some questions about the documents I need to get notarized as part of incorporating in Japan

3 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **some questions about the documents I need to get notarized as part of incorporating in Japan**

   This has been a bit of a headache to get clarity on

   I am an American living in China. I am in the process of incorporating in Japan I wasn’t sure which flair to use, so I chose visa…I will be incorporating in Japan and then using that company to apply for a visa (and then hopefully the high skilled visa, which I have the points for)

   I have been told that as part of the incorporation process, I need “notarized” versions of the following

   1. passport
   2. signature
   3. marriage license
   4. birth certificate

   but I’m a bit confused about what *exactly* that means.

   first off, where can I get the notarization done? I am in China, so I could go to the American consulate in Guangzhou, which says they provide notarization services. But someone recently said that I have to go to the American embassy in Japan? That doesn’t seem consistent with what literally everyone else has said, but it’s worth confirming I guess. Heck, one person who went through this process (but sadly hasn’t been terribly helpful) said they used [https://www.notarize.com/](https://www.notarize.com/), despite this site saying in their FAQ you shouldn’t use them for anything outside of America. Doing it online would be very convenient though, going to Guangzhou isn’t the biggest pain, but it’d be nice to avoid if I can. And to say nothing about having to go in person to Tokyo at this stage in the process (ironically we have ever other part of the process covered, it’s this one that has turned into a weird quagmire, for various reasons)

   second, I have questions about what *specifically* I need to present to the notary. like, do I just give them my passport and say “uhh verify this”? that seems weird. what *exactly* does japan want?

   for proof of signature (since I have no hanko etc), I have no idea what they want, or what I should present to the notary

   the marriage license and birth certificate are even more confusing. what does it even mean to notarize these? I thought notarization was a process where they verify your signature. But these are official documents, the birth certificate being from the state where I was born, and the marriage license from china, the country where I got married. I’m not really sure what it means to “notarize” them. what does japan want? an apostilled version? something else?

   I currently have an appointment with the american consulate’s notarial services, but when I arrive I have no idea what I should actually be presenting and asking them to notarize.

   and do I need these all to be translated into japanese?

   if anyone knows of someone who does consulting on this sort of thing I’d be happy to pay someone a little to answer. it’s frustrating because I have good information on the rest of the process but getting the details here has been oddly difficult. probably because of the countries involved (america, china, japan) and the specific experts I’ve had access to (people who know the japanese and chinese side of things very well, but don’t know much about the american side of things)

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2. I don’t know what Japan would exactly want, but when I’ve had other pre-existing documents (e.g. marriage certificates) notarized, I’ve done a process similar to the one described here:

   https://www.usnotarycenter.com/post/post115

   Basically, you take the original and the copy to the notary, then inspect both, and then write on the copy to testify that it’s a fair and true copy of the original. Proof of signature might work the same way (i.e. you sign the paper in front of notary, and then notary writes on the paper to testify that they saw you sign)

3. >I will be incorporating in Japan and then using that company to apply for a visa (and then hopefully the high skilled visa, which I have the points for)

   That’s… Not going to work out the way you might be hoping.

   You can’t just start a company and then immediately use said company to get a visa. Immigration requires tax and other business records before they will let said company sponsor a visa. You basically need to prove that it’s a legit company.

   If you want to start a business and immediately get a visa you need to be looking at the Business Manager visa or one of the regional Startup visas. For the business manager visa you’ll need a *minimum* of 5 million yen to invest in your business and a solid business plan that, along with the usual business plan things, explains why your company needs to be located in Japan.

   Honestly the rest of your questions aren’t immediately relevant, because your plan is fatally flawed from the start.