't make it so difficult and troublesome for yourself. You don't need to have any marriage or registration on any koseki or anything until you come here to live. It is really much easier to do here and there is no reason to make extra trips to do paper work before you come to live here. Many people who are engaged come here as a tourist, and then do the wedding paper work and then the spouse visa paperwork. When you go turn in your marriage registration paper work at the town office where you live in Japan, that is when they will register it on the Koseki. I do not believe you have to worry about anything of family koseki, etc, I think they will make a new one for your wife and you as a separate family.

Oh yeah, yllwsmurf is right, I didn't think about that. You can't work until your visa goes through, so I guess it just depends on your plans when you get here if you have money saved or need a job right away. Anyway, you can still interview and look for a job while it is processing too. Good luck~!

Thanks to both of you for your advice and info.

So we still have to legally get married in Japan after our Hawaiian wedding. The Hawaiian Marriage license is not recognised in Japan? I was going to rhetorically ask ''what's the point of going there to wed?'' lol but my fiance would kill me as she wants to wed in Hawaii.

I think the option of going straight to Japan after the wedding to register our marriage locally and then apply for a spouse visa is so much better, but that would mean me and my future wife would be unemployed as she plans to quit her job before the wedding.

Ayame, the CNI bit I understand that I'll need it for my 2nd marriage on paper in Japan. I said 2nd because we'll officially marry in Hawaii (1st), so it kinda feels like a 2nd time with the same girl when we go back to Japan.

Also, as you mentioned above, it's ok to apply and go for job interviews while my spouse visa is being processed? What if it gets declined? -_-; I hope the success rate of getting a spouse visa is high lol

No I think that if you get married in another country, you still have to do the marriage paper here.

No that is not correct. If you get married in another country you have to register in Japan, not get remarried. They are different applications.

So we still have to legally get married in Japan after our Hawaiian wedding.

No, see above.

I think the option of going straight to Japan after the wedding to register our marriage locally and then apply for a spouse visa is so much better, but that would mean me and my future wife would be unemployed as she plans to quit her job before the wedding.

That is the downside. And you won't be able to work until your spouse visa processes, which could take several months.

Ayame, the CNI bit I understand that I'll need it for my 2nd marriage on paper in Japan. I said 2nd because we'll officially marry in Hawaii (1st), so it kinda feels like a 2nd time with the same girl when we go back to Japan.

The CNI (which by I think you mean the Affidavit of Competency to Marry) is only required if you plan to get married in Japan.

Also, as you mentioned above, it's ok to apply and go for job interviews while my spouse visa is being processed? What if it gets declined? -_-; I hope the success rate of getting a spouse visa is high lol

Yes, but it depends on the employer whether they will accept your application while your visa is being processed.

Ok thanks for clarifying that up.

So when we register it in Japan we will need our Hawaiian Marriage Certificate (certificate of marriage qualification OR kon-in-yoken-gubi-shomeisho). Also for Australians a CNI (Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage) and a Marriage Recognition Letter (for Japanese immigration). *sigh* so much documents just for the registration part and these don't come cheap either.

yllwsmurf - Before an Australian may marry in Japan, they must provide a certificate issued by the Australian Government stating that those authorities do not know of any impediment to the marriage. Such a certificate is known as a Certificate of No Impediment (CNI).

http://www.australia.or.jp/en/consular/marriage/

Thanks again for the many replies, I'm new to all these and it all seems overwhelming at first.

RJ

So when we register it in Japan we will need our Hawaiian Marriage Certificate (certificate of marriage qualification OR kon-in-yoken-gubi-shomeisho). Also for Australians a CNI (Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage) and a Marriage Recognition Letter (for Japanese immigration). *sigh* so much documents just for the registration part and these don't come cheap either.

No, I believe the registration only requires your Hawaiian Marriage Certificate and a translation of the document (it can be non-official, i.e. you can do it yourself). FYI, a koninyokengubishomeisho, certificate of marriage qualification, certificate of no impediment, and affidavit of competency to marry are all the same thing.

yllwsmurf - Before an Australian may marry in Japan, they must provide a certificate issued by the Australian Government stating that those authorities do not know of any impediment to the marriage. Such a certificate is known as a Certificate of No Impediment (CNI).

