Hi everyone,
I’m the adopted child of two Japanese parents, and we’ve been living in Canada for over 20 years. My father was a Japanese national at the time of my adoption, so we believe the koseki stuff should be ok. Through my aunt (who resides in Japan), I’m now looking to apply for the Child of Japanese National visa and had a few questions for anyone who is familiar with the COE application for this particular visa.
Here’s the PDF version of the application I refer to in my questions:
https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/content/930004054.pdf
(1) Can all submitted documents be copies? I see that it requests a copy for the koseki, but it doesn’t say elsewhere if they want copies for things like the COE application form or tax and birth certificates. If they want original documents, how would I go about this?
(2) Since I am not in Japan at the moment, I am asking my aunt to submit my COE on my behalf. Does she also need to bring her own koseki or some kind of other document to the regional immigration centre? Different websites have stated different things, so I’m not sure.
(3) For #9, I don’t have my own address/number in Japan. Can I use my aunt’s instead?
(4) For #21, there’s a space to fill out information on all family members living in Japan. But below, it says, “Take note that you are only required to fill in your family members in Japan for applications pertaining to Trainee or Technical Training Intern”. Just want to confirm if I still need to fill it out?
(5) I’m not really sure what they’re asking for #25(3) and #26. If the supporter is my father, do I just fill out #25(3) and ignore #26? What’s with #26 asking about residence card numbers, date of expiration and period of stay?
(6) For #28, would this be my aunt’s information, or would I leave it blank?
(7) For sections that don’t apply to me, do I leave them blank or write N/A?
(8) For documents that prove the financial ability to live in Japan, it asks for tax/income certificates. My supporter (Japanese father) lives in Canada with me, and as far as I know, we do not receive certificates for these. Would regular bank/tax statements suffice? He’s also self-employed, so he doesn’t have an employment certificate…
Couldn’t find a whole lot of information online, so any help is appreciated. Thank you!
2 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
—
**Questions about COE application for Child of Japanese National visa**
Hi everyone,
I’m the adopted child of two Japanese parents, and we’ve been living in Canada for over 20 years. My father was a Japanese national at the time of my adoption, so we believe the koseki stuff should be ok. I’m now looking to apply for the Child of Japanese National visa and had a few questions for anyone who is familiar with the COE application for this particular visa.
Here’s the PDF version of the application I refer to in my questions:
https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/content/930004054.pdf
(1) Can all submitted documents be copies? I see that it requests a copy for the koseki, but it doesn’t say elsewhere if they want copies for things like the COE application form or tax and birth certificates. If they want original documents, how would I go about this?
(2) Since I am not in Japan at the moment, I am asking my aunt to submit my COE on my behalf. Does she also need to bring her own koseki or some kind of other document to the regional immigration centre? Different websites have stated different things, so I’m not sure.
(3) For #9, I don’t have my own address/number in Japan. Can I use my aunt’s instead?
(4) For #21, there’s a space to fill out information on all family members living in Japan. But below, it says, “Take note that you are only required to fill in your family members in Japan for applications pertaining to Trainee or Technical Training Intern”. Just want to confirm if I still need to fill it out?
(5) I’m not really sure what they’re asking for #25(3) and #26. If the supporter is my father, do I just fill out #25(3) and ignore #26? What’s with #26 asking about residence card numbers, date of expiration and period of stay?
(6) For #28, would this be my aunt’s information, or would I leave it blank?
(7) For sections that don’t apply to me, do I leave them blank or write N/A?
(8) For documents that prove the financial ability to live in Japan, it asks for tax/income certificates. My supporter (Japanese father) lives in Canada with me, and as far as I know, we do not receive certificates for these. Would regular bank/tax statements suffice? He’s also self-employed, so he doesn’t have an employment certificate…
Couldn’t find a whole lot of information online, so any help is appreciated. Thank you!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’m not a lawyer but I recently supported my spouse in getting his visa.
Just to double check, is your dad currently a Japanese citizen? I’m not sure if getting this particular visa is an option if he is not (if he gained Canadian citizenship, he automatically loses his Japanese citizenship). If this is the case it would be good to have your aunt ask at her Regional Immigration Office to double check.
(1) Copies are good. As a general rule, submitted documents aren’t returned (with exceptions like passport later in the process). Only include originals where it explicitly asks for them. Here’s a relevant helpful comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/comments/r9qct4/child_of_japanese_national/hneoip5/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1&context=3
(2) #28 on the application should be sufficient.
(3) Yes use your aunt’s.
(4) The translation there is bad and not relevant to your visa type — you can disregard that note.
(5) only fill out 25(3) if (1) you’re being supported financially by someone else and (2) that person is NOT who you list in 26. If you are listing your father in 26, AND he will be supporting you, there’s no need to fill out 25(3). For 26 only fill out info that you have for your father. Your aunt can get feedback on whether any blanks are problems when she submits the docs.
(6) yes this should be aunt’s info.
(7) leave blank.
(8) yes bank statements and any tax statements that show income (in the US that’s a W-2) is totally fine. My spouse just printed these out, we didn’t bother including translation documents, although that’s generally recommended for any documents in English.
Hope this helps! Again, I’m no lawyer.
My biggest advice is to put together what you can, and ask for your aunts help in running to her Regional Immigration Office for feedback. I would set the expectation for both yourself and your aunt that multiple trips may be needed, as the immigration office will likely provide detailed feedback on what is missing/needs to be changed.
Hopefully you get your visa sorted and can treat your aunt to a nice meal 🙂 頑張って！
Edit: phrasing