Spouse of Japanese（日本人の配偶者等）
Many congratulations!
If you are on this page, perhaps you just got engaged or married to a Japanese national and wondering how you can stay with your brand-new partner.
You would be granted a permission for a residency (i.e. so-called spouse visa or 配偶者ビザ) when married to a Japanese as long as the marriage is genuine.
Yes, it has to be a "genuine" marriage. When an application for a spouse visa is submitted, the Immigration Services Agency conducts an investigation so they can exclude any application made based on an ingenuine marriage. It is, therefore, vital that you present all relevant documents to proof that you are not involved in a dodgy business. If there are some uncommon elements in your marriage, such as a big age difference or having tied the knot rather impulsively, you need to explain what that happened. In Japan, of course, a freedom of getting married to anyone, as long as the two are happy to do so, is guaranteed but the matter is different when it comes to an international marriage which sometimes is used as a way of human trafficking through a sham marriage. That is why the Immigration asks so many personal questions regarding your private aspects.
On the other hand, unlike a 'dependent' spouse of a foreign worker who's visa is subject to the partner's ability to earn sufficiently, your Japanese spouse is not necessarily required to have a financial capacity to support your stay. It is, however, still seen as a "unstable" relationship if the Japanese spouse does not have a regular income of certain amount because after all every couple need some money to sustain their marriage life.
If your Japanese spouse is not an ordinary 'salary man/woman' and do not have a regular earning, you would need to explain how you and your partner can support your married life with evidence.
If you are on this page, perhaps you just got engaged or married to a Japanese national and wondering how you can stay with your brand-new partner.
You would be granted a permission for a residency (i.e. so-called spouse visa or 配偶者ビザ) when married to a Japanese as long as the marriage is genuine.
Yes, it has to be a "genuine" marriage. When an application for a spouse visa is submitted, the Immigration Services Agency conducts an investigation so they can exclude any application made based on an ingenuine marriage. It is, therefore, vital that you present all relevant documents to proof that you are not involved in a dodgy business. If there are some uncommon elements in your marriage, such as a big age difference or having tied the knot rather impulsively, you need to explain what that happened. In Japan, of course, a freedom of getting married to anyone, as long as the two are happy to do so, is guaranteed but the matter is different when it comes to an international marriage which sometimes is used as a way of human trafficking through a sham marriage. That is why the Immigration asks so many personal questions regarding your private aspects.
On the other hand, unlike a 'dependent' spouse of a foreign worker who's visa is subject to the partner's ability to earn sufficiently, your Japanese spouse is not necessarily required to have a financial capacity to support your stay. It is, however, still seen as a "unstable" relationship if the Japanese spouse does not have a regular income of certain amount because after all every couple need some money to sustain their marriage life.
If your Japanese spouse is not an ordinary 'salary man/woman' and do not have a regular earning, you would need to explain how you and your partner can support your married life with evidence.
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