Family reunion (Dependent visa in Japan)

Applying for Dependent visa for foreign families

We can apply for Japanese family visa (Certificate of Eligibility “Dependent” visa) on behalf of you.

If your husband or wife in Japan does not have time to apply for a family visa, please contact us!

Gyoseishoshi Yokoyama will support foreign families, and we will help your family reunite in Japan!

Requirement

(i) Status of residence of dependants.

Excluded status of residence of supporter:

A family member cannot apply for a “Dependent” visa if the person supporting the family member (i.e. person providing support) holds one of the following visas;

Resident status of “Diplomat”, “Official”, “Specified Skilled Worker (i)”, “Technical Intern Training”, “Temporary Visitor”, “Trainee”, “Dependent” and “Designated Activities” in Annex Table 1, the Immigration Act

All statuses of residence in Annex Table 2, the Immigration Act (“permanent resident”, “spouse or child of Japanese national”, “spouse or child of permanent resident” and “long term resident”)

*Note that although the status of residence “Dependent” does not apply, other statuses of residence may naturally apply, and this does not mean that residence is not possible at all.

*As far as the applicability of status of residence is concerned, if you are dependent on a foreigner with the status of residence “Student” visa, you are applicable. However, activities as a spouse or child dependent on a person who falls under the criteria Ministerial Ordinance No. 1 (c) for residence status “Student” fall under the status of residence for “Dependent”, but do not conform to the criteria Ministerial Ordinance. Foreigners with the status of residence “Student” visa who attend Japanese language schools (Nihongo gakko) cannot be supporter of “Dependent” visa family members. Please refer to the following [CASE STUDY 1].

(ii) What family members can apply?

The family members who can apply are limited to “spouse” and “(generally, minor) children”, so parents and siblings do not fall under this category.

Scope of ‘spouse’:

Persons whose marriage is currently in legal existence.

Excluded: divorced, bereaved and common-law partners.

Also not included are those from same-sex marriages validly consummated in a foreign country. Same-sex marriages may be subject to the status of residence “Designated activities” visa.

Scope of ‘children’:

Including: Legitimate children, adopted children and recognised illegitimate children.

Also includes those who have reached the age of majority.

*Legitimate children: children born of a man and a woman (husband and wife) who are married.

(iii) Necessity of ‘Receiving support’.

The supporter must have the intention to support the dependent and must be deemed to have the financial means to do so. In the case of a spouse, it means being financially dependent on the dependent on the basis of cohabitation in principle, and in the case of a child, it means being under the care and support of the dependent and does not include activities as a spouse or child who is financially independent.

The applicant’s dependents’ willingness to support the applicant is confirmed at a hearing or otherwise.

If the visa applicant is not financially dependent on his/her dependants and engages in independent and separate activities, he/she does not fulfil the requirements for the “Dependent” visa. A different residence status should be considered.

In common cases, since co-workers are more common abroad than in Japan, even if the husband comes to Japan to work, his wife wants to continue working in her home country and come to Japan when she is on holiday, so she may request to obtain the status of residence of “Dependent”. In such cases, the requirement of ‘with support’ is caught. The wife will be guided on whether to quit her job and accompany her husband to apply for status of residence, or to obtain a short-term stay (temporary visit visa) and come to Japan.

(iv) Supporter’s ability to support his/her dependents.

This checks whether the supporter has the financial capacity to support the applicant.

This is not so much of a problem for a supporter who is working with a general work visa and has a spouse and one or two children to support, but for a family with many children or a foreign student as a dependent, this part needs to be explained and proved with emphasis.

It is also important to ask where the dependent currently lives is also important. For example, if you are living in a bachelor dormitory or sharing a room with his friends, you will need to explain to the immigration officer how you and your family will live together if you bring your family over, and whether you will be moving out to find another house.

If you already have a history of remittances, check and explain the frequency, method and amount of remittances, as well as the dependency exemption section of your tax certificate.

If you feel that your income is low and you lack financial stability, show a detailed breakdown of your living expenses and explain that you can make ends meet.

(v) Daily Routine Activities that may be undertaken.

The term ‘daily routine activities’ includes activities carried out as a spouse or a child.

‘Daily Routine activities’ include activities such as receiving education at an educational institution, but do not include activities such as running an income-generating business or receiving remuneration.

Period of stay with status of residence “Dependent” visa.

The applicant’s supporter spouse or parent is only allowed to stay in Japan for the period of their stay.

The principles for determining the period of stay are as follows:

(A) If the application is made at the same time as the supporter, the same period of stay as your supporter will be determined.

(B) In cases other than A, the minimum period of stay exceeding the remaining period until the expiry of the supporter’s period of stay is determined from the period of stay determined in accordance with the supporter’s status of residence.

However, the period of stay of “three months” will not be determined, unless the supporter’s period of stay is “three months” or less. (e.g. if the supporter’s status of residence is “Engineer/Specialist in humanities/International services” visa, the period of stay will be determined from the period of stay determined in accordance with the supporter’s status of residence.)

(C) Notwithstanding A and B, if the applicant’s residence status needs to be checked once a year, ‘one year’ will be decided.

[CASE STUDY 1]: When a foreign student supports dependents.

A “Dependent” visa supported by a foreign student is only permitted for university (or postgraduate) and vocational school (‘Senmon Gakko‘) students, not for students from Japanese language schools.

The most important point of proof will be the ‘supporter’s ability to support the dependents’.

Suppose that a wife is studying in Japan and she wants to invite her husband to Japan. The wife says that her husband is working in his home country and has an income, so would it be sufficient to remit that income to Japan?

