VISA TO JAPAN! :::::Visa Application, Japanese Document Making Service in Okayama Japan::::::

Hong Kong based organization Asian Migrant Centre released Asian Migrant Year Book 2005. Though I don't know about the organization much (even I cannot find an address of its office.), the report about Japan is well done. I like the organized time-series data. You can probably get detailed information about each countrie's immigration issues.

Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan released a report about how to prepare for new immigration procedures.

http://www.jca.apc.org/migrant-net/English/English.html

They made this report based on interviews with the immigration bureau and other cases actually happened.

The content is below;

I often hear some people saying “Filipino in Japan cannot divorce because a family code of Philippine does not allow to divorce.”

After looking up law books, I found out that there was a way to divorce if the Filipino divorce non-Filipino outside of Philippine.

Here is the article of Family Code of Philippine which states international divorce outside Philippine;

Art. 26. All marriages solemnized outside the Philippines, in accordance with the laws in force in the country where they were solemnized, and valid there as such, shall also be valid in this country, except those prohibited under Articles 35 (1), (4), (5) and (6), 3637 and 38. (17a)

Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse shall have capacity to remarry under Philippine law. (As amended by Executive Order 227)

http://www.chanrobles.com/executiveorderno209.htm

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It means that the divorce between Filipino and non-Filipino which was executed based on Japanese law is legally accepted by the Filipino government. You need to notify the consulate general of Philippine with notarized document (for example, a Koseki Tohon of your former spouse in which the fact of divorce is stated).

If your spouse is not Japanese, you should make sure if the divorce by Japanese way can be legally admitted in the other person’s country.

Recently foreign working women of the same age with me often come to my office. The same age means in their 30's. They are mostly Chinese ladies. I feel a kind of bond with them and I know that they also feel it.

When I lived in the U.S. five years ago, I saw many single Japanese women in their 30's or 40's. About 10-20 years ago, single women in their 30's felt difficulty to live in Japan because Japanese people had a fantasy about marriage. People believed that women who do not get married until 30 were losers of their life. Moreover, Japanese companies were, probably are still, not willing to hire women who are over 35. So women who were in their 30's, single, and have not a career enough to be independent were oppressed by their societies.

I think that some Chinese working women in Japan are "on-the-border ladies". If she is feminine enough, she is probably a wife already. If she is smart enough, she would have a good career in her country. I was also an on-the-border Japanese lady in the U.S.

I ended up returning to Japan and trying to build my own career. That is why I cannot help worry about the Chinese ladies. I want to say to them GANBARE!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thank you for your support to Matsuda Immigration Law Office. I am so excited this year because;

The first Brazilian school in western Japan will be opened in June as a 100 year anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants landed Brazil, and;

A delegation of San Jose, U.S.A. will visit Okayama as an 40 years anniversary of friendship between San Jose and Okayama.

I would like to take a correspondence course of interpreter in Summer to brush up my English.

May your dreams come true this year!

The biggest Japanese language education group in Okayama held a year end party last week. Chinese girls are singing chinese songs in the picture. There were bout 100 people at the party. Doesn't it look fun?

I was there because I sometimes arrange Japanese classes for my client companies which have many foreign trainees. In Japan, many Japanese language teachers are working as volunteers or as very cheap part time job workers. So do teachers of this group.

For them, teaching Japanese is a grass-root cultural exchange project. Some teachers think that they should not charge expensive fee to foreign people because teachers should help foreigners, and should not want money. However, as the number of foreign people and professional language teachers grow, some teachers think that language teachers should be considered as professional workers and be guaranteed appropriate rewards.

I went to a Japanese class for Chinese trainees today. They are mostly in their 30's and married. They were studying very hard to get along with Japanese people for three years from now. I can imagine how hard they felt to leave their husbands and children in China.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe said that foreign doctors should be allowed to conduct medical activities in the structural reform zones to help alleviating the shortage of medical practitioners.

He said that at a meeting of the National Governors Association in Tokyo on Nov.26th, 2007.

The system for designated structural reform zones allows regulations to be eased in certain areas to stimulate economic and other activities.

At the meeting, Niigata Gov. Hirohiko Izumida asked Masuzoe to let foreigners who got the doctorate at Niigata University's faculty of medicine offer their services in a designated structural reform district.

The Medical Practitioners Law obliges doctors who have a foreign medical license to acquire a Japanese national qualification before they can conduct medical practices in Japan. However, many foreign doctors are unable to acquire the national qualification because they lack Japanese language ability and other factors.

The Niigata prefectural government has applied to the central government to set up a structural reform zone where non-Japanese doctors can conduct medical practices in underpopulated areas.

Masuzoe was receptive to Izumida's suggestion.

According to an article of Tokyo shimbun on Nov. 21, 2007, by new immigration procedure that started at airports and seaports in Japan, five people were investigated because their fingerprints matched that of past evictee.　Three of them are considered to try to enter with fake passports. One got a deportation order and another one is under the procedure of deportation.

http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/national/news/CK2007112102065958.html

Gender Equality Bureau of Cabinet Office provides the information for DV Survivor on its website. There is the information for non-Japanese survivors, too.
This information is provided according to the DV prevention Act.


Information for DV Survivor provided by Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/siensya/08.html

Chinese
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/06chinese.pdf
Korean
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/05korean.pdf
Portuguese
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/07portuguese.pdf
English
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/01english.pdf
Tagalog
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/04tagalog.pdf
Spanish
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/02spanish.pdf
Thai
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/03thai.pdf
Japanese
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/foreignpdf/00japanese.pdf

Human Rights Counseling Centers For Foreigners
http://www.moj.go.jp/JINKEN/jinken21.html#01

Spousal Violence Counseling and Support Centers
http://www.gender.go.jp/e-vaw/siensya/images/foreign/08-2centere.pdf