Yes, but you will not be getting married in Japan. So no CNI needed.

[i]...a koninyokengubishomeisho, certificate of marriage qualification, certificate of no impediment, and affidavit of competency to marry are all the same thing.[/i]

I see. Thanks for clearing that up about the CNI, it's only needed if we marry in Japan.

Well I won't need it anyway for registering our hawaiian marriage, unless I need it in Hawaii too apart from the marriage license lol


Although, I will probably need a Marriage Recognition Letter (for Japanese immigration)
when I apply for my spouse visa.
http://www.australia.or.jp/en/consular/marriage/marriage_recognition_l...

RJ, I think you got confused in regards to the CNI issue and I can see why.

Ayame says you need the CNI "to make the wedding paper" in Japan and yllwsmurf says you don't need it because you're only registering your Hawaiian marriage in Japan and not marrying there.

The latter feels more logical after reading all that.

Hope this helps abit.

You get married only under one set of laws. Please think about under what law you want to get married. I don't know if your Hawaii wedding is just a ceremony, or you go through the American legal procedures to get an actual marriage certificate from Hawaii? ("Marriage certificate" certifies that you ARE married, and has nothing to do with certificate of marriage qualification or "kon-in-yoken-gubi-shomeishol.")

- If you get married under the US (or Hawaii) law, you take that marriage certificate (along with its translation into Japanese), and report that American marriage after-the-fact to the Japanese authorities. Your marriage will remain Hawaiian/American. When your Japanese spouse reports that marriage to the Japanese authorities (probably at the city hall of the city you will live in), her marriage to you will be entered into her "koseki" as "Ms. ABC got married to Mr. RJ under Hawaiian law on such-and-such date." That's then, done. Based on that already-established marriage, you apply for your Spouse visa/status

- If you get married under the Japanese law, that's when the "Before an Australian may marry in Japan, they must... CNI" condition applies. You bring certificate of no impediment, birth certificate, etc., and fill in the marriage form at the Japanese city hall, and the reporting itself constitutes a legal marriage in Japan.

What's the difference between a Single Status certificate and a Certicate of No Impediment/Affidavit of Competency to Marry???

Don't they both say the same thing that you aren't or were married???

They are essentially the same document, however what it is called and the form it takes depends on the country that is issuing it. So Americans get an Affidavit of Compentency to Marry, Australians get a Certificate of No Impediment, Japanese get a Koninyokengubishomeisho, etc.

Good question "lol" (nice guest name btw lol).

yllwsmurf, what about the Single Status Certificate?

yllwsmurf, what about the Single Status Certificate?

Looks like its another way to refer to a CNI/ACM/etc.

https://www.google.com/search?q=single+status+certificate

Have you thought about asking the Japanese Embassy? Why rely on people who may or may not know what they are talking about? Talk to the embassy and get the official information.

yes I've emailed them 2 days ago and am still waiting for a reply.

I only posted on here to get a broader sense of the information that I need. Doesn't hurt to ask more to get more eh... :)

hmmm -_- no reply d@mn! I may have to call them or visit them in person to be have a more effective answer and help eh

Does anyone know if after our wedding in Hawaii if we can just register our Hawaiian wedding here in the Japan embassy in Australia? Or it needs to be registered in Japan?

Also, I read that updating the koseki tohon of our marriage, requires the Japanese spouse to go to the cityhall where she was born to get it. Can't we do it from the Japan embassy here at the same time as we register our marriage?

If we need to go back to Japan for the Koseki Tohon updating bit, then we might as well register our Hawaiian marriage there as well. Well my spouse will have to do both as I will be working here and waiting for her. Once she's done what's needed I can apply for my spouse visa.

LOL I got these 2 questions from another thread and the poster is Aussie like myself, seems like alot of Aus-Japanese marriages happening in the future eh ^_^