The current operation at the Immigration Office is that the husband’s (i.e. a person receiving support) financial resources are not assessed. Only wife’s (i.e. a person providing support) financial resources are required, so she can either appeal for her (wife’s) own funds or explain that her parents, who were her sponsors when she started to study in Japan, have the financial resources to cover her and her husband’s expenses.

Although there is no published information on how much financial capacity (funds) a supporter student should have, in practice, the amount of living expenses for one year in the future is considered to be the standard. This living expense includes tuition fees, which are separate, so it is ‘one year’s tuition fees plus living expenses’, excluding tuition fees that have already been paid. It is considered sufficient. The specific amount of living expenses is considered to depend on where you live. The amount of living expenses paid in your place of residence would be one guide.

In addition to the savings in the student’s own name, the money sent by the student’s family (aid) and scholarships are counted. Scheduled part-time work expenses can also be added, but should be considered only as a supplement. If you send money from your family in your home country, send a fixed amount regularly (e.g. 600,000 Japanese yen every three months, 400,000 yen every two months), as sending a large sum at one time may be considered ‘show money’.

In particular, some foreigners move large sums of money just before the application is submitted, so we advise that it is not only meaningless but also suspect to the contrary. Ideally, a copy of the passbook of the Japanese bank account should show that there is a history of money transfers, but the most common case among Chinese people is when they withdraw cash from their UnionPay card (international credit card) at ATMs from time to time, or go shopping as it is. In this case, the Chinese side can provide a statement.

[CASE STUDY 2]

The Certificate of Eligibility was not granted to the applicant’s wife because she was not deemed to be engaged in activities that fall under the status of residence of “Dependent” on a stable and continuous basis. There was a company in Japan previously established by his wife, which had a history of not being granted status of residence, had not been legally closed down and was practically dormant, so his wife’s purpose in coming to Japan will to run this company, not to carry out the original daily activities? This was the reason for the suspicion that the purpose of his visit to Japan was to manage this company, rather than her original daily activities.

Thus, for those who have a history of residence or application in the past, we will properly interview them and explain and respond to them to ensure that there are no doubts left about their previous residence history.

There is another case. This foreigner was a cook at Indian Restaurant staying in Japan with the status of residence “Skilled Labour” visa, who had just arrived in Japan about three months earlier. He applied for a Certificate of Eligibility in order to invite his wife from Nepal. As he had only been in Japan for a short period of time, he was unable to issue a certificate of residence taxation, so he submitted a pay slip from his company as an alternative. The immigration officer then asked him to explain in writing that “social insurance premiums have not been deducted on the company-issued payslip.” he was told. The immigration inspector requested an explanation in documents. If you cannot join the company’s social insurance, you are required to join National Health Insurance (Kokumin Kenkou Hoken) and National Pension (Kokumin Nenkin) on your own. Thus, it is now also necessary to check whether foreigners working in Japan are legally employed.

[CASE STUDY 3]

An applicant, who is staying in Japan with a work-related status of residence (working visa), applied for a certificate of eligibility to bring his spouse (wife) and children (biological children) over by himself, but was consulted because he had not heard from the Immigration Department, even though much more time had passed than the usual standard processing period.

When our immigration lawyer heard this case, it seems that he has submitted the documents to the Immigration Bureau as indicated on their website. However, there were problems with the documents, and we could foresee areas where the immigration officer had doubts.

Looking carefully at the timeline, the date of registration of the marriage is 10 August 2010, but the birth date of the child is 11 December 2003. Is this child a legitimate child of the couple? This raises the question of whether the child is a legitimate child of the couple.

In fact, the couple had been married before the birth of the child, but had divorced once and remarried again to the same person. The marriage certificate was only from the second marriage, thus creating a chronological problem.

In this case, we examined whether it was possible to prove from other documents that they had indeed been married as husband and wife before the birth of the child, and by carefully explaining the circumstances of their marriage and divorce, finally we were able to obtain a certificate of eligibility without any problems as a result.

A foreign applicant was concerned that the screening process by the Immigration officer was delayed because of the low amount of income that he was earning. He was misguidedly concerned. As an immigration specialist advisor, I thought it was important to notice the problem quickly and follow up on it.

[CASE STUDY 4]: Case that there is no applicability of Dependent visa at all

Our office received a consultation from a foreigner who is a father, saying that his child’s Certificate of Eligibility was not granted. The foreigner (supporter) had the status of residence “Business Management” visa, but the child was the child of a mother and her ex-husband who had applied for “Dependent”, and was a so-called stepchild.

The current father had been supporting this child for a long time, but as long as the child was not adopted, the paternity relationship between this current father and the child was not established and the status of residence was not applicable. In many countries, it is not easy to adopt a child. In such cases, residence may be granted under the status of residence “Designnated Activities” visa.

[CASE STUDY 5]: Dependent visa for a 19-year-old child (permitted)

Although it is stated that the “Dependent” includes those who are reaching the age of majority, the difficulty level increases enormously when actually bringing in a new person from abroad. This is due to the question of whether the child will really carry out “dependent and daily routine activities” in Japan.

This does not mean that it is absolutely impossible. In one case, a certificate of eligibility was successfully granted to a 19-year-old child who had graduated from high school in her home country and was planning to enrol and study at a certain educational institution in Japan. The key to the application is to explain that the child has graduated from high school, including her grades, and that she has already decided where to go on to higher education in Japan and has received permission to enrol.

Advantages of entrusting our office

• Immigration specialist prepares individually tailored materials after you have chosen a better way.
• Immigration specialist applies for a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) to the Japanese immigration office on your behalf.
• Immigration specialist communicates with you via e-mail or SNS tools in English.
• We offer you preferential pricing.

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