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osakajojo
Joined: 15 Sep 2004
Posts: 229
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 Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 2:46 pm Post subject: married and applied for spouse visa within 3 hours |
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Though it took a bit of prep work I and my new wife were able to get married and apply for my spouse visa between the hours of 10:15 and 1:15! much quicker than we had expected.
I am posting this information because I used Dave's and Gaijinpot as a source of information while planning the marriage and visa process and would like to contribute to those of you out there who are thinking of doing the same thing.
First thing you must do is go to your country's embassy or consulate and fill out a sworn affidavit saying that you can legally marry. If you are American than you can download the form and fill it out before you go-one side is in English, the other side must ALL be filled out in katakana.
here is the website:
http://osaka.usconsulate.gov/wwwhcmai.html
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Japanese law requires all foreigners who marry in Japan to first prepare a sworn Affidavit of Competency to Marry (Konin Yoken Gubi Shomeisho 婚姻要件具備証明書)(the "scrambled text" displays the form's name in Japanese if your computer is set up with Japanese fonts), affirming they are legally free to marry, from their own country's embassy or consulate in Japan.
You can download a blank affidavit form.This form is for use with one American partner and one non-American, such as when an American man marries a Japanese woman. The form has two parts, one to be completed in English and the other to be completed in Japanese.
If your partner is also an American s/he must also complete a sworn Affidavit of Competency to Marry at the Embassy. Use this form in cases of two American people marrying one another. The form has two parts, one to be completed in English and the other to be completed in Japanese.
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Pay them 30 bucks and sign it (they ask that you sign using your middle name as well) and your done!
Next- I went to Amagasaki City Hall and applied for my gaijin card. I brought with me two recent passport size photos and my address in Japanese (just brought our Vodafone bill to copy the kanji that I have yet to memorize.) Paid the 300 yen for that. They stapled a piece of paper in my passport saying to come back for the card in a few weeks. While I was there I grabbed the marriage application.
Next- I went to the Kobe immigration office (office hours are 9:00 to 12:00 and 1:00-4:00) and picked up the visa application and asked the information desk what all I needed to bring with me once I was elgible to come apply. She said I needed to bring my wife's tax record from last year, her hanko, our wedding certificate, my passport, my gaijin card application, my wife's family register, and the visa application (filled out in Japanese-It says you can do it in English but save room above the English words to have a translation of it in Japanese) While in Kobe I shopped around for a ring. Tried six different places but ended up going back to the first place I tried called Sirera Azurro in the Center Plaza nishikan 1F, Sannomiya near Hankyu Sannomiya. mika, the girl who helped me pick it out, was very nice and tried her best to use English. A few other shops I visited had women that giggled nervously and were very hesitant to show the rings.
Next- a few days later I memorized a few sentences in Japanese to say "Your daughter and I have been together for over 4 years..........." nervously performed that bit over dinner to her parents, got the green light then...
Next, the two of us spent several hours Wednesday night filling out the applications for each office- the city hall for the marriage certificate and immigration for the spouse visa application.
Then, the big day! arrived at city hall Thursday morning after stopping by her parents to have them sign the application (you must have two witnesses, if they are Japanese they must use their hanko). We arrived at 10:15 and walked strait to the desk. There was only one other visitor in the office-a lady getting a divorce, being helped by another staff member. We sat right down and turned in the completed marriage application, a copy of my birth certificate, (this, I feared would have not been accepted because it wasn't a certified copy, just a photocopy of a certified copy from 1982 that my dad made last year front and back but the lady was real nice and accepted it) my affidavid of Competency to marry I got from the U.S. Consulant, my passport with my gaijin card application, and my now wife's family register. I believe that is it. However, my wife had to translate my birth certificate on a separate piece of blank paper (something we could have done the night before and it would have sped things up a few minutes) and she had to fill out several forms, I don't know what they were exactly, but she was putting our address down over and over again on these different colored forms. Before I knew it, she had completed all of the forms she had to complete and we were given a number and I was told to go back to the Foreigner section to fill out a form there too. We did that, I believe it was the exact form I filled out for my gaijin card the week before, was given a number, we went out for a smoke and before we finished our cigarettes, both numbers were called out and we payed 350 yen for the wedding certificate and 300 yen for my revised gaijin card. We went up stairs for my wife to get her tax record and ten minutes later we were on our bicycles heading for the station to catch a train for Kobe.
Finally, we arrived at the immigration office in Kobe about 12:45. The staff were on their lunch break so we sat near the information desk and waited for them to open the curtain at 1:00. Since we were early, we were the first ones in line, sat down with a guy who looked over everything that I mentioned earlier, plus my wife's passport too, just as identification. Everything was in order so he gave us a number and placed an identical number in a clear folder containing all of our paperwork and told us to go place it in the red box at the windows on the oposite side of the room. (Each window had a different colored box-yellow, green, red) We did that and sat down. At about 1:12 our number was called and we went up to the window and my passport was returned to me with an ink stamp saying "application"with the date and a number. The immigration officer asked for two photos of us together which we had brought (even though we were never told to by the two different people I had asked, I had read online that this was needed). We handed them over-one was from U.S.J. in 2001 and the other from mardi gras New Orleans 2003. We were handed a 5 page questionaire that we could take home and fill out. We were also told to put our address on a postcard that Immigration will use to send to us to tell us when I can come back to receive my actual spouse visa, which at that time I will pay 4000 yen for it. We must wait for my wife's new family register with my name on it to be ready, which I can go and pick up from the Amagasaki City Hall five days after we registered our wedding which is actually today. I'll go tomorrow and pick that up- (its called a koseki touhon) and mail that to Immigrations with the questionaire we just finnished filling out.
After those two things are mailed off it is just a matter of waiting for that postcard to be sent back to us. I was told it will take a few months though many posts I have read online say they received theirs in a matter of weeks.
I hope that I get my spouse visa !  And I hope that this information can be useful to anyone who is searching for this information.
I think we were very lucky to get it all done in 3 hours time. Afterwards, we got our wedding pictures shot in a print club machine!  Her ring should be ready in a day or two, I can' wait to put it on her finger.  We'll have a proper ceremony at a later time, when my friends and family can all come.  |
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6810
Joined: 16 Nov 2003
Posts: 309
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| Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 10:58 pm Post subject: |
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Just an FYI...
In my experience of the spouse visa, I applied from outside Japan (Australia). The visa took three days to be processed, but apparently you can only receive a one year visa when applying from outside Japan.
When I renewed my visa (this year in June), it took 5 days to be processed (they told me it would take around 2 weeks). This was in Nagoya. I received a three year visa. This is in spite of all the information I received about being unable to receive a three year visa unless you have been married and been living in Japan for more than two years. |
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