配偶者ビザ

2023.05.23 行政書士法人第一綜合事務所

Five points for couples live in overseas to get a Spouse or Child of Japanese National visa

From a Japanese living abroad, “I have lived abroad with my foreign spouse, but I want to return to Japan.”
Opportunities to receive such consultations regarding Spouse visas are increasing.
However, since they have been living overseas until now, they do not have a living base in Japan.
In addition, because they live abroad, preparations for applying for a Spouse visa have not gone as planned.
Is it possible for a person living abroad to obtain a Spouse visa and move to Japan with his or her foreign spouse?
In this page, we will explain how to apply for a Spouse visa for a married couple living abroad in order to solve such questions.

Index

1. What is a Spouse visa for overseas residents?

In order for a married couple residing overseas to enter Japan and live there, it is necessary to obtain the status of residence of “Spouse or Child of Japanese National” (Spouse visa).
A Japanese spouse visa can be obtained by a Japanese spouse, a person born as a Japanese child, and a Japanese special adopted child.
In addition, a spouse of a Japanese national must be legally married, not a fiancée or a lover.
The period of stay for a Japanese spouse visa is 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years.

2. Things to keep in mind when couples living abroad apply for a Spouse visa

This chapter provides explanations of items frequently asked by customers.

①Who will apply for a Spouse visa to the Immigration Bureau?

Spouse visa applications are generally submitted by the Japanese spouse in Japan at the Immigration Bureau.
So, in the case of a couple living abroad, who will apply for a Spouse visa to the Immigration Bureau?
In order for a married couple residing overseas to apply for a Spouse visa, does the Japanese spouse have to return to Japan first?
This is a frequently asked question from our consultants.

Actually, there is a way to apply for a Spouse visa even if you are still living abroad.

Specifically, it is a method to get the cooperation of relatives in Japan (blood relatives within the 6th degree, spouse, relatives by affinity within the 3rd degree).
If you take the above method, it is possible to proceed with immigration procedures without the Japanese spouse returning to Japan first.
By requesting an administrative scrivener to apply for a Spouse visa, there is no need for Japanese relatives to go to the Immigration Bureau.

② What should you do if I have no income in Japan?

It is not uncommon for people who live overseas to have no income in Japan.
If you have no income in Japan, will you be able to obtain permission for a Spouse visa?

Past judicial precedents have ruled that if the economic foundation is too lacking, there is a possibility that doubts will arise about living in Japan on a Spouse visa in the first place.
For this reason, immigration examinations are conducted with great care regarding your financial base.

On the other hand, even if there is no income in Japan, there are many permission cases in the following cases.

Cases where continuous income can be expected from overseas
Cases where support is expected from relatives living together
Cases where regular income is expected by securing a place of employment in Japan
Cases where you have enough savings to live in Japan

It is necessary for each customer to make an individual judgment on the basis of living in Japan.
When requesting an individual judgment, please contact us, the Administrative Scrivener Corporation Daiichi Sogo Office.

③ Who should collect the necessary documents in Japan?

As mentioned above, when a couple living abroad applies for a Spouse visa, you must ask your relatives in Japan to collect documents such as a certificate of residence, family register, income tax certificate, and tax payment certificate.

It’s hard to ask elderly parents…
If you wish to ask your brother, but you couldn’t ask such a big favor…

It seems that there are not many people who have such troubles.

Rest assured!
We will prepare all official documents at our company so as not to burden your relatives in Japan as much as possible.
Therefore, we will not burden your relatives.

For customers living overseas, we use international mail such as EMS to exchange documents.

④ What kind of administrative scrivener should you ask for a Spouse visa?

In the case of a couple living overseas, it is not possible to actually meet with an administrative scrivener.
Also, I think that there are many cases where coordination with multiple administrative scrivener offices does not proceed as expected.
Therefore, I think that there is less information about what kind of administrative scrivener to ask than people living in Japan.

So, Which administrative scrivener is recommended for a Spouse visa application? is created as an article.
There is also our business part, but I hope you could refer to it when choosing an administrative scrivener.

⑤ How should you consult?

We also receive consultations over international calls from couples living overseas.
However, international calls are expensive.

Therefore, we also accept online consultations by email, Zoom, and Skype.
It is possible to consult from overseas as if you were in Japan.

Please see the online consultation page for details.

3. Procedures for overseas residents to apply for a Spouse visa while living abroad

In order to apply for a Spouse visa while living abroad, there is a method to have relatives in Japan apply.
In order to carry out the procedure, the couple living abroad prepares the documents and sends them to their relatives in Japan.
Relatives in Japan collect the necessary documents to apply for a Spouse visa.

① Range of relatives residing in Japan who can be a legal representative

The range of relatives in Japan who can apply for a Spouse visa for overseas residents is blood relatives within the 6th degree, relatives within the 3rd degree, and spouses.

② Documents prepared by a couple living abroad

In order to apply for a Spouse visa while living abroad, the expatriate couple must prepare the following documents:

Application for Certificate of Eligibility
Questionnaire
Certificate photo of the foreign spouse (4cm x 3cm)
Marriage certificate issued in home country and Japanese translation
Documents that can confirm exchange relationships between couples, such as snapshots
Copy of foreign spouse’s passport

③ Documents prepared by relatives in Japan

In order for couple residing overseas to apply for a Spouse visa, the relatives in Japan must prepare the following documents.

A letter of guarantee
A certified copy of the family register of the Japanese spouse (with a description of the marriage)
A copy of the certificate residence showing all members of the Japanese spouse’s household
Taxation certificate of residence tax for the most recent year
Tax payment certificate of residence tax for the most recent year
Certificate of employment issued by your employer
Self-addressed envelope (a standard-sized envelope with the address specified and a 404-yen stamp

(for simple registered mail) affixed)

4. Flow until a Spouse visa issuance

The process of issuing a Spouse visa is as follows.

①Apply to the Immigration Bureau of Japan by relatives in Japan
② After the examination, a Certificate of Eligibility will be issued and mailed to relatives in Japan
③Relatives in Japan mail the Certificate of Eligibility to the couple living abroad.
④Couples living abroad should submit the Certificate of Eligibility to the Japanese Consulate-General in the foreign country and apply for issuance of a Visa/Spouse visa.
⑤Issuance of Visa/Spouse visa

By requesting an administrative scrivener, it is possible to cut steps from ① to ③.
In addition, we can collect most of the documents you saw in 3 above.

5. [Solution example] Spouse visa for a couple living abroad

CASE 1 A Japanese woman and an American man living in Hawaii

Regarding the case of the couple living overseas, both of them were young and did not have enough savings.
Therefore, it is usually difficult to obtain a Spouse visa.
The wife’s father offered a helping hand to them.
The wife’s father was a business owner and his annual income was high.
We explained the basics of living to the Immigration Bureau by asking the father to bear the monthly living expenses for the time being.
In addition, we received the consent to live in her parents’ house until husband’s job is decided.
Therefore, there were no housing costs.

As a result, the couple’s financial base cleared the examination standards required by the Immigration Bureau, and they successfully obtained a Spouse visa.

CASE 2 A Japanese woman living in France and a French man

A French man lost his job in France due to the effects of the COVID-19.
The wife said, “If it wasn’t for COVID-19, he wouldn’t have planned to go back to Japan.”
The couple, who found it difficult to live in France, decided to return to Japan.
In order to apply for a Spouse visa, we obtained cooperation from their Japanese relatives.
The relative who cooperates is the wife’s mother.
Since she was elderly, we prepared all the official documents required for a Spouse visa so that she would not be burdened with collecting documents.
All we have to ask wife’s mother to sign a document that we have prepared.

In this way, it is possible to obtain a Spouse visa so as not to bother your relatives.

CASE 3 A Japanese man living in Thailand and a Thai woman

The husband was working at a Japanese company in Thailand.
However, due to the effects of the COVID-19, he received a letter of appointment to the Japanese head office.
In terms of family composition, there were two children in addition to the couple.
The husband thought “That his wife needed a Spouse visa to go to Japan”.
However, in order to obtain a Spouse visa, he was mistakenly thinking that “He had to return to Japan first”.
For now, he decided that “He have no choice but to be separated from his family.”

Even in such cases, with the cooperation of relatives in Japan, there is no need to separate the family.
When we told him about it, our impression was that he seemed very relieved.

As a result, the family proceeded with the application for the Spouse visa while staying in Thailand.
Then, the entire family entered Japan together.

6. Reviews from customers with Spouse visas

We would like to introduce some of the Google reviews from customers who have obtained a Spouse visa by requesting us Daiichi Sogo Office.
This is an example of a Spouse visa acquisition for a couple living overseas, so please use it as a reference.

★★★★★

We asked a Romanian wife to apply for a Spouse visa.
Since we lived in Italy, we were planning to get married after returning to Japan with my wife, but it turned out that even fiancee could not enter the country due to the COVID-19 disaster and Japan’s border measures, so I got married in Italy and applied for a Short-term visa.
I didn’t know anything about applying for a Spouse visa after returning to Japan, and when I was at a lost, I used their free consultation. He was very kind and gave me an accurate answer to my question, and suggested that I should start preparing to obtain a Spouse visa in Japan before returning to Japan.
It was hard to collect a huge amount of documents.
Without knowing anything, I had a chance to meet between Italy and Japan on Zoom.

I got COVID-19 during the inspection for returning, and my return to Japan was extended for a month, but the person in charge was kindly waiting for me to return. Immediately after returning to Japan, I submitted a marriage registration at the government office, and then I found out that I had to prepare the documents in Italy to apply for a marriage report at the Romanian Embassy in my wife’s country, and communication with the embassy did not go well. Even so, with the support and encouragement of the person in charge, I managed to get the documents together, although it was irregular, and after about 7 months, I was able to obtain it without any problems.
Thank you for your patience with us over the long term.
I am really glad that I asked you to cooperate. In addition, we will ask you to take over and update it in the future. Thank you very much.

★★★★★

Thank you for your help in applying for a Spouse visa for my Bulgarian husband. On our first application, he was able to obtain a residence permit for 5 years.
At first, we were thinking about applying on our own, so we researched the necessary documents and the flow until acquisition. However, I was worried about various things, so I applied for an online interview to hear professional advice.
It’s good to leave this kind of thing to a professional for a very polite response at the interview! I talked to my husband and asked them to apply.
We have lived abroad for a long time in America, Europe, etc., and have had a lot of trouble with visas. Even if we entrusted it to a lawyer, most of the things we had to prepare by ourselves, and every day I felt uneasy until my visa was approved.
Knowing the effort and time required for that, I was very grateful to be able to say, “They can support me to this extent!”

For a Spouse visa, it is necessary to disclose personal information, and I think that a relationship of trust with an administrative scrivener is very important. But also, cooperation with each other at the same time.

It was really reassuring to be able to trust and leave it to you with peace of mind. I am impressed and grateful for your professional work. Thank you very much!

★★★★★

Thank you for your help for obtaining my wife’s Spouse visa.
We had no knowledge or information about a Spouse visa, we didn’t know what to do, and I was worried about the age difference of 30 years, we entrust our wish on Diichi Sogo Office. As a result, despite the short period of time, we were able to obtain a Spouse visa on the first try, and both of us have been able to eliminate our worries and are happy.

The response was kind and polite, and we were able to understand even those of us who had no knowledge. In the future, I will be indebted to you for obtaining a Permanent Resident visa.
Thank you for this time.

See more reviews below.
>>Reviews to the Osaka office
>>Reviews to the Tokyo office

7. Summary of a Spouse Visa Application for overseas couples

Among couples living abroad,
“I want to go back to Japan, but I don’t know what to do”
It seems that there are not many people who say.
Also, we hear that there are cases where people give up on returning to Japan because they don’t want to burden their relatives.

In such cases, please consult with an International administrative scrivener like us.
Based on our experience so far, we will make the best proposal considering the customer’s wishes and circumstances.

We hope that this page reaches couples living abroad who wish to return to Japan.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us, Daiichi Sogo Office.