Spouse visa - confused... what should I do?

Sorry this will be a long post. I'll try to keep it brief and not give you my life story. And Sorry if this has been covered 100 times but from all my googling i haven't really been able to get a straight answer.

About me: I've been to Japan twice since 2009 as a tourist for 90 days and working holiday for about 9 months. Unfortunately without a 4 year uni degree, its very hard for me to get a working visa. I only have a 2 year advance diploma (mechanical engineering)

I have been with my current girlfriend for over a year, and she has stayed with me in Australia twice just as a tourist.

After losing my job, motorcycle accident has given me a few demons I needed to overcome... So I have been out of work for about a year as well. Things are looking up and I'm really to get back into work... but this has leached very heavily on my savings.

My girl and I are wanting to get married, and I originally wanted her to stay with me in Australia for a couple of years so I can rebuild my savings so I can move to Japan. Major moving costs would be my sports car and motorbikes (money pits but not worth selling)

So I looked into aussie visas and I spat my coffee. Almost $7000 to get married and the visa in Aus, or almost $5000 to marry and apply outside of Aus. And thats excluding all other fees with will add up to quite a bit.

So I am considering on just working in Aus for a few months, selling what I can except my car, bikes and tools then permanently move to Japan and marry. Only down side is I wanted to save for a deposit on a house as I'm scared of getting stuck in the renting rat race which is almost impossible to escape in Aus. But at least the visas are not stupidly expensive, correct? Though I am a little worried that all my savings I make will eventually get double taxed.

I admit that I've only just started looking into this and I'm shocked at how complicated as this. Not what I was expecting.

I've also come across articles online of people having their spouse visas rejected and accused of fake/sham marriages. With them being out of pocket $20,000 - $60,000 respectively. Shocking!

Unfortunately I don't have much money at the moment. All I really want to do is just have a normal life together together with my partner. I don't really want to waste $10,000 on a temporary visa in Australia and I don't want to live a poor life in Japan as a mere English teacher without my car, bikes or tools struggling to pay the rent.

There has got to be a better way, no? I haven't been able to get any advice from family or friends... So I hope you guys can please offer us some advice.

Thanks, and sorry again for the long post.

Brendan.

VIsa will cost 4000 yen, about $40US. Whoever paid those other astronomical prices got screwed royally or had very different circumstances!

So, with a spouse visa, what type of work did you figure you'd get to support your future Japanese wife?

It seems Australian visa prices are insanely absurd. Its hard to believe its so cheap in Japan.

In regards to work... its a little bit of a worry for me... as to weather or not I will be able to make enough money.
Many years ago I completed a CELTA and TESOL and I had no problems finding work as an English teacher during my working holiday. However I only lasted 2 weeks. Unfortunately its a job I loathe... Maybe if I suck up my pride I could give it another go.
After giving up on English teaching, I was just working as a semi-volanteer motorcycle mechanic. The income wasn't enough to support myself so it only lasted about 9 months. It was ALOT of fun though to meet like minded people in another country speaking another language. imo it was worth the experience, which I guess is what the working holiday is for.
I would much prefer to work in an engineering office or mechanical workshop, but of course is harder to get. I have been speaking Japanese since 2009 but I am a lousy student and exams aren't my strength. I would say I am only at N4 level (stagnant for a few years) and I don't have a JLPT cert for that so I am sure that will be another limitation.

Geez, and I thought the Home Office were bad. Those prices are pretty clearly just there to discourage applications.

Another item as food for thought - as an Australian citizen you might want to look at the cost/requirements if you were to move to NZ and then bring her over as a spouse when you had residence there - probably cheaper than Oz, most things are.

What's Home Office? Microsoft?

The Home Office is the UK government department which handles visas, naturalisation and losing your application down the back of a desk.

They have the "charge like a wounded bull" thing in common with the Australians, but not quite so extreme. It's probably something like a grand for a spouse visa these days (plus they keep throwing in extra requirements about how much you earn etc. which has really screwed some folks over).

