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VISA Q and A on FM COCOLO 76.5 MHz Getting married to a person that has been deported (case 2) On Aired Data: February 1, 2000 |
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Summary of the On Aired Program Client: 23-year-old female worker, who met a 22-year-old Asian male studying in Japan, 5 years ago.. .Case: The client’s boyfriend was studying Japanese at a language school, but unfortunately his school went bankrupt and had to close. With the remaining three months on his student visa, he decided to find a job to earn money to go to a different language school. Three months worth of part time job earnings was not enough for him to pay the initial tuition for a new school. So he kept on working, without the proper visa, meaning after three months he was overstaying illegally. They both thought of getting married at the time, but she could not make up her mind whether she really wanted to get married or not, although she loved him very much. The main reason was that she was still a student at the time. Time flew but they continued to live as they were. Eventually, she graduated, and started working, which also led her to getting married with him. It took sometime to gather all the documents needed, but finally they managed to collect it all. Now, all they had to do was turn in the documents to the municipal office. She had a strong desire to turn in the papers together, so they waited for the day he gets off work. But the “waiting” caused them trouble. One day, he was driving home from work, where he was stopped at a police checkpoint for inspection. This is when he was arrested for over staying. As soon as he is proven guilty, he will be sent back to his country and will not be able to return to Japan for at least 5 years. Our client would like to know if there is any way for them to get married and live together in Japan. Although this is not an impossible case, it would be very difficult to receive an approval. There are many unfortunate aspects in this case; the male is arrested for overstaying, they are not yet married, and he will probably be taken to court. The first step they should take is handing in their marriage registration. The most important thing in getting married is that the two are in love, so it doesn’t matter if the soon to be husband is overstaying or not. At this point, he has been overstaying for nearly 4 years so he will probably be taken to court for violating the immigration law and the alien registration law. After the trial, he will probably get a probation, and be sent to the immigration office. At the immigration office he will be investigated on the charges of violating the immigration law, which is the beginning of the deportation procedure. This is also when our client should visit the immigration office to appeal that they are married and she wishes strongly that he would be granted the spouse visa. This is called the allegation for “Special Permission of Status of Residence”. In the Immigration Law, it is stated that the Minister of Justice may allow a foreigner who is subject to deportation, to stay in Japan according to the special reasons this foreigner may have. In our client’s case, it may be wise to appeal that they are married, and how deep her husband is rooted in Japan. Also, the reason for his overstaying was formally because of his Japanese school going bankrupt, and he did not do it on purpose. Other documents they would need are: *a full copy of the family registration to prove they are married (if this should take time, “Certificate of accepting the Marriage Registration” will do) *Certificate of the Guarantor *her Resident Card *Certificate of Employment from her employee *Certificate of paying local taxes *A Withholding Record Slip *(if you rent your house) Contract of renting your house *(if her family also approves to their marriage) A Written Petition by her family *pictures of the two of them together There is no limit to how many documents you can submit. So it would be best to hand in all the documentation you believe will work for you. Another procedure she must go through is bailing him out of jail. To do so, she must turn in a written consent stating that she will be the guarantor, and will take full responsibility in making him report to the immigration office when asked. She would also have to pay up to 3,000,000 yen for bail, but from experience, it is normally between 100,000 to 500,000yen. After the money is deposited, he will be released. These are the main procedures. If they succeed, they will be able to live together for the time being, but this does not mean they will be granted the spouse visa. It should take about a year for them to get the results. During this time, they will be restricted in doing many things. They will be subject to live at a specific address, and the boundaries of where he may go will be limited too. If they plan to move, they must report to the immigration office beforehand. Basically, the boundaries will be limited to the prefecture they live in. So if they plan to work and live in different prefectures, it maybe a good idea to consult with the immigrations when they get their bail. Also if they plan to travel somewhere, they would have to report it and get permission. If by any chance they choose to move beyond their boundaries without permission, he will be sent back to jail, the bail would be taken away, and of course he will not be approved of his spouse visa. Another procedure is that he will be asked to report to immigrations once a month on a certain day. It would be best if they can both visit the immigrations together. But keep in mind that if he chooses not to go, or forgets the date, chances are he will not be granted the spouse visa. If there is some reason that they cannot make it on the specific day, they should contact the immigrations to change the day. As you can see, there are many restrictions as to what you can do while waiting for the permission, as well as tons of paper work concerned. Even if they go through all this trouble, it does not mean that they will definitely be granted the spouse visa. There are rumors that in these kinds of cases, if you get married you will definitely be able to stay. But this is not true. There are cases in which although the couple are married, they are not granted the spouse visa. |
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