r20030804e

"Marriages of foreigners in Japan ②" Aug 4, 2003

RealAudio

Good evening.. Last month, we did talk about themes that need to be attended
when foreigners plan to get married in Japan. Today, we will focus on issues
regarding changing residence status after a foreigner got married in Japan and site
a few cases.

Let's first look into a case involving a female foreigner who has been living in
Japan and got married to a Japanese national in accordance with Japan's law.
Changing her resident status to that of the spouse of a Japanese national won't be
difficult because their marriage must have been reflected in the family register of
her husband. The family register of the husband hence can certify her marriage.
Other documents that she needs to prepare then are the proof of her husband's
identity with his certificate of residency, her certificate of alien registration, and
the letter of guarantee from her husband. The letter of guarantee must be
executed, signed, and sealed by her husband. These documents will serve as proof
of cohabitation with her husband. Proving that she is residing under the same roof
with her husband is major requirement for applying the resident status of spouse of
Japanese national. Aside from the documents I just mentioned, she will need to
present documents certifying their income and able to prove their financial
capacity and credibility as residence of Japan. If the husband is an employee of the
company, she needs the certificate of employment. If her husband owns a company
or runs a company as a manager, she needs to have a copy of the company's
registration. If she is also an employee, she will then need her employment
certificate. Also, she will need to prepare the certificate of payment of residential
and income tax, a copy of the withholding taxes with and final tax return. Once all
the documents are prepared, she must submit them to the Immigration Bureau and
apply for a change of resident status to that of spouse of a Japanese national.

However, when applying for the spouse visa, submitting only the required
documents will not be sufficient. What is most important to prove, the integrity of
their marriage, is a bond out of love. As fraud marriages and marriage out of
convenience are on the rise in Japan. The immigration officials take time to
scrutinize their relationship of the couple applying for the spouse visa. The
applicant and the spouse will be asked with questions like how they met, what
makes them decide to get married, how is the applicant's relationship with the
spouse family and relatives and many more. The immigration officials will also
confirm the credibility of the applicant as a residence in Japan. They will go around
asking the neighborhood about their relationship, how does the applicant cope with
the members of their neighborhood. They might even call the family and the
relatives of the spouse to know how they think about the applicant and his or her
relationship with the spouse. There are documents that can be prepared to prove
the integrity of the marriage. The documents include photos of the wedding
reception､photos with the family members of both sides, photos of your daily life or
during the trip and the letters from a friend or family member describing their
relationship of the couple and the characters of the couple.

Now, let's look into another case. This time, a female foreigner is married to a
Japanese national, but is residing in her home country. So, how could she join her
husband and live in Japan. For such case, her husband or Japanese husband must
first apply to the immigration Bureau for the certificate of eligibility for obtaining a
resident status in Japan, in Japanese, "Zairyu shikaku nintei shoumei-sho". Once
the husband got hold of the certificate of eligibility, he should then send it to his
wife who is living outside Japan. The wife should then submit to the Japanese
embassy situated in her country, the certificate along with the other requirements
and her passport. If all the documents she submitted are in orders, she will be
issued a resident status of spouse of a Japanese national, which will give her the
right to enter Japan legally.

In applying the certificate of eligibility for obtaining a resident status in Japan, the
documents that the husband must prepare are almost the same as that in the
previous case we talked about. To recall, the husband needs to prepare a copy of
family register, a certificate of residency, a letter of guarantee, an employment
certificate if he is working in a company or a certificate of business registration if
he owns a company, a copy of tax withholding statement, a copy of final income tax
return, a certificate of payment of residential taxes, photos of their wedding
ceremony, and pictures with other members of each own side of family. As of the
application form the husband must fill in the questions regarding each family's
background and their personal background as well. Above all, it is very important to
prove, the integrity of marriage with the Japanese national.