Living with Family in Japan

Any foreigner living in Japan may well think about having his/her family come to Japan, to avoid the loneliness of life away from home. Here, let’s take a look at the visa for family members.

Family Stay Visa

Family Stay Visa is required when a foreigner invites his/her spouse or other family members to Japan. As a prerequisite for this visa, the applicant has to be someone who is already staying in Japan on a working visa (except for diplomatic visa, official visa and technical intern training visa) or on a student visa. It should be noted however that someone who comes to Japan on a family stay visa cannot work in Japan unless with a permission for extra activities.

"Spouse" here means either your wife or husband, with whom you have a currently valid marital relationship. So someone you have divorced with, or someone you’re only engaged with but not legally married is not considered to be your spouse. Please note that same-sex marriage is not yet officially recognized in Japan unlike some other countries, so someone’s partner of the same sex cannot be considered to be a spouse in terms of visa eligibility.

“Child” here means legitimate child, adopted child and illegitimate but acknowledged child. Someone who is of an adult age can still be considered “child,” but minors are usually advised to apply for a student visa.

When someone with a student visa applies for a “family stay” visa to invite his/her family, the applicant’s financial standing will be assessed. A foreign student in Japan is allowed to work only part-time for up to 28 hours a week with a special permission and that alone usually cannot be sufficient to support a family. So the applicant’s savings and assets will be assessed. As for the residence, if the applicant lives in a one-room apartment, which is typically the case with many foreign students in Japan, such residence is not considered appropriate as a family residence and may have a negative impact on the application screening. So it would be advisable to set your financial standing, residence and other things straight for your family to come to and live in Japan before you apply for a family stay visa.