{"id":1274,"date":"2019-09-13T15:41:22","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T06:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maryanilasasil.wordpress.com\/?p=1274"},"modified":"2019-09-13T15:41:22","modified_gmt":"2019-09-13T06:41:22","slug":"how-to-invite-your-family-to-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/?p=1274","title":{"rendered":"How to invite your family to Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1295\" src=\"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/japanese-flag.png\" alt=\"japanese flag\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">I have been living in Japan for almost seven years already (I will be seven years exactly on September 24th.)\u200b<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">With that span of time, I have invited my family to visit Japan three times already.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">The first time was in the spring of 2017. I invited four family members &#8211; my mother, two sisters (eldest and youngest), and my sister-in-law.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">The second time was this year`s spring. I invited four family members again this time &#8211; my mother, my sister (second eldest), my youngest brother and his daughter, my niece.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">The third time was two months ago. Only my mother and my youngest sister came at this time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">Few friends, both Filipino and Japanese, asked me how I did the invitation process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">So, in this article, I will give you the details of how I invited my family to Japan in the hope that it will help somebody planning to do the same.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">First of all, you have to have savings and a job here to be able to show that you are capable to be a guarantor. In my first year of work here, when I had an instructor&#8217;s visa, I invited my sister but the application was denied because the agency said my savings were not enough. I don&#8217;t know if that is still the policy now, but that was what happened with me five years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">Three years later since my arrival in Japan, my visa was changed from Instructor&#8217;s Visa to Spouse of a Permanent Resident because as the word &#8216;spouse&#8217; means, I got married to a Permanent Resident.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">I don&#8217;t think your visa status is important to be able to invite but it helps. Whether you are a student, working visa, or spouse, you can still invite as long as you fulfill the requirements.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">I wasn&#8217;t really planning to invite my family to Japan anymore, but the promo of Cebu Pacific (Piso Fare) got me thinking. I was in the US in July of 2016 when I found out the airline promo and right there and then booked their travel ticket for spring 2017. I got a very good deal for four people round trip. Imagine, P1 fare! I can`t remember anymore how much I paid exactly for four people but it was very cheap. I only paid the taxes and fuel surcharge etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">At the back of my head, I thought if their visa will not be approved, it would not hurt that much to lose the money I used to purchase the travel ticket because it was just a promo fare but at least I tried.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">But I was optimistic they will get approved. I`m not gonna waste this chance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">Next, I went to uncle Google to check the requirements for visiting Japan. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">For the information of non-Filipino readers, yes, we Filipinos need to get a visa to most countries to be able to travel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">It did not take me long to arrive on this website: <em>https:\/\/www.mofa.go.jp\/j_info\/visit\/visa\/index.html<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">That`s the website of the <strong>Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan<\/strong>. There you can check everything about visa and coming to Japan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">To make it easier for you, I copied here the necessary documents to be prepared for visiting relatives:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color:#000000;\"><strong>(Provided by visa applicant)<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u2460 Valid Passport<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u2461 Visa application Form<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u2462 1 Photo\uff08Passport Size\uff09<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u2463 Birth certificate (Note1)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">Including the birth certificate that can attest that the relationship of the applicant to the Japanese relatives is within the third degree.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">[Examples] when a spouse of Philippine nationality residing in Japan invites her younger brother, 2 certificates &#8211; the younger brother\u2019s (applicant) and spouse\u2019s one- are required.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u2464 Marriage certificate (if married)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u2465 Proof of sufficient funds to defray all the expenses while in Japan<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u30fbA certificate of income or tax payment issued by a public agency<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u30fbCertificate of deposit balance<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\"><strong>(Provided from Japan)<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u2466 Invitation Letter<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u2467 Documents explaining the reason for invitation (copies of medical checkup,maternal health log, etc.)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u2468 Family register \u2019Kosekitohon\u2019 (when the inviting person or his\/her spouse is Japanese)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u2469 Itinerary during stay in Japan<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u246a A certificate of residence \u2018Jyuminhyo\u2019 (with description of his\/ her family relationship with all family members)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">(Note) When the guarantor is a foreign national, submit a photocopy of the both sides of the valid Residence card , a Certificate of residence with full details except for Individual<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">Number(\u201cMy Number\u201d) and Resident Record Code, and a photo copy of his\/her\u00a0 passport(including the pages of status items,the record of entry\/departure, and of residence permit)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#000000;\">(Please submit the following documents if the\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;\">guarantor pays a part or all of the travel expenses)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u246b Letter of guarantee<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">\u246c More than one of the following documents pertaining\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;\">to the guarantor:<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">(a) The latest Certificate of Income \/ Taxation issued\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;\">by the head of administration of the place of residence,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;\">or a certificate of tax payment (Form 2) issued by the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">director of the tax office<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">(Note1) Each certificate should indicate the gross income\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;\">for the previous year.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">(Note2)Statement of Tax Withholding is not acceptable.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">(b)A copy of the counterfoil of final tax return with\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;\">the seal of reception of the Tax Office. (e-Tax: please\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;\">submit Receipt Notification and Final Tax Return)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\">(c)A certificate of deposit balance\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>You can download the forms on the website I mentioned above.<\/p>\n<p>And for further details, you can check this link: <em>https:\/\/www.mofa.go.jp\/files\/000121323.pdf\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>They have included necessary forms in that link as well.<\/p>\n<p>Take note that for visiting visa, you have to submit these documents through accredited agencies. The list of accredited agencies are also in the link.<\/p>\n<p>In my case, my family submitted the documents to Discovery Agency, Inc., Davao Branch (address: Door 109G\/ F Court View Inn Bldg., Quimpo Blvd. Cor. Sandawa Road, Davao City, telephone numbers: 082-285-7188, 082-284-4114, 082-321-1315, 0915-326-0111\uff08GLOBE\uff09, 0920-210-4677\uff08SMART), 0923-423-2207\uff08SUN\uff09<\/p>\n<p>After about two weeks of submission, my family was notified about the result. The agency asked them to pay P2,500 for each visa. And that was it. They got their passports with a Japanese visa in it.<\/p>\n<p>Next, I asked them to get travel insurance thru Pacific Cross. It is not the best but it is better than nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Inviting a family to visit Japan seems complicated at first but as long as you communicate with the travel agency, they will help you comply with everything so you can get your visa approved.<\/p>\n<p>If this information is too much for you, I advise you go direct to the travel agency nearest you or just give them a call and I am pretty sure they will assist you all the way.<\/p>\n<p>Good luck to you and may you enjoy having your family in Japan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have been living in Japan for almost seven years already (I will be seven years exactly on September 24th.)\u200b With that span of time, I have invited my family to visit Japan three times already. The first time was in the spring of 2017. I invited four family members &#8211; my mother, two sisters [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,17,10,18,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diary","category-japan","category-japan-living","category-philippines","category-places"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}