It's not the advice you want to hear but... get yourself sorted first, and then worry about the marriage and visa. Your motorcycles and car are very transient things - depreciating assets that are dragging you down instead of lifting you up. Don't worry about those. Sell them when you need to. (It sounds as if you would contemplate moving those to Japan, which would be absurd). Secondly, if you could continue/finish your education, a world of possibilities opens up to you, and by extension to the girl you eventually marry.
Is it possible for you to go to school for a couple more years and get a four-year degree (BA/BS equivalent) in mechanical engineering? If you can do that I would highly recommend it, as that would take a lot of the anxiety away regarding work, finances, and visa options. (Not that the degree will guarantee any of that, but right now you are trying to climb Everest in beach sandals, so first thing to do is get yourself equipped for the climb).
Don't worry about the house. This is another asset that you can't afford right now. There is absolutely nothing wrong with renting. I happily rented until I was well into my 30s, and was glad to not have to pay property tax, repairs and maintenance to the building, landscaping, (and glad to not have to spend any of my time doing such) etc...Its only in the relatively rare era of booming/bubbling house markets that this extreme reaction against renting occurs. For example, in Japan you would almost be foolish to buy a house in the Tokyo suburbs, or in rural Japan, since these assets have tended to go down in value for the past 20+ years. Financially you would have been better off putting your money in the bank, even at the laughably low interest rates now, than you would have been putting your money into the housing market here in Japan.
If you are serious about the girl, the best thing you can give her is a life unfettered by money worries, which morph into health worries, and worries about children's education, etc... Well, you will probably have these worries anyway (as all humans do), but you are in no position to be worried about housing now.
Can she come to Oz on a working holiday while you continue your education? This would allow you two to live together to see if you are compatible.

I agree with everything Majestic wrote.

Question: Is your girlfriend Japanese? I'm a little confused about that.

Just how much do you imagine it is going to cost to ship your man-toys to Japan and get them through the certification and registration process?

What bank do you imagine is going to give a mortgage to a freshly-arrived foreigner with no job or freshly-hired?

What do you propose to do here with no Japanese skills (N4 is 'no skills', rusty N4 even more so)? Do you really think you're going to suck it up and spend years or decades doing a job you couldn't tolerate for TWO WEEKS the last time you tried it? A job which is notoriously the easiest and least demanding thing you can possibly do for a living here, by the way.

You're not being at all realistic.

I have been in Japan for 12 years, permanent resident since January 2015. (together with my Thai wife and our daughter, me Australian) and I can say Australian visas are not only in their thousands of dollars of fees, they also take years to process. To bring my wife of 15 years to Oz would take me 5,000$ and 2 years wait. That kind of humiliation I will never go through, even if I never set my foot in Australia again. The daughter has Oz passport, she has no problem.

The original poster is not being realistic at all, I think. His plan could work if he was the bride to marry a Japanese citizen and linger around in Japan as a housewife.

Majestic: My education is "complete" as in I have an advanced diploma. I did try going to uni part time in 2008 while working full time to support myself. Unfortunately, it was an almost impossible exercise for me, financially, physically and mentally. Since I am now 28 in the big bad world, going back to do another 3 years full time or 6~8 years part time seems like a rather pointless exercise. Especially when I can easily earn $80,000pa in Australia, no problem. As for climbing mountains, I literally run up and down Mt Fuji

As for housing, I guess the situation in Sydney is dire... and has been getting out of control in the last 30 years and is just about unaffordable now for first home buyers rent is actually just as if not more expensive... so for me wanting to buy, its just a trained reaction... I'm not all that farmiliar with how good/bad it is in other countries. If you want to get a better idea of where I am coming from, have a read of this: These Images Might Explain Why A "Good Job" Won't Buy You A House

Things are serious, but as I am sure you guys understand, women aren't always so logical, and its just a matter of us wanting to be together... as much as I understand how important money is (after growing up in poverty), but relationships and company play a role in happiness to. After all thats all we pursue.

Unfortunately she can't come here on a working holiday as she is over 30. Plus I have already used mine up. Youth is great if you still have it. :/

Glenski: Yup she is Japanese... I thought that was a given though :/

Mike: I am guessing it would cost about 10 grand to ship my car bikes and tools. I've probably spent 20 grand on it and took me 3 years to build. Like every build, you're lucky to get half if sold. The bikes on the other hand are easy to strip and build a new in Japan. I have about 13 grand on bike parts. My tools are a probably about 3 or so grand as well. The thought of selling them is absurd to me.

I originally wanted to live in aus for another 3 years, but the cost of Australian visas are ridiculous. Plus it would take another 6 months before its processed... which means we are apart. ( I might also note visa prices are going up another 50% at the end of the month so I am looking at 10 to 15 grand) FML

As for getting a home loan in JP, I never said I was expecting to get one right away.

