TLDR: I got a visa for being the same-sex spouse of somebody who is working in Japan.
Since there aren’t a lot of resources available, I thought I’d share my own experience (throwaway account for privacy reasons). Most cases I’ve found were not very detailed or just quite different from our case, so if you have any questions, ask away.
Background: My husband and I have been married for about six years and lived together in Japan ever since. Same-sex marriage is legal in my home country, but *not* in his. Civil union is, but we never bothered getting the certificate.
I was originally on a student visa, and graduated from university last year. Since we also had a child, we decided that it would make more sense for me to be a stay home dad for now, rather than looking for a job.
Which is why we tried getting me and the child a visa in Japan.
Visa for me (same-sex spouse):
Designated activities
Required documents:
None. It’s decided case-by-case, but immigration suggested to just include anything that could appear relevant.
So I included:
– Statement of purpose
– Marriage certificate
– Income / tax certificates of my husband
– Story of how I met my husband (to show it’s a genuine relationship), including tons of photos together
After just a couple of weeks, they asked to submit additional documents:
– Questionnaire for married people (quite old school, like who knows of your marriage, what language do you use to communicate, who attended the wedding)
– Statement of why I am necessary for my husband to fulfill his purpose here
– Marriage certificate from my husbanded home country (I simply explained why that’s not possible)
After almost four months (three days before the my visa *extension* would expire) immigration contacted me and I went asap.
Outcome is: 1 year granted, no permission to work (including part-time), and a funny paper attached to my passport saying I can only be here because of my husband, and I have to live with him and whatnot
Key takeaways:
– you don’t need a lawyer to get a designated activities visa, DIY may also work
– It’s not strictly limited to couples where same-sex marriage is legalized in both of their home countries
– Nobody at immigration knows really well about these things … so you get sent back and forth a lot, since no counter wants to take responsibility for the case. It ended up being the work visa counter for us.