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）
Where the child is approaching the age of adulthood, 18 years old, suspicion is said to fall hard on whether the real aim is employment. A concrete plan for the child's education in Japan, and an explanation of how you can meet the costs, both matter, and once the child passes 18 years old this route is, as a rule, closed.
A guide for people who have remarried a Japanese national and want to bring over a 10代 (teenage) child left behind in their home country as a 「定住者」.
Because suspicion falls hard on whether the purpose is not 教育 (education) but employment.
In law, the child you can bring over on a 定住者 visa is "an unmarried biological child who is a minor". In practice, though, the hurdle is said not to be simply being under 18 years old. When you bring over a child of 16 years old or 17 years old, close to adulthood, suspicion is said to fall hard on whether the aim is not to have the child educated in Japan but to put them to work at once. That tendency is said to be especially clear where the child has already finished school in the home country, or where you have lived apart for a long time. The question "why did you not bring the child over before, and why now?" is also asked hard. If you cannot show enough of a record of sending money or of keeping in touch by video call, it is said that you will be judged to have no real need to bring the child to Japan.
A concrete plan for the child's education in Japan, and the means to meet the costs.
Because once the child turns 18 years old, this route is, as a rule, closed.
Once your child turns 18 years old, bringing them over by this route becomes impossible as a rule. Given that it takes several months from the application to the result, starting to prepare after the child has passed 17 years old is said to be very likely to be too late. An application for a child from a previous marriage is said to be an area where, once it is denied, a fresh application very rarely turns the result around. What matters is how far you can dispel the suspicion that the aim is employment, using objective evidence.
As a rule, bringing a child over by this route is said to be impossible.
Because suspicion falls easily on whether the aim is employment rather than education, and because your record of contact and of sending money is also asked about hard.
Material showing a concrete plan to enrol the child at a high school or a Japanese language school in Japan, and material showing that the household as a whole can meet the costs.
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This page is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails.