Japan - Single Status Certificate / Affidavit of Competency to Marry

Advertisement

Procedure

If you need to get married in Japan, you will be required to provide a document that proves you are free and have the legal capacity to marry. In this case you will be required to provide a Single Status Certificate or Affidavit of Competency to Marry for foreigners or a copy of family register in case of Japanese citizens.

How to apply for a Copy of Family Register

Apply In-Person

1. Visit the Municipality office of the domicile address where the family register records were kept.
2. At the office provide identification documents and request for the family register application from.
3. Write the correct reasons to why you are requesting for the document and submit your application.
4. The assisting officer will verify your reasons for the application and if deemed necessary to provide the document will proceed and print it. Note that if the reasons for the request are not convincing, your request will not be approved hence they will not provide you with this document.
5. Pay the required fees for your application and the print out will be issued to you.

Application by a Proxy

• If you are an able to unable to make the application personally, you can delegate this duty to an agent.
• In this case the agent must produce identity document and a written power of an attorney.
• When writing a power of attorney, the person (person who want to take a copy of the family register) must fill in the manuscript and submit the original copy.
• It is necessary to meet the following requirements:
  • Address, Name (Signature), Date of birth of the person, registered seal of the person.
  • Good reasons the explain the reason for delegation
  • Address, Name, Date of birth of the Agent

Application by mail

You can send you request for this document by sending a mail to the relevant municipality office,however this process is slow.

1. Fill in a mail request form such as a family register certificate or invoice from with your own handwriting.
2. Put a reply stamp on the reply envelop clearly indicating your current address.
3. Purchase a fixed amount of money exchange at the convenient post office.
4. Enclose a copy of your identity document together with your filled application form.
5. Send you request to the Municipality office address of your permanent residence in Japan.
6. After they receive your application they will process our Family register and send it to the return address you provided.

Application through electronic platforms

• You can send your application electronically from your PC, but you cannot make the print out from your local computer, after the application a print out of your family register will be mailed to you.
• Not all cities offer this service, so you should check in advance with your city municipality. Forexample Kobe City: electronic application

Important

• Providing false information when you are applying for your family register certificate is punishable by law and will lead to a fine.
• Applicant from abroad can use a Proxy, Mail or Electronic means to make their application
• Please contact your city municipality for more information before you make an application.

Application for Single Status certificate or Affidavit of Competency to Marry

Foreigners who wish to marry in Japan must produce a single status certificate drawn from theirembassy or consulate office in Japan.

How to apply

1. Make an appointment with to your embassy for your application (contact your embassy in advance to make enquires about your application, i.e. required documents and fees for the application)
2. Visit you embassy on the date of your appointment and submit your application attached with the required documents.
3. Fill in the affidavit from and have it sealed from your embassy
4. After you have received your sealed affidavit, you can take it to the ministry of forging affairs for attestation if applicable and thereafter have it translated to Japanese

Advertisement

Required Documents

For Family register

• Identify documents
• Power of Attorney for the proxy
• Return Address

For Foreigners

• Identity documents i.e. passports
• Residential permits

For more documents that might be required contact your Embassy or City Municipality office

Office Locations & Contacts

Municipality Offices in Tokyo
Prefecture offices
Embassies and Consulates in Japan

Eligibility

• All residence and citizens of legal age who wish to marry in Japan are eligible to obtain this documents.

Fees

• For Family Register is 450 yen
• Deferent consulates offer SSC at deferent fees contact your consulate to provide fees information

Validity

• Family Register are valid until an event is register again, otherwise they are valid forever while most SSC are valid for 3 months

Documents to Use

US embassy in Japan

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

• Varies from the mode of application, personal applications can take up to one working day

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type="website">video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the "&" inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M" Video ID is "Y0US7oR_t3M". 
	

Instructions

Certificate of No Impediment (the official name differs by country, e.g. for US citizens it is called an “Affidavit of Competency to Marry”) or a copy of the family register in the case of Japanese citizens.This document basically proves that you are free, and have the legal capacity, to marry. For foreigners, this document will be issued at the embassy of your country in Tokyo. The requirements to get a Certificate of No Impediment differ by country. In the case of a British national, for example, you need to make an in-person appointment at the British Embassy and swear an oath. At this point, the laws of your home country will come into play, e.g. if the legal age of marriage in your home country is 18 then you will likely need to meet this requirement to obtain a Certificate of No Impediment.

Required Information

• Full Name
• Passport or ID number
• Place and Date of Birth
• Nationality
• Statement
• Date
• Signature of the person who declares
• Gender

Need for the Document

• This is the document that proves you are legally eligible to marry

Information which might help

Koseki (Family refister) records are the perfect family tree generators

Koseki records are the perfect family tree generators to trace a relative in Japan or create a complete family tree of a Japanese family, you need to obtain the Koseki family registry records, which comprise the fundamental citizen documentation system in Japan. However, these records are strictly confidential, and you can’t get access to them without knowing the Honseki, the legal domicile of the Koseki records.It is often the biggest obstacle to locating relatives in Japan, especially in the case of overseas customers on assignments or non- Japanese customers living in Japan.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

Us Embassy and Consulate in Japan

Others

More information which might help people.