Moving to Japan as a Nikkei Sansei: Can Your Spouse and Children Come Too?

Tommy’s Legal Service

NIKKEI SANSEI · FAMILY RELOCATION

Moving to Japan as a Nikkei Sansei: Can Your Spouse and Children Come Too?

Check each family member’s route and prepare your documents and timeline together.

Spouse · Children · Preparation

Information checked: 1 October 2026

日本語で読む

If you are a third-generation Japanese descendant, or Nikkei Sansei, your own ancestry documents are only one part of a family move. Your spouse and children need their own immigration assessment.

Japan has Long-Term Resident categories for spouses of Nikkei Sansei and for qualifying unmarried minor biological children who depend on an eligible supporter. Approval is not automatic for the whole family. Marriage, parentage, age, financial support and the planned life in Japan must be examined for each person.

This guide focuses on families moving to Japan from overseas. Different checks may apply to people already in Japan, status extensions or changes, adopted children, and children from previous relationships. “Long-Term Resident” (Teijusha) is a specific status of residence; it is not Permanent Resident status.

1. Identify a route for each family member

• The Sansei applicant: establish the family line through grandparents, parents and the applicant, including the relevant Japanese nationality history.
• The spouse: consider the category for spouses of Nikkei Sansei. Checks include the Sansei’s status and designated period of stay, legal marriage and the reality of the marital relationship.
• Children: check age, marital status, biological parentage and dependency. Being a fourth-generation descendant does not by itself mean the same application route is available.
• Adult children, parents and siblings: a wish to live together does not place them within these spouse or minor-child categories. Their own possible routes must be considered.

For the Sansei applicant’s ancestry records and missing Japanese family registers, see our Nikkei Sansei document and koseki guide.

2. For a spouse, prepare evidence of marriage and life in Japan

The Immigration Services Agency separates its spouse document guidance according to whether the Sansei is employed, self-employed or not working. Start with the appropriate list rather than using one checklist for every family.

For example, the Certificate of Eligibility (COE) guidance for an employed Sansei includes the spouse’s foreign marriage and birth certificates, a questionnaire and evidence of the couple’s relationship. It also lists the Sansei’s residence record, employment certificate and tax certificates. A Japanese marriage acceptance certificate is relevant if the marriage was reported to a Japanese municipal office. Criminal-record and identity documents are also listed, so a marriage certificate alone is not a complete application.

If the family is still overseas and Japanese residence or tax certificates are unavailable, explain the circumstances and clarify the required evidence with the immigration office. Planned employment, funding and the relocation schedule should be organized early.

Official sources: Spouses of Nikkei Sansei and documents where the Sansei is employed (Japanese).

3. A child’s age at entry matters—not only their age when applying

For a new arrival under the unmarried minor biological-child category, documents establish parentage and dependency. The supporter’s financial and employment circumstances and a statement explaining the need for support are relevant. The parent’s status and period of stay, and the precise family relationship, must also be checked.

This concerns new entry under this particular category. It is not a statement that an existing Long-Term Resident automatically loses their status on turning 18, nor that every other immigration route is unavailable after 18. The agency separately explains that its age change does not affect existing Long-Term Residents travelling with re-entry permission, including special re-entry permission.

Tell your adviser early about remarriage, acknowledgment of parentage, adoption, custody or other relevant family circumstances. Additional evidence or a different category may need to be considered.

Official sources: minor-child category and age at entry, children supported by Long-Term Residents and certain other residents, and age change and re-entry guidance (Japanese).

4. A practical order for preparing the family move

1. Map the family and target dates. List each person’s nationality, country of residence, date of birth, relationship and intended entry date. Check children’s birthdays first.
2. Review the Sansei and family routes together. Establish the Sansei’s ancestry and nationality history while reviewing the spouse and children. You do not need to wait until all of the Sansei’s work is finished before assessing the family.
3. Separate shared records from individual documents. Organize the birth, marriage and family-register records connecting the family, alongside each applicant’s own identity and other documents. Shared information does not remove the need to check what must be submitted in each application.
4. Make the living plan concrete. Organize income, job plans, savings, housing and the number of people to be supported. Schooling and language arrangements are also practical relocation considerations.
5. Coordinate COE, visa and travel stages. Confirm how the applications should be coordinated and allow for requests for additional documents and consular visa processing. Identical approval dates or simultaneous arrival cannot be guaranteed.

This is a suggested preparation sequence, not a mandatory filing order that applies to every family.

5. Check translations, document dates and name differences

The agency’s guidance calls for certificates issued in Japan to have been issued within the preceding 3 months, and for foreign-language documents to have Japanese translations. Do not automatically apply that 3-month rule to every foreign-issued document; check each document’s requirements.

If marriage, name changes or records from different countries produce different names, organize the evidence connecting them. The required documents depend on the application and circumstances, and further evidence may be requested.

The spouse guidance links its Japanese-language evidence requirement to requesting a 5-year period of stay. It should not be described as a universal JLPT N2 requirement for every applicant. Check the requested period and accepted evidence in the applicable official guidance.

6. What to tell us when you enquire

This article provides general information. Individual applications require a review of current official guidance and each family member’s circumstances. Information checked: October 1, 2026.