Job Discussion Forums

[elizabeth]

Hi,

My mother and her partner will be visiting me in Japan soon and they would like to get married. Can anyone advise me on the difficulties of doing this. My mother is British.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[Lucy Snow]

My husband and I (both Americans) got married in Japan eight years ago, and the first place we stopped was the American Embassy. They told us everything we needed to do in order to get married. In our case, we had to fill out a form with basic information--date of birth, mother's maiden name, and some truly bizarre questions such as whether or not my husband was a first son We then had to swear that the information was true, and the embassy notarized the form. The first thing your mother and her partner (or you) should do is contact the proper embassies and find out what paperwork they require. They should be able to advise you on what the Japanese government needs.

We then went to the prefectural office, and filled out another form. In our prefecture, this form was only in Japanese, so you'd have to bring someone who can read and write Japanese. Your mother and her partner will need to have hankos in order to legalize the form.

Basically, that was it. Once we turned in the form, we were given our marriage certificate. You should check with the embassy to see if they'll need to also register their marriage in their countries of citizenship.