Most visas to stay in Japan require the support of someone besides the application. For example, a student will require the support of his or her school to acquire a student visa and an employee will require the support of his or her company to obtain a work visa.
Similarly, some foreigners living in Japan depend on their spouse’s support in order to obtain a visa. Some examples include foreign nationals who are married to Japanese citizens and receive a spouse visa, or foreign national couples where one spouse who has legal status in Japan is supporting the other through a family based visa. As these visas depend on the marital status of the couple, it is necessary for the spouse supporting the visa to willingly cooperate with visa applications and renewal..
However, during trying times when couples are fighting, sometimes one spouse may refuse to help the other with their visa renewal. In these circumstances it is important to try to communicate between spouses as the visa renewal has a strict deadline that could result in serious immigration issues if missed. Unfortunately, even these serious consequences may not be enough to obtain the other spouse’s cooperation if emotions are running high.
Therefore, it is sometimes helpful to have a third party, such as an attorney, relay messages between the spouses as a way to avoid unnecessary contact and reduce the role of emotions in the visa renewal process. Furthermore, it is important to discuss other options with an attorney in case the Japanese resident spouse continues to refuse to support the visa.