# Process for Spouse Visa



## jokigenki

Hi,

My wife and I are planning to move to Japan later on this year. I'm British and my wife is Japanese so I'll be applying for a spouse visa. Could anyone let me know what the process is? We're currently living in Mexico but will be returning to the UK for a couple of weeks before we go to Japan. Should I apply for the visa in the UK in that time, or is it easier to just do it when we get to Japan? I'd also like to know what the costs are. For the Mexican visa we had to pay a fee in the UK to get our entry visas, then pay again to get our temporary residency visas. Is it the same case for Japan?

Many thanks,

Owen


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## larabell

Are you employed? If not, you could simply come over on a temporary visa and apply for the spousal visa once you're here. But if you do that, you can't work here until the spousal visa is approved.

If you want to apply beforehand, the usual process is to apply for a Certificate of Eligibility. You can do that from any Japanese Embassy or Consulate. Google should turn up a page listing all the necessary paperwork. Once the CoE has been issued, you can submit that along with your passport to get the visa stamp. That can also be done at any Japanese Embassy or Consulate and it doesn't have to be the same one where the you submitted the CoE application. There's only one fee for the visa itself. The CoE application doesn't cost anything.


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## jokigenki

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. Sounds like it will be easier to apply in the UK, although I'm going to be working remotely for a UK company in Japan, so the other option would also be possible.

Cheers,

Owen


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## larabell

Well... be careful. If you come over on business for a short period, that falls under the temporary visa waver system. But if you relocate to Japan and continue to work without a working visa, you could run afoul of the Immigration laws and be banned from entering Japan for several years. If you intend to work while you're here, apply beforehand. If that doesn't work or you don't have time, make sure you don't let on that you're relocating here (ie: enter separately from your wife, don't ship your stuff at the same time, have a return ticket with you, etc). Working remotely is still working... although it does give you more opportunity to be creative in what you tell the Immigration guy at the airport.


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## jokigenki

Thanks for the advice. In that case I'll definitely apply before I come.


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## BBCWatcher

Or stop working starting from the moment you step foot in Japan unless and until you've secured work permission in Japan. I agree with Larabell.


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## larabell

Or be creative... Buy a round-trip ticket for yourself. Tell the Immigration people you're here to help your wife move and to look for a house/apartment, that you're applying for a working visa for yourself (it would help if you actually applied before coming over), and that you're going back soon. A lot of people do that.... come over on a combined business and house-hunting trip, and then go back after a few weeks to await the outcome of their visa application. Technically, you can "work" (ie: do business) in Japan on a temporary visa... businessmen who come over for meetings do that all the time. You just can't live here and work at the same time without the right kind of visa. The way you show them you're not planning on staying (at least not yet) is by holding a return ticket back home. If it looks to the inspector like you're planning on staying, that will raise a red flag.

For example, about a month or two before I moved here, I visited on business for the primary purpose of nailing down a place to live. My CoE came through while I was here and when I returned home after the business trip, I brought the CoE to the local Consulate, got my working visa, and returned to Japan a couple weeks later.

Of course, if you have time to do all the paperwork before you leave, that's even better.


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## jokigenki

I think we're going to have about 3 weeks in the UK before we come to Japan. According to the Japanese Embassy in London's website, processing an application normally takes 5 working days (providing nothing goes wrong!) so we should have plenty of time to get all the paperwork done before leaving.

If the worst comes to the worst, then I'll just have to take a few weeks off 

Owen


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