I’m a dual US/Japanese citizen from birth and my fiancée and I want to get married next year, then move to Japan, and eventually to the US later down the road. She’ll need a spouse visa for both countries, and we’re unsure which country we should get married in because of a few circumstances:
- If we marry in her home country, my US passport number appears on the marriage certificate (as I am in the country through a work visa tied to my US passport). Not sure if that causes issues when registering the marriage in my koseki or when applying for her Japanese spouse visa.
- My name differs between Japan and the US (e.g., “John Suzuki” in Japan vs. “John Suzuki Smith” in the US). My Japanese passport shows “Suzuki (Smith)” as my surname, but is just "Suzuki" on my koseki. So if we marry in Japan, the koseki would reflect only my Japanese name, possibly creating problems when later getting the marriage recognized in the US.
- If we marry in the US, the certificate doesn’t list my passport number or citizenship, but the US name on it won’t match my Japanese records. Also, the US is the most inconvenient place logistically for us to get married right now.
We’ve spoken with several lawyers and have gotten conflicting advice. While one said marrying in my fiancée’s country (with my US passport number on the certificate) shouldn’t cause problems, another said that immigration would demand proof of renouncing my other citizenship if they notice dual nationality. This lawyer said she recently had a client where this happened.
Has anyone dealt with similar issues, especially with name mismatches, registering foreign marriages in Japan/US as a dual citizen, and applying for a spouse visa? Any experiences would really help. Thanks!
by JoinedMirror13