# Spouse visa application: marriage with no wedding ceremony?



## ikura (Jan 24, 2014)

I'm a British citizen, currently living and working in the UK. My fiance is Japanese and is currently in Japan. We've been together for about two years - one in Japan, one long distance. We plan to get married on my next visit to Japan this spring, and then apply for the spouse visa for him to come and join me here.

We're planning to get married very simply at the local town hall. In Japan this just invovles signing some papers - no ceremony, vows, guests or anything. This is the only way to get legally married there. Most people do have a separate ceremony/reception later, but this is just for show and has no legal value, and it's normal to do it several weeks or months after filing the paperwork. We aren't planning to have a reception at the moment for family/logistics/finance reasons, although we will probably have some kind of celebration in a year or so once we're both established in the UK. We really just want to be married and start our lives together as soon as possible.

Although our town hall marriage will be perfectly legal and normal in Japan, I'm concerned that it may be viewed as suspicious if we don't have proper wedding photos to submit. We can take pictures of us signing the papers etc but it will just be us in an office corridor with maybe a couple of witnesses.

I recently found this in the UKBA guidelines and am getting worried:

_The factors which *may *prompt additional scrutiny of an application include those listed below...
(xi) The circumstances of the wedding ceremony or reception, e.g. no or few guests and/or no significant family members present.
_
(From the 'Genuine and Subsisting Relationships' Annex FM 2.0)

...but I'm hoping this is something they would look at more when other evidence points to a scam. We meet all the other requirements and have plenty of other evidence (photos, skype logs, plane tickets etc) to prove that our relationship is very genuine.

Does anyone have any experience/advice regarding applying with no wedding ceremony or pictures? Would you recommend explaining the circumstances and plans for a second 'wedding' in the cover letter? Or just submit the marriage certificate and a town hall photo and hope for the best?


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

As long as it's legally recognised in the UK it's fine. It's the official wedding ceremony that they care about. They understand that different cultures have different customs. A photo of you with your witnesses is fine. They don't care if you have a party/reception at some later date.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

I have experience of helping with people's UK visa applications following Japanese kon-in-todoke (submission of signed marriage papers at town/ward office), and they had no problems with it.
Shinpai shinaide. Don't worry!


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## ikura (Jan 24, 2014)

Thank you for the reassurance, Nyclon and Joppa!

I was worried because so many visa sites seem to place high importance on wedding photos as evidence. But you're right - our marriage will be legally recognised in both countries, and the UKBA should appreciate that not eveyone has a 'traditional' ceremony.

Joppa, may I ask you one more question, since you're familiar with applications from Japan? Would you recommend submitting my husband's family registry (koseki) with my name on it? I know it's not required, but I'd rather go overboard than leave any room for doubt!

Thanks again


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

It's up to you. It's not a required document, but if you do, you need to get it professionally translated, which will cost you money.


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## daveh82 (Jan 25, 2014)

Hi ikura,
My wife and I have been through this process previously - all was well. Like yourselves, we only had the formal town hall / ward office complete when we actually went for the spousal visa. Unlike yourselves, I didn't actually attend the town hall to be married I was in England. So my then fiancee took along to the ward office my passport, birth certificate, certificate of no impediment to marry (issued by your local registry office here in the UK - bear in mind you need six weeks for that to come through).

Once married, my wife pulled the additional documents required together before making the visa application. We had translated from JP to EN the A3 wedding certificate and also my wife's family register (1pg) - all docs for visa applciation need to be in English or original with an accompanying English translation. We used a company called INF Incorporated (in Nagoya) - fees were quite reasonable.

For the application itself which was made in person in Osaka (through VFS Global who are a commercial company working in conjunction with the British embassy). We stated in the covering letter our intention to have a wedding party some months later, the rest of the supporting materials endorsed our application (which goes to Manila in The Philippines) and had the visa granted just 10 days later.

I hope this helps.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

I advise paying extra for priority service through VFS. Someone I helped got their visa within a few days. Fee is 37,205 yen (£221).


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## ikura (Jan 24, 2014)

Thanks for the advice, everyone! This site is really helping me understand how to approach this whole process.

daveh82, thanks so much for taking the time to comment. It's so reassuring to hear from someone else who went through a similar experience successfully. 

All the best!


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