NO japanese skill? I dont think this will be a big problem for me. I am pretty fluent when it comes to speaking/listening. My only strugle has been Kanji which is ofcourse required to pass a paper test. I am sure that with full immersion and getting back into study I'd be able to get N3 without too much hassle, which I hope should be sufficient to get by. I doubt it will take me decades... its just that I never really took it that seriously.

English teaching... As much as I hate it (imagine kindergarten cop) it is something I could compromise on for a couple of years max, but saying its easy is rather objective. It might be easy for you but putting up with snot nosed little brats and wiping their tushies is not what I consider a worthwhile career for my skills. To put it bluntly, my personality does not fit the standard teaching style... which means I'd rather work as a dirty mechanic than to put up with that.

I plan to get back to work in Australia soon and I am waiting on 20 grand owed to me in employment entitlements. I can easily cover the cost of moving etc within 6 months an an 80,000 salary... so I dont think I am being that unrealistic. My only set back recently was having my company go bankrupt, have some idiot run me over on my motorcycle and dealing with mental issues that followed... so things have been tough, but I will bounce back.

Think_too_mut: what the hell does being a man/woman have to do with this? I think you're just being sexist... unless you mean Japanese is a systemically sexist country. It can't be THAT bad...

Directed to me:

Think_too_mut: what the hell does being a man/woman have to do with this? I think you're just being sexist... unless you mean Japanese is a systemically sexist country. It can't be THAT bad...

It is worse than that. Not that they are sexists, they are (both men and women) scoring the ability of the potential spouse for a lasting relationship. You are not even promising that.
To me, seems, you are both on the edges of the society, really. Within that realm, you might get lucky in Japan.

Edit: your bike and car are junk, average cars in Japan last 4 years, in Oz 12 years. Your hardware is worth as much as their weight is, pressed into oblivion.
Visit Australia after Japan, it looks and feels like Romania under Chauseskhu 1975. A back water **** hole where everyone is paying interest to their banks. No inviting pose for a JP wife.
Forget any advantage of being an Australian. I am, too.

Hmmm... let me think... I might just chose to ignore your advice

It seems to me you know nothing about the car/motorcycle scene or what goes into making them into a reality let alone having what it takes to build them... So you can go back to your video games and hentai manga. I would never buy a new car for as long as I live. Its a fools errand... unless you dont care about throwing away money.

I will agree that Aus is a bit of a hole... but I guess you were in the poor suburbs like me. Don't talk to me like I haven't been to Japan before. I lived there for over 9 months remember.

Bank interest rates? you cant be serious? they haven't been this low for decades, albeit on a minor rise again... though I can't compare against Japan.

Poor suburbs of Sydney...I could not even see them from my balcony.
.
Pretty view...over the city in the country where no company knows how to make a light bulb or ironing board.

Humbug said:

Mike:
NO japanese skill? I dont think this will be a big problem for me. I am pretty fluent when it comes to speaking/listening. My only strugle has been Kanji which is ofcourse required to pass a paper test. I am sure that with full immersion and getting back into study I'd be able to get N3 without too much hassle, which I hope should be sufficient to get by. I doubt it will take me decades... its just that I never really took it that seriously.

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Are you aware of the national licensing exam for motorcycle mechanics? That includes a paper test.

English teaching... As much as I hate it (imagine kindergarten cop) it is something I could compromise on for a couple of years max, but saying its easy is rather objective. It might be easy for you but putting up with snot nosed little brats and wiping their tushies is not what I consider a worthwhile career for my skills. To put it bluntly, my personality does not fit the standard teaching style... which means I'd rather work as a dirty mechanic than to put up with that.

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I didn't care for it either. More especially I didn't like the idea of only being able to live in Japan just because I'm a foreigner; I wanted my ability to live here to be even though I'm a foreigner so I put English teaching behind me a long time ago.

If you have hopes of a career as a mechanic here then you are going to need to pass the national licensing exam for car and/or motorcycle. I sincerely wish you all the best at it because I like to see more and more foreigners stepping outside the boundaries of the fields we have traditionally been found in and broaden the perception and the realty of what we are capable of if we decide to devote the necessary effort and energy to it. You're really going to have to get after the kanji and become literate in Japanese to pass those tests, so get cracking on that right away.

