Kaiseigen Koseki Tohon? Spouse Sponsor for Japan

[ipanemasand]

Help!

This question is intended for someone who is versed with the immigrations process for Japanese nationals. It's regarding the Koseki Tohon and other documents needed to prove identity and civil status document. Can you clarify what this means?

The checklist for sponsoring a spouse lists the following:

7. IDENTITY AND CIVIL STATUS DOCUMENT
A marriage certificate, birth certificate, Family Register or certified official copy and a translation of
your unaltered "Koseki Tohon" and "Kaiseigen Koseki Tohon" (all names in the register, even
the ones that have been removed due to death, marriage, change of residence, etc) including
details of your birth, marriage and divorce (if any) must be submitted. All names of your family
members, even the ones that have been removed due to death, marriage, change of residence,
etc., must be included. The translation should be in English or French and done by a certified
translator.

The first sentence is worded ambiguously such that it can mean many different things, including:

1. If you provide any one of those documents, such as the marriage certificate alone, it is sufficient and do not need to provide the other listed documents.
2. You must provide a marriage certificate and a birth certificate. In addition to those two documents you must provide either A. the family registry OR B. The Koseki Tohon AND the Kaiseigen Koseki Tohon.
3. You must provide either A. Marriage certificate, birth certificate and family registry OR B. The Koseki Tohon AND the Kaiseigen Koseki Tohon.

So, my question is
1. WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY NEED TO SUBMIT?
2. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A Koseki Tohon AND A Kaiseigen Koseki Tohon?
3. ISN'T THE FAMILY REGISTRY JUST CALLED KOSEKI TOHON IN JAPANESE?

If there's anyone out there with more experience and knowledge about this, I would infinitely be grateful if you shed some light on this matter.

Thank you.
i

 

[Karlshammar]

Provide all of the ones that are available. I don't see any ambiguity there, so just provide them all.

 

[KL8N]

Hi. I am not well-versed in it, but I just mulled over that exact set of sentences while submitting my application from Japan. I think the ambiguity you are talking about is the "or" . As in, you can send in all "these documents" or (if not those) "all these documents". It could indeed be more clearly worded.

Here is what I finally got to..
1) You need a marriage cert & birth cert. (Both translated)
2) The family register and the Koseki Tohon are redundant as they are now one and the same. So get the Koseki Tohon and have it translated.
*They are very strict about the accuracy of the translation, so I either a very high level speaker, if not a pro.

3) The "Kaiseigen Koseki Tohon" is the document that was eventually changed into the Koseki Tohon. It is the old style Family Register (and is not even available anymore at more than half of the ward offices in Japan!!) I wrote to the embassy VISA section and told them this and they said to provide a copy of your spouses Koseki Tohon before they married you, in place of the "Kaiseigen Koseki Tohon". You might also want to write to the embassy and tell them this, as they will reply and you can include that email with the alternate document (pre-marriage koseki) to support the switch in provided documents.

I hope this is helpful. Any other questions, please PM me. Good luck.

 

[ariell]

Try getting in touch with kumakuma on this board. He applied through Tokyo and he just posted last week I think to say that he got his visa & in record time!

 

[ipanemasand]

Thanks! Will do!

Try getting in touch with kumakuma on this board. He applied through Tokyo and he just posted last week I think to say that he got his visa & in record time!

 

[Canadian80]

I was confused by this as well. The Canadian Embassy site for Japan has better info than I could see on the CIC pages (It may be there but I couldn't find it). In a FAQ on the page in Japan it has the following (link below):

Question: I am required to provide a marriage certificate and a birth certificate, however I only have a family register, what should I do?

* Answer: The Family Register in Japan will replace your birth certificate and your marriage certificate.


www canadainternational.gc.ca/japan-japon/visas/family_class_faq_classe_famille.aspx?lang=eng