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VISA Q and A on FM COCOLO 76.5 MHz Accordance between attendance of class and renewal of a student visa On Aired Data: August 7, 2001 |
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Summary of the Aired Program |
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Client: From a Japanese national who is going out with an Asian student, studying in a professional school. Her visa is due for renewal next week. But unfortunately she is weak and has often been absent from school, and they are not sure if she has attended enough classes. Case: Our client’s question is would the percentage of her attendance have any effect on her visa renewal?If she cannot get a renewal on her visa, our client is planning to marry her, he has just started a part time job, so he cannot prove his yearly income for the previous year, and he is not sure if his current employer will issue a Certificate of Employment. So he is worried if he can get married in this situation or not. Immigrations consider the percentage of attendance very carefully. If one has attended 90 percent or more of his/er classes, there should be nothing to worry about, but those under that may have something to worry about. For instance, there was a case that Mr. Nakano took care of, where a top class student signed up for a renewal of his/er visa, but was denied. The reason for the denial was that he/she only attended 80 percent of the classes. From this case, it is clear that the attendance is considered more than the grades. Not only will the percentage of the attendance interfere with the renewal of a visa, but also one may not be granted the Special Permission to engage in Activities other than those stated in the previous status, or it may keep you from signing up for a scholarship. In this client’s case, we don’t know if it will have any affect, but she should write that she was getting medical treatment as her reason of absence from class. To prove it, it would be better to attach a medical treatment written by her doctor. This is to appeal to the immigrations that she was not working during her absence. But this may not be any help, if she did not do well in her studies to begin with. If this is rejected, she still has a chance of getting a legal visa to stay in Japan, as our client is thinking of getting married with her as a way. They can legally get married as long as they have reached the legal age to get married according to the Japanese law. All they have to do is hand in the marriage registration at their local municipal office. But just because they get married does not mean they will be able to obtain the spouse visa. This is because the immigration office will look into each case to see if the marriage is a real one or not. The first step would be that they will see the couple is living together or not. So if the married couple are living together, they have a high chance of obtaining the spouse visa. Our client was worried because he had a very low income. The amount is not the issue, so he has nothing to worry about. But he will have to hand in a Certificate of Employment, Certificate of his tax payments. This is because he will be the sponsor of her visa. He has mentioned that he may not be able to receive a Certificate of Employment, because he is a part time worker, but this is something he has to try very hard in order to help her out. If he cannot receive it from his current employer, he may have to find another full time job, where he can obtain it. With the information we have now, it is quite difficult to determine if our client wants to really marry her, or if it is just a process to keep her to stay in Japan. But we can assume that he loves her, and that is why he is willing to anything he can to help her out. If that is so, we would advise him to find a full time job, and then get married with her, and have her apply for the spouse visa. Normally, when the immigrations suspect the couple to be a false marriage is when they do not have enough income to make a living. Under the spouse visa, they are allowed to make earnings, so the immigrations consider that the couple will be using the spouse visa as a means to work, not for a real marriage. This couple has a chance of being treated this way. That is why we urge him to get a full time job, because that is the easiest way to prove that their marriage is not a false marriage. If by any chance our client cannot find a full time job, they may have to turn to their parents for help. If his parents could write some kind of document mentioning that they are for their son’s marriage, that they consider his girlfriend to be the wife of their son, and in times of economic difficulties they are willing to help them out. Or the couple can simply live with his parents in times of economic difficulties. |
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