Registering a marriage abroad

A marriage celebrated in the United States is valid, and until it is entered on the koseki it does not exist for Japanese administration. The entry takes a month or more after you file.

Registering a marriage through a Japanese consulate turns a U.S. certificate into an entry on the Japanese family register. Anything that follows from being married in Japanese terms, from a spouse visa to inheritance, depends on that entry.

What you file

A marriage registration file

The Japanese marriage registration form

The U.S. marriage certificate, with a Japanese translation

The Japanese spouse’s koseki

Both passports, or equivalent identification for the non-Japanese spouse

The translation is not a formality: the municipality in Japan works from it, and an inaccurate rendering of a name is what sends a file back across the Pacific.

Names

A marriage between a Japanese national and a foreign national does not automatically change either name on the register. Changing it is a separate filing, with its own deadline after the marriage, and it is worth deciding before you file rather than after.

Divorce, and death

Divorces finalised in the United States are registered the same way, with the decree and a translation. Deaths of Japanese nationals abroad are also registered through the consulate, and that filing has a short deadline.

Filing in Japan instead

The registration can also be filed directly with the municipality of the registered domicile in Japan, by post or by a relative. That route is sometimes faster than going through a consulate, and it is worth asking about if the nearest office is a long drive.

What the marriage unlocks

A marriage on the register is the basis for a spouse visa, for inheritance rights, and for a change of surname. None of those can proceed on a U.S. certificate alone.

If a spouse visa is the goal, file the marriage registration first and count the month it takes to appear. The Certificate of Eligibility application in Japan will ask for the koseki showing the marriage.

Deaths

The death of a Japanese national abroad is reported through the consulate, and the deadline is short. The file needs the U.S. death certificate with a translation and the deceased's passport. It is the filing families are least prepared for, and the office will walk you through it.

All the procedures Book an appointment