Long-term Japanese GF got Job in Japan, I (Irish guy) need to get visa etc asap. Need help on navigating spousal visa under a huge time pressure.

11 comments

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

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   **Long-term Japanese GF got Job in Japan, I (Irish guy) need to get visa etc asap. Need help on navigating spousal visa under a huge time pressure.**

   Myself and my girlfriend need to move to Japan. We are together 6 years and live in Ireland she has a defacto spouse visa.

   We have lived in both Ireland and Japan previously on working holiday visas.

   She has just got a job offer in Japan due to start sometime in Jan.
   Looking to get a spouse visa for Japan and need advice on best scenario.

   We may be able to get married quickly in Denmark if we get some documents in the next few weeks.

   We could get married in Japan with myself on tourist (or lower chance a student) visa.

   She thinks we can get married in Japan while I stay in Ireland(need to confirm)

   I understand Japanese marriage is easy but the visa approval isn’t. And it’s unclear if I can apply from within

   I’m not sure if marriage in Denmark is enough or what I need to do to get a visa, or if we need 2 marriages, one in each country?

   Marriage in Ireland is a no go as there is a 3 month waiting period and we don’t have the time.

   We want to go together in Jan with spouse visa, or together with tourist and upgrade, or worst case go separately.

   Anyone done similar and have advice?

   For what it’s worth I will take a career break and intend to attend a language school in the first few months. I have over 60k in savings.
   Then either get part time work or possibly go back to my current job which supposedly has a position for have a position for me and if not I’ll do eikaiwa for a while or continue with language school.

   Also ideal world we go together at the same time, choose out apartment etc… really want to avoid being apart during transition if possible.

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2. >I understand Japanese marriage is easy but the visa approval isn’t.

   Visa approval is pretty easy for Japan. The paperwork is not nearly as bad as some countries and it seems pretty easy to get a 1 year spouse visa which can then be renewed into longer times. And it’s relatively quick and inexpensive, like 3 months to receive it from when you file.

3. Spouse visa is fairly easy in Japan. Once you get married abroad you just need a certified translation of the certification (along with the normal visa paperwork)

   Once you’re officially married it shouldn’t take more than 3 months to get your visa. You may not be able to move with your spouse right away if she needs to move before you get your visa.

4. Ok. So I missed the part about your partner being Japanese. Mea Culpa.

   Take this for what it is worth, but when I got married in the late 90s, I traveled to Japan on a tourist visa, got married at city hall, and then applied to switch to a spousal visa. The whole thing was quite quick and easy.

   Since about 2019, immigration doesn’t allow people to switch from a tourist visa to a work visa, but as far as I know they sometimes still allow people to switch to a spousal visa–if they can prove that they have some sort of exceptional reason to do so. Your partner suddenly getting a job and quickly moving back might be reason enough. It might be worth a call to immigration (or the embassy) from your partner to confirm this.

   But even if immigration won’t allow you to switch while in Japan, then it would be a quick trip home with your COE to get your visa and then come back to Japan. If you came with her on a tourist visa you could help find a place to live, help her get settled in her new job, etc. If you can afford the extra plane tickets, I think that this might be the easiest way to go.

   Either way, I would recommend that you register your marriage at city hall in Japan, even if you get married abroad, because that will make your immigration paperwork infinitely easier. Not just for the first visa, but for any renewals.

   Sorry about the confusion.

   ~~So, the visa you are talking about is a dependent visa. A spousal visa is for someone who is married to a Japanese national.~~

   ~~Other than a tourist visa, there is no visa that you can get quickly. They all take time. To be honest, I have concerns that your partner will be able to get her work visa before January. Typically a residence visa takes between four and 12 weeks to process the COE (the first step) and we are about to go into the New Year’s holidays. There is a good chance that her COE will not be ready mid-January (at the soonest if her employer has already applied) but probably not until February (if they are just starting). Once she (and you) get your COE you then have to go to the embassy in Ireland to get your visa. Again, we are about to go into the holidays and the embassy will have limited hours which can lead to processing backlogs.~~

   ~~I think her company should be handling this for you. They should apply for her work visa and your dependent visa at the same time. You can apply separately later, but it will be much easier to do both together. I would recommend that she talk to them about your situation and work it out on their end.~~

   ~~Another thing to keep in mind, if you want to attend a Japanese school, you will need a student visa. You might be able to take a class or two on a dependent visa, certainly you can study with a tutor, but if you want to enroll in a regular program and a regular school, you will need a student visa. Student visas have the greatest scrutiny of any visa type and notorious for being on the longer end of the 4 to 12 weeks time-frame.~~

   ~~Also keep in mind that most Japanese language schools teach classes on some sort of a school term–usually either 8 weeks or 15 weeks–so you might not be able to get into classes in January. You might have to wait until March or April (depending on how they are organized). You will need to contact the school that you are interested in to find out what their time-frame is, but applying six months before beginning the program is not unusual.~~

   ~~It sounds like this opportunity came up suddenly for your partner and that’s great, but I think that both of you need to slow down a bit and really think things through. It will be very difficult to get married, get visas and move to Japan in the next couple of weeks. Especially right before the holidays.~~

   Good luck!

