This article is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails. Read the Japanese original（日本語版を読む）
If you are enrolled at a university, a graduate school, a junior college, a college of technology, or the specialised course of a specialised training college, you can bring your spouse and your children over on 在留資格「家族滞在」 (Dependent). For students at Japanese language schools and miscellaneous schools this is, as a rule, not permitted. During screening, proof that you can support your family, your own attendance rate and grades, and your compliance with the rules on 資格外活動 (activity other than that permitted under the status of residence) are looked at particularly closely.
A student studying in Japan asks about bringing over family members who remain at home.
Only your spouse and your children. Parents, brothers and sisters, and a fiancé are not covered.
家族滞在 covers only a spouse in a legally valid marriage and a child by birth or by adoption.
However important they are to you, you cannot bring your own parents, your brothers and sisters, or a fiancé (a partner you have not yet married) to Japan on 家族滞在.
Yes. Students at Japanese language schools and miscellaneous schools are, as a rule, not allowed to bring family over.
Not every student can bring family over. The system draws a clear line according to the educational institution you are enrolled at.
If you are a student at a Japanese language school, bringing family over on 家族滞在 for a long stay while you are enrolled is, as a rule, not permitted. You need to graduate from the Japanese language school and go on to a university or a vocational school before you apply.
3 things: your ability to support your family, your own record as a student, and your compliance with the rules on 資格外活動.
This is the biggest hurdle in screening. You must show, with objective documents, that you and your spouse, together with your children, have enough money to live independently, without public assistance. For a student, this is usually judged on the total of the following.
You are the person who will be supporting the family, so screening looks at whether you are studying seriously in Japan. If your attendance rate is below about 8割 (roughly eight out of every ten classes), or if you have earned almost no credits at university, doubts may be raised about whether you are really carrying out the activity permitted under your own status of residence. This level is a rough guide used in practice. It is not a published standard.
With a 資格外活動許可 (Permission to Engage in Activity Other Than That Permitted), a student may work part-time up to 28 hours per week, and it is accepted that this income may be presented as part of your living costs. However, if it emerges from your tax certificate or similar documents that you yourself have been working more than 28 hours per week, this is treated unfavourably in the screening of your family's application, and it also affects the extension of your own period of stay.
A plan that adds up only your part-time income and your spouse's as the basis for living costs is hard to get approved in practice, because it raises doubts about whether your studies will suffer.
You, the student in Japan, act as the representative and file the 在留資格認定証明書交付申請.
To bring family over from your home country, you first apply in Japan for a 在留資格認定証明書 (Certificate of Eligibility), and once it has been issued they apply for a 査証 (visa) at the Japanese embassy or consulate there. In practice, the main documents needed are as follows.
On the financial side, the result depends largely on whether you can show, with objective documents such as copies of bankbooks and proof of remittance, that the money sent to you is credible and that your tuition and living costs until graduation are covered.
Your spouse also needs a 資格外活動許可, and keeping to 28 hours per week helps you in the future.
After your family has arrived, your spouse can also work part-time up to 28 hours per week, once they obtain a 資格外活動許可.
Both of you keeping to the limit of 28 hours per week, and maintaining a proper record of residence, lays the groundwork for a later change to a work status of residence, or for a 永住許可申請 (Application for Permanent Residence).
Related reading: Can I bring my wife and child to Japan on a student visa?
As a rule, this is not permitted. You need to graduate from the Japanese language school and go on to a university or a vocational school before you apply.
Only a spouse in a legally valid marriage, and a child by birth or by adoption. You cannot bring your parents, your brothers and sisters, or a fiancé to Japan on 家族滞在.
By putting together proof of continuous remittances from home, proof that you receive a scholarship, and certificates of the balance of your bank accounts in Japan and at home.
With a 資格外活動許可, they can, as a rule, work part-time up to 28 hours per week. Keeping to this limit lays the groundwork for a later change of status of residence or a 永住許可申請.
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This page is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails.