Hey there, sorry to bother! I’m one half of a married gay couple in the USA, my partner is applying to JET this year, unfortunately I’m not qualified. If she is accepted, we’d like to move over together, but we’re having trouble finding out if gay marriages are still not recognized, if the dependent visa would be applicable, and if JET would even let us house together. Any advice for the situation? Or do you know someone who might have gone through similar? Thanks in advance - love your blog!
Hi sweet thing. Sorry to not get back to you for a hot second, but to be honest I was searching through some JET groups in order to find an answer to your question! It does seem to be a sticky situation at times. However, if your country of origin legally recognizes that you are married, then you should run into less problems (hypothetically speaking of course, cuz I didn’t experience this firsthand).I found a post in Stonewall that linked this site, and I’ll quote the significant part here below for you:
Until very recently same-sex partners were not considered dependents under Japanese law. However, the Japanese government has now made it possible to sponsor a same-sex partner´s entry into Japan. The couple must be married and the marriage must be recognized in the country of origin. If the couple does not qualify for sponsorship under these regulations it may still be possible to apply for a special visa for a same-sex partner. For more information check with the Japanese Immigration Bureau.
To me, this says that you can if you’re talking to your consulate and inform them that when they’re doing spousal visas (which they do for you) you have all the necessary documents to help them, then they’re gonna find a way to do this for you. Another post detailed some of these links I’ll put below for you!
Dependent visa for same-sex couples
Status of Residence for same-sex married couples
Family stay visas/info
My advice would be to talk to someone immediately upon hearing back about her approval. Talk to her consulate, talk to immigration, and make sure you have all of the legal documentation in order on your end for when the time comes to apply. If the consulate your wife is flying out of has any trouble getting you a dependent visa to fly over with her, you might just have to wait until she can contact (or you can contact) the immigration departments directly in order to get your paperwork squared away. Don’t get discouraged though. Right now it looks very possible from the look-through I had.
BUT!! Again, this is not an experience I have firsthand, so I will open the floor up to those much more knowledgeable than I am. Does anyone have experience in bringing over/being brought over as a same-sex spouse on a dependent visa of some kind? Reblogs welcome, replies welcome!! Anything more concrete, or better links, are much appreciated.
[I’m glad you love the blog, btw, haha. I know I post a lot of derp lately, but hopefully the little useful bits are worth sticking around for ;) ]