5. Go on a cultural visa (language school) and go from there

6. Look on the government/consulate/embassy websites for the steps to apply for the spousal visa.

   You may need tobbe lawfully married for it to apply.

7. >We may be able to get married quickly in Denmark if we get some documents in the next few weeks.
   >
   >We could get married in Japan with myself on tourist (or lower chance a student) visa.
   >
   >She thinks we can get married in Japan while I stay in Ireland(need to confirm)

   I’ve no idea what the process would be like in Denmark, but in Japan to get married you would need to get something from Ireland that certifies that you are free to marry. Check out that process here: [https://www.dfa.ie/irish-embassy/japan/our-services/marriage-and-civil-partnership/](https://www.dfa.ie/irish-embassy/japan/our-services/marriage-and-civil-partnership/)

   From a Japan perspective, you do not need to be present when she submits the required paperwork at cityhall to register the marriage. So you could definitely remain in Ireland if you wanted to.

   Additionally changing status to spouse of a Japanese national is one of the very few exceptions to the “tourists can’t change status” rule. So if you wanted to come with her, register your marriage together, and then apply for a change of status you very well could. Keep in mind that in general your tourist status would be valid for only 90 days, although applying for the change of status should give you an extra two months. Make sure you apply for a change of status and not for a spouse visa though. Visas are only used for entering Japan, they have no bearing on your ability to remain in Japan or the activities you’re allowed to do while here.

   ​

   >For what it’s worth I will take a career break and intend to attend a language school in the first few months. I have over 60k in savings. Then either get part time work or possibly go back to my current job which supposedly has a position for have a position for me and if not I’ll do eikaiwa for a while or continue with language school.

   Keep in mind that while you’re perfectly fine to attend language classes while here under tourist status, you would not be allowed to work in any capacity. Neither part time nor remotely. You’d need to wait until you get onto a status that permits work (student would allow part time work assuming you apply for the permission to engage in activities outside the scope of your status; spouse of a Japanese national has no restrictions on work whatsoever).

   You’ll notice I keep saying ‘status’ and not ‘visa’. I mentioned earlier, but it bears repeating. The ‘visa’ is used purely during landing inspection. A combination of visa and certificate of eligibility (CoE) informs immigration during the landing inspection which Status of Residence (SoR) you should be issued. It is the SoR that grants you permission to remain in Japan (and work if applicable). If you enter as a tourist and look to ‘upgrade’ while here, it is very important that you follow the process for requesting a change of status. Both processes are listed here: [https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/applications/status/spouseorchildofjapanese01.html?hl=en](https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/applications/status/spouseorchildofjapanese01.html?hl=en)

8. Go to Japan on a tourist visa, get married at your local city office. Then go to a Japanese consulate approved visa application agency in South Korea (reasonable priced plane tickets, short plane trip and quick application turnaround – they do this all the time), apply for a spousal visa, get it, re-enter Japan on a spousal visa.
   – source in did this to transfer a tourist visa then re-entered with a work visa

9. I would contact a judicial scrivener in Japan that can help you with the paperwork, it will relieve a lot of stress. I think it isnt that hard though to do by yourself, especially since your wife is Japanese. My husband and I are both foreigners living in Japan, Im on a student visa and he is on a dependent visa which was just approved about a week ago. We hired a judicial scrivener to help us with the application and it didnt cost very much, it was worth it in our case as our Japanese is not business level and wanted to feel secure about the application going through.

10. Going in January is going to be hard no matter what. Even if you start now, a visa can take from 3 weeks to 3 months. I would prepare to go at a different time.

11. Did the marriage thing earlier this year. Booked an appointment to swear an affirmation at my embassy, then a flight that arrived a few days before. This was all as a tourist

    Swore an affirmation at the embassy then got married a few days later at the city hall.

    Applied for COE (about 10 days after marriage) while I was still in Japan fully expecting it to take 3 months. I was only planning on staying with my wife for 2 months, then heading home to wait for the COE.

    COE arrived in 3 weeks (my application was stacked and really comprehensive + applied at a relatively quiet period in rural Tohoku).

    Went to the local immigration office the day after it arrived, asked if I could change my status of residence without leaving Japan.

    Took them about 30 minutes then I got my residence card.

    All in all, less than 6 weeks from flight to residence status.

    Obviously, a lot of factors could influence this.

    You make a mistake in your status of residence application? Will take longer.

    You apply at a really busy time (golden week, new year)? Probably will take longer.

    You apply in Tokyo or Osaka? Definitely will take longer.

    The only real costs for this process were the affirmation at the embassy, a few hundred yen for documents from the city hall, the COE application fee, and the final status of residence change fee.

    Of course, until you receive your residence card you are a tourist. Means you can’t work, get a phone contract etc. Luckily I stayed with my mother in law until everything was settled and my wife has a decent job to support us for a few months!

    One thing to also remember is that you will need to have a return flight booked to Japan – you are traveling as a tourist after all!