What a crock of advice, would lead into totally misdirected effort.
To get Japanese language skills to the level to pass a written test (assuming you know the job in the first place) may take years. And then, a car mechanic on 3 mil yen a year, if you can find a job at all (employers would be sceptical and and only if no Japanese applicants they may consider a foreigner). By default, that money is what English teachers are on, without any Japanese, whatsoever.
Instead, it would be easier to get a piloting licence and no word of Japanese would be required. Career in that would see you paying just tax double the car mechanic salary altogether. And the job is portable, you can go anywhere on the planet.

think_too_mut said:

What a crock of advice, would lead into totally misdirected effort.
To get Japanese language skills to the level to pass a written test (assuming you know the job in the first place) may take years..

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You would hardly be in a position to know, now would you?

(employers would be sceptical and and only if no Japanese applicants they may consider a foreigner)

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Again...you would hardly be in a position to know, now would you?

You've apparently never done anything here that didn't involve someone taking you by the hand and leading you through it.

Not sure what visa you want, work or spouse. Latter is better. No degree needed. But you should heed the advice given here about learning enough Japanese. Very hard to get non-teaching jobs with less than N2.

Mike Cash said:

You would hardly be in a position to know, now would you?
Again...you would hardly be in a position to know, now would you?
....
You've apparently never done anything here that didn't involve someone taking you by the hand and leading you through it.

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I am a local hire in Japan, Japanese company sent their director to hire me in Australia. Not an expat, nobody sent me here, it's "special engineering skills" that got me in. Not bad, managing another 40 Japanese engineers, from Sapporo to Naha..

think_too_mut said:

I am a local hire in Japan, Japanese company sent their director to hire me in Australia. Not an expat, nobody sent me here, it's "special engineering skills" that got me in. Not bad, managing another 40 Japanese engineers, from Sapporo to Naha..

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Yes, it is quite impressive.

"Local hire" refers to someone who was already present in Japan when they were hired, though.

You are an expat due to your foreign citizenship; the term has nothing to do with whether you were recruited by a Japanese firm or transferred here by an employer outside Japan.

What do you know about that?

Expat has paid accommodation, school for children, air tickets home, defined duration of tenure, preserved job in where he came from. Company in Japan can not fire him or do anything to him or his job.
I came on contract, the position was advertised while I was in Japan, everything was done locally, full time employment.
In HR books I just have different name, everything else is like local Japanese employee. Insurance, pension, tax, holidays, identical to Japanese employees not a hint of anything special.
When I came, there were 47 foreigners in the office. Over the years, all disappeared, there is only one left since 2006 - myself. The policy is "no more expats".
I was watching after Fukushima quake/tsunami 100s of thousands foreigners fleeing Japan. What fcuk were they doing here if they can all go and nothing happens? Those were expats and English teachers.

think_too_mut said:

I was watching after Fukushima quake/tsunami 100s of thousands foreigners fleeing Japan. What fcuk were they doing here if they can all go and nothing happens? Those were expats and English teachers.

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The Ministry of Justice has compiled data on the numbers of foreigners entering and exiting Japan from one week before the quake until a few weeks after the quake, showing breakdowns of the numbers by the type of visa held and their countries. It is very interesting.

Diagram 1. shows ~250,000 people exiting after 11. March 2011. That is what I was saying. The number of exits went down, perhaps because all who wanted had already left.
July 2011. I went to Matsumoto, to see the castle and a volonteer, a retired Uni professor (I learned later) was conducting a tour with English commentary. Asked me to join. Sure, when is the next tour for foreigners?
"Sir, you are the only foreigner today, the first one we have seen in days, any time you want we can show you around".
Same year, December, my regular winter visit to Shirakawa-go, the place was eery, only rolling tumbleweed was missing from the streets. Not a saussage there.

What is interesting, though, is the huge number of departures in the week before the quake. I have to wonder what portion of those in the spike already had plans to leave that week anyway.

The spike in the number of permanent residents departing the country is nothing short of embarrassing.

Could be, the end of financial year and many contracts ending in March. I don't believe the departing foreigners had had the "6th sense". Expats sending their families first.
Nagoya Planetarium, was to open on March 19th (or so, can't remember) but went 2 weeks late as Karls-Zeiss engineers mounting the telescope had fled.