Hey everyone
I am a Japanese and American dual citizen who is planning to get married soon to a japanese person.
Obviously it is a bit tricky to have two passports.
I plan to move to the US for a short bit in the coming years and want my wife to come with me. Getting a green card would be ideal, but I’m not sure how this would work as I’m not sure where I’m supposed to register for marriage.
On top of this I have two last names for both passports making it even trickier..
I was wondering if there is anyone who has any advice in regards to this/ is a dual citizen who somehow managed to get married?
5 comments
It isn’t tricky at all, assuming you mean you have different last names on your passports (ie John Smith on your US passport and John Suzuki on your Japanese passport) as opposed to 2 last names on your passports (ie John Smith-Suzuki on both passports).
1. You will get married with your Japanese documentation since you are living in Japan and a Japanese citizen.
2. You will get the certificates of acceptance of marriage from the local government.
3. You will download and translate those using the form from the embassy website.
4. When/if you decide to move and apply for a visa for your wife you will need your original consular certificate of birth abroad (assuming you were born abroad and not in the US – if in the US your documentation is a little easier) and a translation of your koseki with your wife listed as well as both passports.
Japan is the one who cares about dual citizenship, so do everything with your Japanese passport, marry as a Japanese citizen. When you go to America, just translate you documents and they will recognize your marriage 👍
> I plan to move to the US for a short bit in the coming years…Getting a green card would be ideal
Just be aware that “for a short bit” and “green card” don’t really work together. The processing time for a spousal green card was, at my last check, sitting at around 1 year if things go smoothly.
You get married in Japan, and this marriage will generally be recognized automatically in the US.
There is nothing to register in the US.
If you think you’ll ever want to prove marriage as a US citizen and not reveal your Japanese side, get married first in the US. Your wife may need to prove she’s not married in Japan as part of the process. Then later you can register your marriage in Japan as Japanese nationals (since as Japanese citizens you won’t need to prove marriage elsewhere) and you’ll have two marriage registrations to choose from. If you do Japan first, you won’t be able to register a marriage in the US (bc your wife can’t prove she’s not already married), and you’ll always need to request (and get translated, etc) your Japanese marriage certificate. US-first gives you optionality. Especially useful if you have different last names; if you need to prove marriage with “other last name passport”, things can get annoying & complicated.