Hi Guys! My first post here,
I know this is generally probably asked a lot but couldn't find answers specific to my situation.
I'm British and wife is a Japanese citizen. We both live overseas together and we plan to move to Japan within a year or so, I read that the COE takes anywhere from 5 months to 8 months so I wanted to get a head start with that process.
The issue
#1: even though my wife is a Japanese Citizen, she has never lived in Japan, she doesn't have an address, nor has she ever paid taxes or NHI to Japan.
When I'm applying for the spousal visa can she still act as my guarantor regardless if she doesn't have any of the above?
#2: We are planning to buy a place in Chiba but that won't be until probably early next year Jan/Feb 2026,
#3 For Financial proof to support myself, I generally have most of my "cash" in stocks and crypto, would this be able to submitted as proof to support myself along with 20-30k USD worth of cash?
I run a business overseas and get salary + dividends on a monthly/annual basis but that cash is generally almost immediately put into my investment portfolios.
To add to this if important: wife works online and gets paid on a freelance basis per client she has, she will be shifting payments over to a Japanese bank account once we've moved over to Japan and start paying the relevant taxes and NHI etc.
Does anyone have any experience with these issues/problems?
I read on reddit that it's really not that necessary for people to use immigration lawyers as its just submitting and gathering paper work from city hall etc but would this still be the case even though she doesn't have any address/taxes/NHI?
Looking forward to your responses and thank you in advance if anyone can give some input/advice!
by hkdku